A gorgeous day in downtown San Jose. I woke up early, snagged a nice parking spot in the shade, and settled myself in at the SCORE workshop for startups and existing businesses.I'm not sure why, but I was surprised - pleasantly - by how many people were taking the workshop. Seems like there is no lack of entrepreneurial spirit here in Silicon Valley. A lot of interesting ideas and stories, as we went around the room introducing ourselves (no one fell out of their chair at the mention of this "young lady" [God bless those SCORE volunteers!] being a plastic surgeon looking to grow her business).
The folks representing SCORE today were as wonderful as I'm starting to expect. They're a bunch of characters, to be sure, but they've got this show down pretty pat. Smooth and well run, with no sympathy for latecomers or cell phones, this was one of the better organized events I've been to. I suppose you wouldn't expect anything less from an organization of such high-powered and experienced executives.
I absorbed a lot of good information today; it might have been more, had my phone not been ringing madly during the first hour (actually, more like vibrating disturbingly often in my hip pocket - violators of the blatant cell phone rule had to toss $10 to the charity of workshop leader Mike's choice).I tried to take my phone calls discreetly outside - there are signs in the lobby politely directing you to do so. I compromised in the building vestibule. For that early in the morning, there were an alarming number of folks outside the Entrepreneur Center who I wasn't really interested in networking with at the time.
Later in the day, as we broke for lunch, I happily strolled around the block, absorbing a little warm sunshine, watching office workers emerge from indoors, and strangely, some workers dismantling an ATM. This is the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, looking stunning in the midday light today, just around the corner from the SCORE offices.
On the way back, I passed this entrepreneur, hard at work slinging dogs. On a warm summery day, the smells were so tempting - but I try to save my annual hot dog quota for the Chicago dogs at the ballpark.
