Days 20-21: The Last Weekend!

01/28/2018

The past two days held beautiful weather, life-defining views, and some of the coolest experiences of the whole trip!

Saturday was our 4 hour bike ride along Fisherman's Wharf, then through some biking paths until we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge! It was one of the most amazing experiences for me personally because I was so awestruck. I've seen thousands of pictures of the bridge, but riding a bike across this 1.7 mile-long bridge is truly inspiring. Looking up to see the arches 750 feet up is something words simply cannot describe. The bike ride from the Ferry Building in San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point is about 16 miles round trip, with several steep inclines and declines. But if you are able, I highly recommend taking a day to explore this wonderful bridge and coastline.

That held most of the adventures Saturday, finishing the day with a home-cooked meal with beef kebabs and Fettuccine Alfredo, which was incredibly delicious. I was just so glad and thankful to have a safe bike ride among the chaos of the bridge and that area, and to have the strength to do so as well. If you are blessed with perfect weather like I was, you will have the best day of your life.

Sunday, I must admit I was quite soar from such a demanding ride, but my body felt good from such a workout! I woke up and had some cereal before embarking for a 4 mile round-trip walk to the Painted Ladies (some famous houses next to a park in San Fran), which was cool to see! Tyler and I then continued on to the "Full House" house, which although an unusual and not necessarily exciting spot to visit, it was very cool to say that I have seen the building that held the characters of "Full House", which was one of my favorite TV shows growing up. We then walked back to the house for some video games and lunch before hiking again. This time, Devin, Tyler and I hiked up the road just 15 minutes to Corona Heights Park to get some amazing sunset views of San Fran, our last views of the whole city before embarking for home tomorrow! Although it wasn't as high or as full as views from the famous Twin Peaks, it was still a rocky, thrilling exploration filled with some last views of most of the city.

Flying to Minneapolis tomorrow! Sad to leave such a beautiful place with such a great climate for January! Nevertheless, I am excited to see family and friends again. I will leave one last post after safe arrival back home with my lasting thoughts on the trip.

Erik Nelson

Day 19: Hummer Winblad, Alcatraz, and the Castro Theatre!

01/27/2018

Today concluded our meetings with companies, and may be considered one of my favorite and most packed days of the entire trip!

We started this Friday with clear skies and a visit to see Managing Director Steve Kishi at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Steve was so incredibly knowledgeable and was a perfect end to our visits this trip.

First, Steve gave us a sort of pitch that he would normally give to a potential lender. He showed us and told us about the seven funds that HWVP has had since its start back in the 90s. We learned about the funds and about the return rate (which averaged to about 48%, which meant that over the first 7 funds, they were averaging about that much more than the amount that was invested out to companies). We saw some of their key investments that have given them very large returns, such as Net Perceptions and Extensity, which are considered dragon companies. Steve told us he tends to not like the term "unicorn" because he thinks it is inaccurate to the companies true value, and therefore HWVP looks for companies that are software based only, and are at the EARLY stages of development, being less than 10 employees at that point in time.

It is important to recognize that the only way HWVP makes money at all is if a company gets bought out or they IPO (initial public offering). Because of this HWVP fund terms are somewhat loosely defined, for a company can span over a long or very short period of time before one of those things happen, key events can effect each fund.

I thought it was interesting how they had one very bad fund that saw a lost of money, and he explained the lessons that were learned from that experience (back in the 2000s) and why that means we are NOT in a bubble 2.0 (as Onset Ventures indicated to us). Steve showed us that we have learned from our mistakes, and there is no longer such a large gap between a companies actual worth and the amount that is actually invested in it. I found this point interesting and factually very sound. I wondered what it would be like to have Shomit and Steve in the same room debating this topic!

Steve also touched on data being the only real market today: he found that to not be true at all, although all successful companies today must instead leverage data wisely, but it does not need to be there actual product base.

The last few pieces of information came from advice about pitching to a VC and his main tips as to how to be better than 80% of the companies he interviews (he mentioned they hear hundreds of pitches a year, but only bring on a handful). These tips include: focus on your business model, not your product (by only dedicating one slide to the product, you have much more room to get the functionality of your business explained). You should have a bottom-up perspective on your impact on the market, instead of a top-down focus (avoiding phrases like "we only need 1% of the market"). He said that they hear people who are not necessarily brought in through connections, but it does help. You should understand who your interviewing with, what stage they focus in, and what their focus is.

Once he was done, we heard our last book report from Ryan, who told us the long tail, meaning the niche market, and how someone can be quite successful focusing on the niche market.

After that, we went to Alcatraz! For about $37 dollars, you get the ferry ride there and back, and can explore anything on the island. It was truly an experience to remember for me. We took a walk around the island before making our way up the hill to the prison and taking the audio tour. I felt so much history and learned so much about a place that means so much to American history to me. The walk through the prison was so powerful, and I found so much to be fascinating aspects of the prison that I never knew before. Plus an ex-prisoner was actually there signing books! It felt so surreal to shake hands with an ex-criminal of that prison.

We then walked around and saw remaining pieces of the civil war fort that was also on the island. I also learned a bit about how crucial that island was to Native American rights as they fought for their own freedom. I highly recommend the audio tour and any aspects about the Native American history there.

We then ferried back to the mainland, where we wandered to In-and-Out Burger for dinner before going to the Castro Theatre for the first night of their Noir City Film Festival, where they show Noir films made between 1940 and 1953. It was an atmosphere so unique to that theatre, as it is the birthplace of the genre of film, and definitely has its place as some of the most influential films in history. We saw I Wake Up Screaming and Among the Living, the former being a "Classy A" film and the latter being a "Trashy B" film. But they both had interesting aspects that made it a real treat to watch.

Golden Gate Bridge bike ride Saturday! Expect one or two more entries before departing for Minneapolis.

Day 18: Book Report, Golden Gate Park, and Safe Graph!

01/25/2018

Today was a day with beautiful, slightly unexpected sunshine and some pretty interesting experiences with a startup!

The day started with Jacob's book report, covering The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. I found the information from this report very interesting, and almost the easiest to connect to. Guy was an engineer during the early creation of the Macintosh with Apple and worked during the Steve Jobs era. He covered multiple topics in his book in a very condensed way. Some of the highlights from the report are: it is crucial to secure a vision with goals that increase the quality of life, right a wrong, and/or prevent the end of something good. Guy is a big fan of mantra's as opposed to mission statements because they are short and sweet and say exactly what the company does (i.e. Nike's mantra can be deduced to 3 or 4 words, being "authentic athletic performance"). Then the most important part is to actually get going by thinking differently or outside the box as others, polarizing people to either LOVE or HATE your product, and find a few soul mates to truly rely on. He also commented strongly on hiring others that are better than yourself, and gave advice on pitching an idea to a VC by following the 10/20/30 rule.

After this presentation, a few of us walked a fair distance to Golden Gate Park, which I would recommend to anyone visiting San Francisco! There is just so much to do, and with limited time, I definitely wish that I had more time to explore this huge park. Instead we picked the best we could with a limited time frame and went to the Japanese Tea Gardens, and for $9 you can explore this beautiful park, which instills some peaceful, relaxing feels to you as you walk through a unique landscape.

After that, we changed and went to our meeting with Jack and one of the founders of Safe Graph, a startup that focuses on making information and data universally available to all people, and currently provides data in academia and government circles. However, I felt that this company, while having a unique atmosphere in location and office to say the least, being very loud and open to the street, was somewhat lacking some vision and did not really fulfill a market space that was not already occupied by Wikipedia or others. But I did feel like I did gain some knowledge through hearing about their failures and learning from them: being resilient is very important. The most important piece advice that I gained from the founder was surrounding your self by a good, talented team. That can often be the biggest key to being successful. From Jack, I learned how \going out on a whim and having doubts is okay: he told a story of when he applied for a job with Facebook, and how the interviews, technical and otherwise, went well. However, he interviewed with one person who clearly clashed in personalities, and he was declined very quickly. To me, this meant that failures happen, for sometimes the worst reasons, and recovering from them is more important than anything.

One last stop tomorrow, then Alcatraz!

Erik Nelson

Day 17: W2O, Kiva, and some great Italian!

01/24/2018

Nearing the end of our trip of a lifetime, and we had two distinct, interesting meetings with two companies based in San Francisco!

Our first company today was W2O, and we met with Aaron Strout, the Chief Marketing Officer for the company, and his confidence combined with his interactive setup for the meeting made this meeting particularly exciting for me. He asked us about what our first concert was, and he and I happened to have the same one, which really said something for me about my maturity level when I was much younger.

Anyways, some of the main takeaways that I got from him were his remarkable stories and living proof as to how effective networking truly is. He gave us some great examples from his own life as to how networking has paid off for him, and how helping others (i.e talking to us) can also be a learning experience for him. He said that if he weren't learning every day in his job, he would not still be at W2O. He talked about how one's work, energy, and dedication can noticeably decrease if one is not doing something they are passionate about. Aaron used several effective metaphors, including "scratching an itch", meaning doing something that really makes you feel good, or fills a void in your life, even for a short while. He mentioned changing jobs as soon as you feel the need to satisfy another itch (as long as you are making a difference). Another good metaphor that he mentioned a couple of times was dating. You don't just jump into a marriage, a long-term commitment, without going on a date and getting to know who you are with first. Therefore, connecting with others and learning as much as you can about your work is always a good idea. Making career decisions in key parts of life, before having kids, during the early years of marriage, is also key. Lastly, we talked about work-life balance, and how for him, the two are very connected, and his work definitely drives him forward.

We then walked to Little Italy, where, after a while of wandering, found a little restaurant that has great Italian food, where I had yummy meat/cheese tortellini with white sauce! Definitely one of my favorite dishes in San Francisco.

After lunch, we met at Kiva with Jules, where we learned about Kiva as a nonprofit organization that does micro-financing for people that need funding that they cannot get from banks because of a lack of credit history, too small of a loan amount, or lack of access to a bank. They definitely sold their mission to me, and I felt very connected to their mission (although Luther College already is), and anyone can loan money with a 97% return rate, meaning that money will eventually be paid back to me with no interest. The borrowers take this money and use it to fund schooling, agricultural work, or something else that can help them make a living (often in third-world countries). 2.7 million people receive funding from 1.7 million people, and over 1 billion dollars have been loaned.

I think what impressed me most about their company was their workplace! It was so open with lots of chatter, filled with fun desktops and work spaces. They had a dog that casually cruises the workplace, offering a smile to people as this puppy walks by. I felt very welcomed there, and I felt the people there were passionate about their work and were happy to be there! Probably some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Going to eat tacos for dinner now! Looks like we have two destinations for tomorrow, one being Apptelligence!

Day 16: More Book Reports, Exploratorium, and a Cable Car Ride!

01/23/2018

Today was another day featuring book reports and more amazing (and slightly unplanned) adventures!

We started the day with book reports from Claire and Matt. In Claire's book report, we talked heavily on consumerism, and how much affect a consumer really has on the planning, designing, and execution on a company's products. We talked about how that affect can change depending on what kind of customer (whether it's a single person or a whole business) is buying or using a product. We talked about some examples of some company products that make it big (or eventually make it big, after "crossing the chasm") or fail miserably because the public isn't ready, the cost is too high, or some other reason.

In Matt's book report, we talked about the lean startup, and the main takeaways I took from his presentation are the cycle that a company must repeatedly go through in order to succeed: vision, steer, and accelerate. A company must have a clear vision with clear goals. A company must, somewhere in that vision, devise an exit strategy, whether that is getting bought out or something else. In steering, a company must pivot or find a way or means in which to tailor to a customer or do something big in order to stay competitive. Finally, a company must accelerate, not stopping at any particular point and making decisions only for the betterment of the company. Sometimes that can mean that a founder needs to step down in order to protect the values put in place by that company. Lastly, we talked about having a minimal viable product (MVP) for customers when you are starting out.

Next, as an entire group, we went to the Exploratorium on one of the piers of San Francisco, right next to Fisherman's Wharf! This place was so cool, and had countless contraptions, experiments, and devices that taught lessons about some of the most fundamental parts of our society: Light and Color, Physics, Biology, and much more. One of my favorites was a room where all color seemingly disappear: the Monochromatic Room. Inside, you see so yellow, and shades of yellow, until you shine a flashlight around the room, and you see the color of these objects revealed in true form! I was blown away at how the pigments seemed to disappear and reappear so easily.

After that, a group of us went to a Gelateria for gelato, and it was so amazing! I had bourbon butter pecan mixed with roasted nut fudge. I love gelato to begin with, but this was so good and definitely hit the spot on a warm, sunny day.

Then we took a cable car, famous in SF, to get some groceries. I must say this was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I say this because our driver was so nice, funny, and careful! Through the tremendously steep hills, as I hung off the side, he told the whole car my name and that I was from Wisconsin! He even joked about him losing 4 people named Erik to sharp turns! By the end, people passing by were laughing at the sight of us chanting my name, and other strange things, and ringing the bell continuously! I was blushing and laughing so hard at some of the conversations he had with others and myself, telling new passengers my name, while also introducing me to some strangers.

After this amazing experience, we took the transit to get burgers and queso, which we ate as a group tonight. All in all, a long but wonderful day.

Early start tomorrow! Two visits and a book report planned!

Erik Nelson

Day 15: Book Reports and Twin Peaks!

01/22/2018

Today was a day of knowledgeable feedback about my classmate's book reports, and some wonderful physical activity to my new favorite place in San Francisco!

First, We had book reports from Katie and Joey, who informed us about letters from company founders and the art of the 4 hour work week, respectively. Katie showed us that successful founders know when to step away, because their passion can sometimes be too much for where the company is heading. She also showed us that founders have a very wide range of advice that they would give to people starting out, from growing your network to follow what your passionate about and do not give up, even if you fail 5 or 6 times. Joey taught us about a method one can develop through delegation and proper time management to only work 4 hours a week. While I appealed to this idea, I was not at all convinced that the 4 hour work week was all it was said to be, let alone achievable. We discussed how some of the most successful career paths come from setting very clear, understandable, and measurable goals (and even setting some goals that are very far from your reach).

Then, as shown in the picture below, I hiked with some friends to Twin Peaks, which I heard so much about through other people, and was popularized by the TV series with the same name. This place is quite the hike, being over 900 feet in elevation, and is about a 1 mile-long hike straight up the hill from our house, but it is certainly worth the hard work! It had sweeping, glorious views of the entire bay, including downtown, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and places we would never be able to explore in a week! It was certainly one of the highlights from the trip.

After that, we walked to a nearby Safeway and purchased food for brats and hot dogs on the grill. A perfect way to end the day!

More book reports tomorrow! Followed by a trip to the Exploratorium!

Erik Nelson

Days 13-14: Redwood Forest and Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco!

01/22/2018

This was truly a weekend to remember, and it started with a hike in the Redwood Forest before moving to our big house in the Castro in San Francisco. This was such a beautiful, needed hike after meetings that mainly involved sitting. The trees in this forest were the biggest I have ever seen, and the trails could be adventured for a whole day.

From there, we exchanged our vehicles and used public transit to move to the Castro, in the heart of San Francisco. The Castro is home to the PRIDE community majority, interestingly, and has many PRIDE flags around this part of the city. It definitely has a positive impact on the hustle and bustle of this beautiful city.

We then explored our new house, which is gorgeous in every regard! With everything to 3 floors, beautiful bathrooms and a ping pong table, this place will be a great place to relax.

Sunday, I went with some friends to Fisherman's Wharf, a wonderful tourist spot in SF, and I highly recommend walking around, exploring the shops, and tasting some of the wonderful food that is around the pier areas. We went to In-and-Out Burger and had some delicious fast food before getting some famous Krispy Kreme doughnuts. We also saw the bakery that houses the home of sourdough bread!

We then walked down to Pier 39, which is home to countless Sea Lions, relaxing, swimming, and fishing in the pier. It was so cool to see so many of them lounging around with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz in the background.

We concluded the weekend with some viewing of the Vikings game, which I was thankful to watch the 38-7 victory for the Eagles (but the rest of the housemates weren't as happy). We then had a group meal making pizza and watching movies!

Book reports and more exploring tomorrow!

Erik Nelson