Home BizTechDay Connects Entrepreneurs in San Francisco

BizTechDay Connects Entrepreneurs in San Francisco



Edith Yeung has a knack for bringing smart people together.

For evidence of that, one needed to look no further than the fourth floor auditorium of the Metreon in San Francisco last weekend. It was there that Yeung and her team hosted a series of speakers, panels and product demos for a floor full of attendees, each of whom found the line-up tempting enough to coax them out of bed early on a Saturday.

The one-day event for entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts boasted an impressive roster, including representatives from companies like Google, Yahoo, Foursquare, Yelp, Square, Intuit, Mashable, and quite a few others. As was the case at BizTechDay in New York last month, the day was peppered with five-minute product demos aimed at small business owners and other entrepreneurs.

While the speakers, panels and demos were front-and-center, an underlying core component of BizTechDay is to serve as a forum for people to meet each other and network. A few days before the conference, Yeung sent out emails to every attendee, assigning them a “buddy” to meet at the conference. Facilitating these kinds of connections is something Yeung is clearly passionate about.

“BizTechDay is really a conference about people,” said Yeung. “If every single one of us walks away from BizTechDay 2010 with at least one meaningful business connection, a relationship that will truly help and change your business for the life time, we will have done our job.”

Session Highlights: Biz Dev, Media Relations & Social Media

The day opened with a session titled “Meet the Titans: How to work with big boys” which featured Yahoo’s Bob Upham, Google Business Development Manager Robert Meese and Jan Bosch, Intuit’s VP of Process Engineering, who offered startups advice on dealing with larger companies. The panel recommended against being too aggressive or name-dropping when trying to pitch bigger companies. In general, said Meese, the more the bigger company’s road map lines up with the smaller company’s, the more quickly things will move along.

Former CBS-5 news reporter Sue Kwon moderated a panel of journalists and bloggers on media relations and whether entrepreneurs should still focus on getting attention from traditional media outlets. The panel, which consisted of Entreprenuer magazine columnist Mikal Belicove, Mashable Editor Ben Parr, TechCrunch writer Gagan Biyan and CBS Moneywatch reporter Jason Brooks, seemed to agree that the division between “old” and “new” media is overemphasized.

As one might expect, social media was a topic that came up regularly throughout the course of the day. Mashable’s Ben Parr gave a lively presentation that attempted to cut through some of the buzz that tends to hover around social media, urging entrepreneurs to achieve something great first, then look to the social Web to help spread the word.

Clara Shih, author of The Facebook Era doled out tips for marketing via Facebook, and Startup Digest founder Chris McCann offered his advice for building an email marketing empire such as the one he oversees.

In the afternoon, Foursquare’s Director of Business Development Tristan Walker spoke about how businesses can take advantage of location-based social networking, followed by Yelp Business Outreach Manager Luther Lowe, who offered tips to small businesses on how to make the most of Yelp. In short, said Lowe, businesses should not ask people to review them on Yelp or “freak out” when they get negative reviews, and he recommended that they utilize the tools Yelp has made available for business owners.

Some Useful Web Tools For Small Businesses

A total of 16 different products were demoed throughout the day. Some of the most notable were mobile payment app Square, drag-and-drop Website builder Weebly, marketing automation app Infusionsoft and social media tools Needium, Fliptop and Wildfire.

With this year’s BizTechDay series behind them, Yeung and her team are already brainstorming possibilities for 2011, including different formats and locations. Those interested in checking out the event can keep an eye on BizTechDay.com.


About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Get the biggest tech headlines of the day delivered to your inbox

    By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

    Tech News

    Explore the latest in tech with our Tech News. We cut through the noise for concise, relevant updates, keeping you informed about the rapidly evolving tech landscape with curated content that separates signal from noise.

    In-Depth Tech Stories

    Explore tech impact in In-Depth Stories. Narrative data journalism offers comprehensive analyses, revealing stories behind data. Understand industry trends for a deeper perspective on tech's intricate relationships with society.

    Expert Reviews

    Empower decisions with Expert Reviews, merging industry expertise and insightful analysis. Delve into tech intricacies, get the best deals, and stay ahead with our trustworthy guide to navigating the ever-changing tech market.