Our last day...

In the morning we had book talks at Peet’s Café. I was excited to try this place because my Marketing professor had put so much hype on the company. I got a Soy Chai Latte, it was alright. I think Starbucks might have been better for that option, but all their other teas looked pretty glamorous and the staff was great. Pyz talked about a book the ‘4 Hour Work Week’ which was an interesting book to hear about before we went to Intel later in the day. I would like to read this book, since I think the author’s points are more realistic to human nature rather than sitting in a tiny grey cubical for 8 hours at a time (Intel… gross). Bryan read the Numerati, which we briefly read in the marketing class. I liked the realistic point of view the book took on manipulating people’s data to help discover trends, although I am still curious as to how privacy policies will be effected in the future with this trend. Aaron gave us a debriefing on Accidental Billionaires, which talked about the dramatic beginning of Facebook. Not many ethics were included in that start-up.

At Facebook we met up with Dave Heggaren, who had the same haircut as me. Don’t know how I feel about that. He was very informative and energetic about the company- his passion really showed. He managed a small team (only seven, surprisingly) of engineers that worked on the mobile part of the company. I asked him why he thought facebook got ahead from other social networks like myspace, livejournal, xanga, etc. He didn’t have an answer, but I believe it’s the simplicity of its website that makes it so easy to use for everyone, and it’s not cluttered with music, background design, etc. The other websites got too into detail and forgot their main objective, which is to allow people to communicate with their social network through search and other means while still allowing them to identify themselves without being a distraction to the process.

I was impressed at facebook’s intern program, because the interns actually had influence on the end products, like the “like” button, etc. The majority of the people in the company were young and their work environment was very open- no cubicles or designated work space. It was similar to the library at Luther, since there were many open meeting rooms and work places. Some people mentioned that this environment could be a real distraction, but I disagree. At the development office at Luther, the lack of social interaction with others causes employees to take prolonged breaks for an hour or more and several intervals during the day (and these people are much older than the facebook employees, who one would think to be more social. The employees who get the most done are the ones that have an open space and are not so isolated from others. I believe the facebook method is more realistic to human nature.

Like many other companies in the Silicon Valley, Microsoft is data driven. This also applies to careers, where motivated employees can excel by using this data ideal (such as the former Luther student Enwe Xie who has been a rocket moving up the company). I can see why it’s advised to put data-related facts on your resume now. I was excited to hear that Microsoft continually hires college graduates, which is probably better for the others in the group than myself… it was an interesting company and I enjoyed the experience of being there quite a bit, but I don’t see myself working there any time soon. The company itself is gigantic, with 5 big business divisions that include 40 product groups, which translates into being a 12+ billion dollar business annually. Crazy! This is probably why they can afford to have such an impressive R&D department, which includes 900+ Ph. D’s and operated officially under the slogan “Further the state of the art: and make sure Microsoft has a future.” Their R&D people have a lot of freedom in what they do and where they go with that information (much different than Intel), which I’m sure makes them want to stay with Microsoft. Smart move Bill Gates.

Dan’l left us with some advice before we moved on to look at some projects the company is working on. Life is 10% of what it gives you and 90% of what you do with it. Pick up the phone, call someone, take initiative, seize opportunities, be enthusiastic, and do what you say you’re going to do. Wow. Sounds easy enough…. Finally, The technologies that Microsoft is envisioning are awesome, I was completely blown away (just hope they follow through on a video they showed us modeling different projects)- I can’t wait for the future.At Microsoft we were introduced by Dan’l Lewin, who I discovered after the meeting that was quite famous in the computer world (one of Apple’s first employees I guess). At Microsoft, he is currently the Vice President of Strategic and Emerging Business Development where he finds the connection between technological innovation and economic opportunity for the corporation- which roughly translates into finding a way to engage with entrepreneurs around the world. His background story was very fascinating to me- he was the first of his family to go to college and went to Princeton, not too bad. He advised that we read a Harvard Business Review article by Regis McKinna that was published in ’91, which argues that marketing is everything to a company in the context of which they operate, either market driven or driving the market. Factors to consider in this context are the weighing the importance of the product to lifestyles, values, attitudes, mentality, etc., to the eventual customer. In this way, one can identify their target market and also what will motivate to buy from the company. I’m going to look this up when we have more free time next week.

He also spoke about your product being sticky, which is something I also read about in the Tipping Point. In his description, Dan’l said that a product that is sticky is an asset upon which other build. An example of this would be the iPhone and all the Apps that are being constructed for it by entrepreneurial developers. These people trust the brand and will drag it along to future markets, introducing it to new markets and generations, which will improve its likelihood of success. Dan’l told us that empowering employees allows them stay motivated in such a large company. The career path is up to the employee, and it is their responsibility to ensure their dreams of promotion are manifested. This ideal is reinstated by the company’s core values and principles system, which executive leadership is careful to always promote and live by.

Intel was probably the most traditional company we visited on the trip. The entire interior of the building was the same shade of grey, and there was a sea of cubicles every time we entered a new floor. It even had section numbers like M3, as if we were in a parking garage. It was a complete reality check at this point in the trip- the company culture of the Silicon Valley is much different than the rest of the US at this point, but I hope that this trend continues on to the West Coast because it is a much more natural to human nature.

We ate our final dinner at La Strada, an Italian bistro that was very delicious & had a wonderful atmosphere for our last night together. The girls got a little dressed up beforehand, and we enjoyed some great Californian Chardonnay (thanks Brad!) It was a great last day and a fabulous end to this trip.

We watched our friend Robin Williams on Conan O’Brien last night while we packed, which was hilarious because it was Conan’s second to last show. I got all my pictures on Facebook (the album is called I left my heart in San Francisco, check it out!) and currently we are at the airport, waiting for our flight that has been delayed to Midwest weather. I’m truly going to miss this place.

Google!!!!

Today was an absolutely amazing and wonderful day. Simply because we went to Google.

Luther Alumnus Craig Cornelius arranged several meetings for us in the morning. Each were short, but still very informative. I loved this format because it was easy to follow each of the speakers with out them getting into too much etail of their product and we were still able to ask questions before we moved on to the next speaker. The awesome coffee, drink and snack bar might have helped with that also.

Our first speaker was Davidson Young, a man representing University Relations which is basically campus outreach and recruiting for employees and interns. My googler dreams were slightly diminished when he told us that most of the internships are in the engineering department, but they were rekindled once he said that there were some marketing opportunities available (low and behold-I check the website and it looks like an amazing program!) However, they do get hundreds of applications so he advised that the best way for us to get through the application process is to be referred by an employee. I hope Craig can be that person, and there could be others through my connections on LinkedIn, Facebook, and the Development Office at Luther. Having an inside connection should ease the some of the extreme competition that I'm likely to encounter applying for this internship or any others in the future. Fact from the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: approximately 80% of jobs come through networking and other connections, and about 20% is through traditional means.

Our second speaker was Michael Braderman from Google Enterprise, which are apps that are packaged and sold to organizations (like Luther... Norse apps are awesome.) He described to us that this sector was still in its infancy stage, because its potential market is so large. I'm sure their target market is the Microsoft Outlook users, I'm just wondering what is going to make them switch over. I have a friend that still uses Outlook, although I'm very puzzled by this fact since she isn't in the technological dark ages by any means. Another important thing that came up in this conversation was the term "dog fooding" which we've discussed in other meetings during this trip. It refers to eating your own dog food, or in this case testing out the Google apps to make sure they are up to caliber. At Google, quality is always one of their top concerns and it shows in every element of their product line.

Xuefu Wang was our third speaker that discussed Google books. This aspect of Google shared similarities with Bookshare.org, the branch of Benetech that we explored yesterday. It was interesting to me that it was one of the founders' many ideas while they were at Stanford (Who doesn't want free books when your paying ridiculous bookstore prices?) I hadn't thought of it until Xuefu said it, but Google is one of the largest libraries in the United States. As it acquired more titled and if/when copyright powers fade, I'm sure they will become the largest in the world, holding close to the 80 million titles the world has to offer (I thought it would be more than that, I was actually kind of surprised.) To the outside world Google Books seems like a disruptive technology, and it is. It is shifting to fit a new mold as the world changes. Similar to my earlier Creative Commons blog, who knows where this 'sharing' idea will end?

Jessica Pfund represented Google maps. She described maps as a combination of art and science, a way I had never before considered but now wholeheartedly believe. The strenuous task of localization is an aspect of maps that I would not have previously thought of, but the more she spoke of language, style, connectivity and accuracy, the more I understood just how intimate something like a map can be to someone so far away from the Google campus. Jessica brought up two things I was intrigued by: Google's 20% project policy and their mapmaker. The 20% project is something that does not directly relate to anything you are employed to do at Google, but you are still allowed to spend 1/5 or 20% of your time doing. Usually it is a side project that you are

passionate about and believe will make Google/the World better. You can spend one day a week on this or take several weeks out of the whole year to dedicate to it (I'd likely pick the first option). Google's mapmaker is something I'm very excited for. When I went to Mexico last year, the city I was studying in didn't have a terrible amount of information on it. It would have been

really exciting to upload info onto the website, so that I could have used it to find more direct routes to school and other locations near my homestay. Next time I guess!

The last man we spoke to was Rick Klau, who was from this website (Blogger). Personally, I believe this web site has a lot of catching up to do when compared to the rest of Google's applications. They have many opportunities to think outside the box to gain remarkable advances in their products, which will inevitably allow them to gain market share in comparison to their largest competitor, WordPress.

We got to look at some other technologies in a very interactive way, including an enormous Nexus One phone (it's beautiful in any size), data that shows the frequency & language of searches, Google's 1st server (see Aaron & Brad) and other data manipulators that help one track trends over periods of time.

The lunch we had in Charlie's was great. They had a dish to suit anyone's palate, and I was completely satisfied. I love that they are practicing sustainable agriculture by growing some of their own food and are also supporting that same principle by stocking many organic products in their shelves at the snack areas and cafes. I can see what Craig meant when he spoke of the "Google 15"... good thing they have gyms on campus and it's safe to bike and walk to work!

I said this in a tweet earlier today, but I'm going to apply for their internship program for this summer. I check their website and it looks very exciting to be an intern in their business program. If I end up going straight to grad school after Luther, they also have M.B.A. interns. There is always hope if I don't get accepted for this summer!

After our amazing morning with Google, we took a short trip to the Computer History Museum. It was interesting to hear how complex the first computer was and how difficult it had to be to construct the machine in real life and even in one's imagination. It looks like a time machine to me.

We were able to go to the Apple store in downtown Palo Alto for a half hour or so this afternoon. My wish list when I become a millionaire: Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. A whopping $300 but I believe they're worth it. Put on a Live at Luther College playlist, close your eyes and it'll feel like you're back at Luther in 1998.

After this we visited with a Al, a Luther Alumnus at his country-club like Circus Club. He was an investor, and the stories he had to share were very interesting. His key points to me were that relationships can get you a long way in life, and it is up to you to seize the opportunities that they present to you as they come along. I thought his message was very realistic and empowering.

Tomorrow we play with the big boys. Microsoft, Intel and Facebook. That should be interesting. Also, fun fact that Robin Williams will be on Late Night with Connan O'Brien Tomorrow night. Just a demonstration on the utility of Twitter.

Making the World a better place

The day began by having our book talks at the Starbucks at the Stanford Mall. It was a rainy and rather gloomy day, so it seems appropriate to take care of several of our reports before we had our first meeting of the day at noon. I read the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell which I found very interesting for many ways, specifically because the book can be utilized by so many different kinds of people throughout any industry. We had a good chat about Twitter while we were at it, including why we didn't have an account before this class and why we find it useful now/if we were going to continue using it. I will because I can use it to find out information that would take a lot longer to filter out otherwise.

Benetech is a non profit organization that aids in social welfare projects across the globe, ranging from literacy, human rights and the environment. I took a particular interest in this firm and the message behind it because I feel that it is important for me to begin narrowing my career interests into fields that are doing some good in the world, which I definitely felt that Benetech was doing. I loved their current 'big' project, which was scanning books so that a tech application could read it to them- useful for the autistic and blind. The man we were talking to was so passionate about his company, it resonated with everything he said about it. I believe I would have had the same opinion if my employer was doing just positive things in the world also. Benetech also let us take a book with us that had been "killed" by cutting the binding and thus releasing all the pages. I pick the Prince by Machiavelli, it's been on my list for a while so why not get it for free?

Our second venture capitalist firm of the trip was Sierra Ventures, where we met with Robert Walker who had a very interesting background before he became an investor (physics background with energy specialties). Brilliant man. I took away some things from this meeting that were very different than our meeting with Ann Winblad. 1. LED lighting is awesome in many ways. 2. Time is more limiting than money for this firm. He spoke much more about the industry that he came from rather than the ways Entrepreneurs can get financed, as Ann did. Both were incredibly useful though, in two entirely different ways.

With the free time we had between our meeting with Robert and our dinner with Craig we ventured off to the Stanford campus and bookshop. I was looking for an Ultimate Frisbee Disc which I failed at acquiring but still enjoyed looking around their gorgeous campus (check out the arches) and browsing their very large bookstore.

We met up with Luther Alumnus Craig Cornelius for dinner at Darbar, an Indian Restaurant in the area. The food was pretty good but the conversation was even better. We chatted the night away about google, indian food, his life at Luther and since, etc. I'm so excited for tomorrow. Now I need to get some sleep so that my brain can keep up with all amazing things that are going to fly by me.

Tomorrow is GOOGLE!

I love long weekends... and California

We didn't have any meetings on Saturday, Sunday or Monday so we got to enjoy some free time exploring the city, having fun and relaxing.On Saturday we rented bikes from a local shop and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge to a lookout point and to Sausalito before heading back to the hotel. We were trying to make it to a lighthouse at the point of the bay, but mountain bikes were not the best choice for climbing hills so we stopped part of the way through. Too bad, because it ended up we had climbed all the inclines on our way there, and the path to get to the point and return to the bridge was either downhill or flat. While we were at the lookout we ran into a local that had just ridden RAGBRAI last summer and advised us to go see Sausalito. (We were torn between that and Golden Gate Park). It was a very cute little tourist town, with sailboats littering the bay setting up a beautiful scene with the fog that had begun to roll in. Kaitlin and I went window shopping- I found a boutique that had some great deals which I took advantage of before we raced back to the hotel for our meet up time with the group.

We took a night tour of Alcatraz at night. It was sort of eerie, but interesting at the same time. We watched the Shawshank redemption yesterday which was very much like some escape attempts described during the tour. It was slightly depressing being there, hearing about the punishment they gave to prisoners compared to the rehabilitation philosophy they conduct nowadays. There was an audio tour of it, which enhanced the total effect of the tour, since there were hundreds of people silently walking around this prison just listening to an audio recording of its history.

Made me think for a long time about human nature before I was able to fall asleep yesterday (although the movie also contributed to that affect). From the island there was a great view of the city and the bay bridge though, which was beautiful to look upon on a fairly clear night.

Sunday met us with rain in the afternoon. I got updated on my internet life on Sunday morning (emails, facebook, photo editing, blogging, tweeting, etc.) before we left the Holiday Inn Express @ Fisherman's Wharf and drove to the Menlo Park Inn, our second destination of this trip. Upon arrival we decided that some laundry needed to be done, so we read while we waited for our clothes to wash and dry. We ate at a Turkish and Medditeranean restuarant for dinner. Wow do I love Mideastern food. Another destination I would like to add to my list: Turkey.

Today we enjoyed waffles and Starbucks (yum!) at our new hotel before deciding to brave the pouring rain and head off to Monterey. My friend Pyz had a great idea to drive through a Redwood state park on our way to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and I am so glad. It was incredible. I was in total awe the entire time. I absolutely loved it. Quick story: I read an interview in my last issue of Runner's World Magazine about Alannis Morrisette and how she was going to run a marathon in that area and could completely understand why. It was so so so incredible to be there. Wow, I do love nature.

After the incredible Redwoods we continued on to Monterey. Before entering the Bay aquarium we had some delicious Thai food (Sorry Yellow Curry, I think Red Curry has become my new favorite.) My favorite creatures at the aquarium there were the brilliantly colored jellyfish, adorable otters and penguins, and curious wolf eel that seemed very interested in the diver at the kelp feeding. The group went to an excellent pizza place when we got back, and had some great conversation over pints of foreign beer.

Tomorrow should be a fun day to get back into the swing of question asking and business analyzing. We're off to Benetech and Sierra Ventures, then off to a dinner with a Google employee to before we go there on Wednesday. I CAN'T WAIT FOR GOOGLE!!!

Meeting great people

We first shopped around down town today before going to our first meeting. Jacob and I walked around and window shopped at some of the nicest stores in the US, like Neiman Marcus. I did manage to find some awesome deals at Lacoste and Guess though. Thank you Clearance.

When we were grabbing lunch in the square, we watched a really cute bird go from table to table cheeping for food. It knew it was fairly adorable, and it definitely got more food donations than the dumb pigeons that were flying around. You have to admit though, that when we left the plates at the table and walked away about a dozen of them swarmed on my breadcrumbs in a huge swarm.

When we met back up with the group, we headed off to our meeting with Porter Novelli, a public relations firm that handles accounts such as Pepsi Co. Instead of giving us beers like Digg did, they gave us milk and cookies. I felt like I was in kindergarten, but I will admit that it was delicious. Because I'm interested in public relations as a possible career, it was especially fascinating to listen to their representative talk about her job. I really liked the description and feel like it would be a pretty good fit for me and the life I would like to have in the future. The woman mentioned that she was a connector (Referance: the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell) and knew lots and lots of people, which I will remember as I begin my job search and possibly internship search for this summer. I also felt comforted by the fact that she had many jobs and different career paths that she took before taking on this PR job- this soothed my anxiety over finding that perfect job right away and taking this super smooth path to early retirement.

Creative Commons was our second destination of the day. For those of you that are unaware, allows deeper collaboration of creative works, such as media. It is a copyright of sorts, but much different than we have taught to think of it as. "Some Rights Reserved" is one of their slogans, and I think it clarifies what they do. It smooths out the copy writing process to allow greater sharing which thus allows greater progress in learning through different medias. Another mantra is "Share, Remix, Reuse -Legally." On their website, this is followed by the simple description that CC is a nonprofit organization that increases sharing and improves collaboration." One of my professors from last semester, Tim Schweizer, believes that eventually copyright will disintegrate because our system of learning and collaboration will become so incredibly shared. It was interesting hearing about this organization, that is seemingly moving towards that path by loosening the copyrights as they apply to media. I'm taking Organizational Behavior with him next semester, and I will definitely be asking him about his opinion on this issue, and if he uses it at all (although I know we utilize Flat World Knowledge in the class, which is similar because books are viewed electronically for free by students). Allison Domicone, who worked at CC, has the same job that I have at Luther, which is a Development Assistant. I'm becoming happier every time we meet with a organization that I took that Student Director of Annual Giving job, instead of sticking with cleaning the pool at night.

After our meeting with CC we had free time. Jacob, Aaron, Bryan and I went to China Town to look around and grab dinner. It was mostly window shopping, most of the things I actually liked were from Thailand. I think that will be my next travel destination. We asked for recommendations for dinner, and went to R&G lounge (we should have shared food, they were rather large portions) then raced back to the hotel before heading off to the Purple Onion comedy club.

We barely got into the Purple Onion, which was hosting SF Sketchfest- a traveling comedian troupe. We didn't buy our tickets ahead of time (woops). While we were anxiously waiting in

line to get in, I looked up the stairs and saw the one and only ROBIN WILLIAMS! I told my group and started tapping them all on the shoulder and it took them a while to actually believe me and turn their heads. He passed by me and was very polite. It was the best moment ever. Everyone got super quiet- it was just too surreal. We finally got into the club and half of us stood at the bar while we listened to the show. There was only one Comedian in the firstgroup (Dave something?) that I thought was pretty funny. His style was sort of like Dane Cook. We were able to stay for the second show, called Joke-e-oke. Where people from the audience do a short stint of acting like comedian. There were 3 funnies from this group, a young white woman doing Chris Rock, a young chinese woman which was funny in of itself, & a middle aged man doing a black woman. It was much funnier than the previous group I thought. At the end of the show, the group got pictures with Robin Williams, Rick Overton, Paul Provenza & one other who I now forget. It was an incredible night, and day. A wonderful Friday, I can't believe how much fun it was.

Lots of Laughs

Our beautiful day began at Netvibes, a dashboard company that I believe that Luther should use. It would get all of Luther's info set on one page, which would be incredibly useful for both students, faculty and staff.

Lunch was great. The shops around the area were very interesting, ranging from a "Salted Pig Parts" to "Mushroom" Shops.

Kiva was an especially interesting organization for me to visit because I've made loans through them before through Luther's social welfare group (S.E.E.D.s).

We had a group meal at Scoma's, which was a delightful time

Scene Two, Take One

This morning we met with Ann Winblad, a venture investor that is one of the founders of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Her office was beautiful.

After that we went to the Exploratorium.

We went to a bistro called Boudin, where we took advantage of happy hour by getting 1/2 priced appetizers, beers and cocktails.