SF Tech Week Has 2,635+ Events — 12 Tactical Tips to Network Without Wasting a Week
FinanceYF5 · x · 2026-10-05
SF/LA Tech Week packs over 2,635 events, and the author argues the biggest mistake isn't missing a few — it's RSVPing to 14 events on Luma/Partiful and leaving with zero relationships worth following up. Key advice:
- Pick 2-3 anchor events, not 14. Events cluster in SOMA, then FiDi, Jackson Square, Mission Bay, and the Mission. Official bookends: Fireworks × a16z (10/5) and a16z × Unicorner × Notion afterparty (10/9).
- Leave each event with one meaningful conversation and give first — an intro, product feedback, useful material.
- Use AI agents: have an agent research speakers, companies, and topics beforehand (3x deeper prep), and debrief it right after each event on who you met and what to follow up.
- Tools: Granola for capturing panel insights (though 1:1 recording gives people the ick), a digital business card (Atrium, Blinq, Popl, Beacons), a 10,000mAh+ power bank, and layered clothing for SF's four-seasons-a-day weather.
- Follow up within the weekend, with specifics proving you remember the conversation. If fundraising, go where founders and operators cluster, not where VCs are mobbed.
- Better openers than "What do you do?": "What do you most hope to get this week?" or "What's your biggest win this quarter?"
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