More networking events
September 10th, 2007 by Benjamin KuoLast Friday, I spent some time at a Lunch 2.0 meeting over at ThisNext in Santa Monica, getting a chance to chat with entrepreneurs, technologists, producers, and others in the high tech and entertainment community here. It’s interesting but there has been an upsurge in networking events — particularly in the Internet/Web 2.0 area — looking to connect the high tech community in Los Angeles. The Lunch 2.0 event — which is one of many, newly formed events like Twiistup (and at least 3 other private, invite-only events) which have been bubbling up here — crammed quite a few people (250 RSVPs, with whatever dropouts) into the space where ThisNext usually houses their 12 employees. Gordon Gould, CEO of ThisNext, was telling me he was wondering if the police would show up given how many people were there.
There seems to be a real hunger in the community for connecting with others in the industry. Unlike Silicon Valley, and probably other more geographically centered high tech centers, running into others in the technology industry is a little more difficult here due to “freeway distance.” Even with dozens of events every month, it’s tough to get from Santa Monica to Pasadena, or from Pasadena to Costa Mesa, or (god forbid) Santa Barbara to San Diego on any regular basis.
In any case, it’s clear that the technology community here expands there are bound to be more and more networking events trying to meet the desire for “face time.”
