2015.12.28 five things you should know before you go sv

5 Things You Should KnowAbout Silicon Valley Before You Go

Ofa

1. The Valley

The Valley is not a valleySAP

40

CiscoYahoo

TechShop

GoogleApple Facebook

LinkedInPalo Alto

Stanford

Mountain ViewY-Combinator

20

Mobile

SlackTwitter Coin

2. Culture

Hire Slow, Fire Fast

If you’re trying to get a real feel of the culture, apply and interview for jobs in three Silicon Valley companies even if you don’t

want any of them.

The interview will teach your more about Silicon Valley company culture and the

valley than any tour.

—Steve Blank @ Google Tech Talk

3. Homework

Do Your Homework!• Personal: LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit,

Instagram • Company: Crunchbase, Angelist,

ProductHunt, Hackernews • Reference:

• My Blog: https://ofafa.wordpress.com • Paul Graham’s essays: http://

www.paulgraham.com/articles • 90 by

4. Challenges

The Hard Things

• Transportation

• Safety

• Financial support

5. Easy

Yes/No Free Lunch

• You can get real lunch free easily, but there’s no easy money for you

• Build impact • Try to get access to

private events

—“How to create wealth”, Paul Graham

–Paul Graham

“If you go to see Silicon Valley, what you’ll see are buildings. But it’s the people that make it Silicon

Valley, not the buildings.”