Thought it might be relevant to cross post a summary of the recent CBS tech trek here:
We just wrapped up the 12th CBS Silicon Valley trip which by many counts was the most successful yet. It was CBS’ largest ever tech trek (helped by the fact the CBS Green trek happened in parallel) and arguably included the finest selection of valley companies including Apple, Facebook, Google and IDEO.
What a refreshing start to the new decade. The entreprenurial techno-utopian approach of this coast is inspiring. Every other person seems to be working at a startup, on a startup or at the very least is concerned about competition from a startup. I am guessing the valley has one of the highest engineer / capita ratios out there. The economic gloom affecting NY and most of the world hasn’t dampened the sunny outlook in the valley. Most companies we met are growing and hiring. That naturally made many of us job-seeking MBAs happy. Although it was tempered by Columbia’s outsider status in the valley.
We touched on many of the components that make the valley what it is. Staying at the Sheraton Palo Alto right across from Stanford, meeting startups Zynga and Meebo, valley giants eBay and Yahoo, hosting a VC panel with CBS alums and meeting some of the new green wave of companies and VCs that many expect to be a growth area for the valley.
Company Visits
The Googleplex is as bonkers as you’d expect. Free gourmet food, massages, day-care, the whole place has an Alice in Wonderland, Adult Kindergarten video going that is infectious and impossible not to love. The company is obviously going through some organizational teething problems to be expected with the all the growth and change it’s going through but still seemed like an awesomely exciting place to work. Hiring.
The Yahoo! campus is purple and yellow ALL over (right down the flowers and window frames) with lots of the valley perks (24-hr gyms, free weekly concerts etc). The firm seems to be getting back on track under Bartz’ leadership. Hiring.
eBay seemed fun although more on the corporate side than most other companies we met. They’re a lot bigger than a lot of the CBS students expected (campus size, # employees etc). If eBay were a retail company, it would be the 10th biggest in the US just after Target. Hiring.
Facebook was one of the most eagerly awaited visits and it did not disappoint. 2010 is going to be a key year in revenue realization for these guys and we got some insight into their tightrope approach balancing privacy and advertising dollars. Hiring.
Zynga was a company few of us knew much about (apart from those annoying Mafia War updates on our fb streams) but the startup left a big impression. They are experiencing crazy growth rates, more than doubling their workforce in the last year and hiring upwards of 300 people. They’re on cutting edge of social gaming and are trying to figure out their industry as they build it. Fun!
IDEO was as inspiring as expected. Workplace second only to Google. The recession hasn’t been good for them. They are branching out heavily into the greenspace (as most of the valley seems to be). Maybe hiring.
Apple was super secretive.
All in all an amazing trip.
Lots of other B Schools were out in the valley at the same time including Sloan who had this report on their tech trek.
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