Silicon Valley Immersion
Walking Immersion around Palo Alto’s University Av. Area
Resource Document – V1.3
Need to think about:
Handouts
Itinerary, schedule and map
Arrange programmed “casual encounters”
Picture authorizations
Quiz for right audience? Price a SVI jacket/coffee mug?
Group Dynamics:
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How many tour guides?
Dress code
Identify where to stop for briefing
When to talk and when to be silent and let them talk among themselves
Do we split the group or handle all at once? What is the limit?
How do we manage group or subgroups pictures
Picture taking and group photos protocol
Meeting Place: Palo Alto Train Station – Café Venetia. All day parking available @ $4.00
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Resources:
Santa Clara History
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPzXYCqjtn8
Secret History of Silicon Valley
http://steveblank.com/2009/04/20/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-part-v-happy-100th-birthday-silicon-valley/
A Historical Tour of Silicon Valley
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/svtour.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_(California)
Redwood Tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Palo_Alto
Stanford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University
Peter Thiel article in NYorker Paypal, Facebook
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/11/28/111128fa_fact_packer
Café Venetia 419 University Avenue
http://www.cafevenetia.com/
The Palo Alto Egg
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/02/14/silicon-valley-sightings-the-palo-alto-egg/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley
foundations in Palo Alto
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=foundations+in+palo+alto&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Sand Hill Road Venture Capitalist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_Hill_Road
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Steve Jobs June 12, 2005
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
The Advantage of the Research-Intensive University” The University of the 21st Century
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/pres-provost/president/speeches/980503peking.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi_Company
Sign commemorating the site of Schokley Laboratories
NPR: The Birth Of Silicon Valley: A Timeline (This graphical presentation covers the period from the formation of Hewlett Packard in 1938
to the 1971 first appearance of the nickname Silicon Valley in print. Includes a picture of the garage where William Hewlett and David
Packard founded Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1939)
NPR: 3 Part Series on Silicon Valley by Laura Sydell
 Part I: A Rare Mix Created Silicon Valley’s Startup Culture: read the article / listen to the audio
 Part II: America’s Magnet For Innovation, And Investments: read the article / listen to the audio
 Part III: Intel Legends Moore And Grove: Making It Last: read the article / listen to the audio
A History of Silicon Valley: The Greatest Creation of Wealth in the History of the Planet by Piero Scaruffi and Arun Rao
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A Guided History of Silicon Valley: iTunes App: Silicon Valley Roots & Shoots
iTunes App, an insider’s guide to the companies, people, and products that created this vibrant center of high-tech innovation. More
info Tracking down the roots (the pioneers) and shoots (the spin-out companies) of the digital revolution is made easy with this unique guide
to over 150 locations and resources in the southern San Francisco Bay Area cities, campuses and industrial parks. Each location has many
photos, concise descriptions, maps, and links to additional information.
Age of the Inspired Riff: Learning from the Golden Gate on its 75th via The Wall Street Journal
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
 The Full Text Of Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Speech
Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. Includes a section on San Jose and Silicon Valley.
Cisco Acquisition Strategy
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy
Facebook’s History: From Dorm To IPO
 Consider Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Law of Social Sharing
Tesla Motors was founded in 2003 by a group of intrepid Silicon Valley engineers who set out to prove that electric vehicles could be
awesome.
SiliconBeat The people and companies driving the innovation of Silicon Valley
The Silicon Valley Way, Second Edition: Discover 45 Secrets for Successful Start-Ups by Elton Sherwin
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
 ONE: INNOVATION THROUGH PHILANTHROPY
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California's Historic Silicon Valley
Growth of a Silicon Empire by Henry Norr published at the end of 1999 in the San Francisco Chronicle
How Silicon Valley Came to BePDF (90.0 KiB)
Red tile roofs in Bangalore: Stanford's look copied in Silicon Valley and beyond from Stanford University
The Silicon Valley Cultures Project from San Jose State University
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Silicon Valley Historical Association
A Weekend in Silicon Valley - slideshow by The New York Times
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Place
Information
Activity/Reason
Median resident age:
41.9 years
California median age:
45.6 years
Total Area: 25.787 sq. mi
(66.787 km2) – 100%
Land: 23.884 sq. mi
(61.858 km2) --92.62%
Water: 1.903 sq. mi
(4.929 km2) --7.38%
T
Role of the environment in
fostering, creativity, innovation
and entrepreneurship:
First Settled: 1769
Incorporated: 1894
Population: 64,403 (2010
Census)
Males: 31,490
(48.9%)
Females: 32,913
(51.1%)
Growth rate: since 2000 ~+10%
Learning Outcomes
General Talking points about
Palo Alto during the walking
immersion
Why Palo Alto?
Role of Stanford University
A mixed community of
students, entrepreneurs,
residential, business, investors,
etc.
A highly desirable place to live,
work, study, and have fun!
 Stanford University, the first
to break the European mold
that Academic and Business
do NOT mix! (prostitution of
science!)
 Role of VC’s… Sand Hill
Road. Highest concentration
of risk capital in the world!
N/A
 Creation of the Ecosystem:
lawyers, accountants,
headhunters, etc….
Compare and contrast to
East Palo Alto? Not sure…
Educational Attainment:
Estimated median household
6
income (2009): $119K (it was
$90K in 2000)
Palo Alto: $119K
California: $59K
Estimated per capita income in
2009: $66K
Housing Prices:
Number of living units:
Estimated median house or
condo value in 2009: $917K
($776K in 2000)
California: $384K
Mean prices in 2009:
Detached houses: $984K
Townhouses or other attached
units: $651K;
In 2-unit structures: $562K
In 3-to-4-unit structures:
$486K; In 5-or-more-unit
structures: $502K;
Median gross rent in 2009:
~$1.7K
7
Palo Alto Chamber of
Commerce
400 Mitchell Lane
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Contact Person(s):
Name: Paul Wright,
CEO/President
Phone: 650 324 3121 ext. 5
e-mail:
pwright@paloaltochamber.co
m
Web site:
www.paloaltochamber.com
Welcome by the USF Team
Overview of the tour itinerary
Welcome by the Palo Alto
Chamber of Commerce
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
in these areas
 Intro to SV
 Geography
 History of Palo Alto
30’
Introduction to Palo Alto
Business Community
Number of businesses by
segment:
Every long and arduous
journey starts with the first
step…. Humble beginnings!
Facebook's First Offices
156 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.businessinsider.co
m/facebook--‐office--‐early--‐
interview--‐mark--‐zuckerberg-‐2005
 June 2004 – Facebook moved
its base of operations to Palo
Alto
 July 2004 – Facebook received
its first investment from
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel
 2005 – Facebook dropped
“The” from its name after
purchasing the domain name
facebook.com for $200,000
 Facebook’s current HQ located
at 1601 S. California Avenue in
Palo Alto, not too far from the
first office location
Point to the first office of
Facebook,
 Humble beginnings
 Cash conservation
 Use of options with
landlord/suppliers/employe
es
8
Every long and arduous
journey starts with the first
step…. Humble beginnings!
Google's First Office
165 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/b
usiness--‐10944196
T-Mobile
161 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
 September 1998 – Prior to the
office in Palo Alto Google set
up workspace in Susan
Wojcicki’s (SVP of Advertising
at Google) garage at 232 Santa
Margarita, Menlo Park.
 September 4, 1998 – Google
filed for incorporation in
California. Shortly thereafter,
Larry and Sergey opened a
bank account in the newlyestablished company’s name
and deposit Andy
Bechtolsheim’s check. Larry
and Sergey hired Craig
Silverstein as their first
employee who was a fellow
computer science grad student
at Stanford
 February 1999 – Google
outgrew garage office and
moved to Palo Alto office with
eight employees
Experience a sale channel for
mobile communication
devices. Highlight Nokia Lumia.
 Fourth largest wireless carrier
in the U.S. after Verizon, AT&T,
and Sprint
 Over 34 million users
Continue the conversation
points started with Facebbok.
 Humble beginnings
 Cash conservation
 Use of options with
landlord/suppliers/employe
es
5’
Innovation includes all aspect of
the product development and
extend end-to-end user
experience. Critical role of the
Business Model!
5’
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 Over $20B annual revenue
HP Garage
367 Addison Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H
P_Garage
Garage Tours: while the HP
Garage is not open for public
tours, visitors may view and
photograph the property and
landmark from the sidewalk.
Garage brochure:
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/ab
outhp/histnfacts/publications/
garage/garage_2010-06.pdf
“The Birthplace of Silicon
Valley” (California State
Historic Landmark #976) that
reads:
“This garage is the birthplace
of the world's first hightechnology region, "Silicon
Valley." The idea for such a
region originated with Dr.
Frederick Terman, a Stanford
university professor who
encouraged his students to
The house was built circa 1905. Increase awareness of the
The first documented residents History of SV:
were Dr. John Spencer, a
 The gold rush, when
physician, and his wife, Ione.
everything started,
Dr. Spencer was the first mayor
of Palo Alto in.
 Emigrant entrepreneurs,
 Stanford University role in
This property, was granted
the development of SV.
California state landmark
 Introduce Prof. F. Terman as
status as Registered Landmark
one of the fathers of SV
No. 976 in 1987 and dedicated
 His students Bill Hewlett
as the birthplace of Silicon
and Dave Packard,
Valley in 1989.
 Other companies started by
Terman’s students: Varian,
HP purchased the property in
etc…
2000. Due to the state of
disrepair of the buildings, HP
Leading questions, why visiting
started a rehabilitation of this
this place?
revered heritage piece, to
reflect the respect and pride
 1939 - Stanford University
felt for the contributions
classmates Bill Hewlett and
Dave Packard founded the
Hewlett and Packard's garage
company in a Palo Alto Garage.
startup made to the overall
They had a mere $538 in startcultural fabric of our times.
In September 2004, HP
announced the activities to
preserve for future generations
this landmark. The project
turned the clock back to the
original house, shed and
10’
up capital, banked from
sources like Lucile Packard’s
job as secretary to the
Stanford registrar.
 First product built in a HP
Garage – It was an audio
oscillator, an electronic test
instrument used by sound
10
start
up their own electronics
companies in the area instead
of joining established firms in
the East. The first two students
to follow his advice were
William R. Hewlett and David
Packard, who in 1938 began
developing their first product,
an audio oscillator, in this
garage.”
garage to the conditions they
were originally in 1939 when
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard
established they now
legendary Hewlett Packard
partnership. The project was
completed in December 2005.
Corporate Innovation Center
AT&T Foundry
260 Homer Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.att.com/gen/press
--‐room?pid=2949
Contact: Mark Nagle, Executive
Director
Contact
Name: Sandro Olivieri
Sr. Marketing Manager
Cell: 415 203 8355
e-mail: so682@att.com
Web site:
www.att.com/foundry
 General Purpose – Innovation
development through a
diverse, collaborative
community supported by a
network of strategic
technology companies / open
environment for applications,
devices, cloud services,
enabling technologies, and
operational support
 Palo Alto Center – Emphasis on
developing applications and
enablers for the Consumer
segment
 September 14, 2011 – Palo
Alto center opened.
 This is the third addition
joining the ATT&T foundries in
Plano, TX (USA) and Tel Aviv
(Israel).
engineers
 First customer – It was Walt
Disney Studios, which
purchased eight oscillators to
develop and test an innovative
sound system for the movie
Fantasia
 HP current headquarter is not
too far away from the HP
Garage – 3000 Hannover
Street, Palo Alto
Established companies (like
AT&T) would like to mimic the
economic value created by
young of start-ups.
 Connect to Corporate
Incubators
 Corporate Venture Funds
 (i.e. Nokia Ventures)
 Corporate Innovation
Centers
 Mention the presence in the
valley of Wal-Mart Labs, etc.
 Why to be present in SV?
20’
11
University Café
271 University Avenue
Palo Alto,
CA 94301
COFFEE BREAK
http://www.yelp.com/biz/univ
ersity--‐coffee--‐cafe--‐palo--‐
alto
Eating, having fun, exercising,
and conversations are all
around business and work!
7/24 culture
30’
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
 The importance of
networking in SV
 Coffee culture
 Bodies in movement stay in
movement. Seeking
acceleration… all the time
working!
COFFEE BREAK
OR
Coupa Café
538 Ramona Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
 The importance of
networking in SV
 Coffee culture
 Bodies in movement stay in
movement. Seeking
acceleration… all the time
working!
Eating, having fun, exercising,
and conversations are all
around business and work!
7/24 culture
Owner of the coffee shop to
share few stories
OR
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Apple Store
451 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.apple.com/compa
nystore/
Technology Store
Where technology is sold:
 Number of stores – 364 stores
in 14 countries (246 stores in
the U.S.)
 Number of visitors – 3rd
quarter 2011 hosted over
2,400 visitors/day/store
 Annual revenue of stores –
Over $108 Billion (2011)
 Retail ranks – 21st largest retail
store-chain in the USA.
Fry’s electronics
340 Portage Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Where technology is sold
http://www.frys.com/
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
in these areas
 Early adopters
 Re-inventing retail
 Conflict with distributors
and resellers,
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
in these areas
 Early adopters
 Trying new technology
 Experiment culture
Free
1hr.
Technology Store
Need to identify 3-4 nonprofits in the same area
From Business to Social
Entrepreneurship:
 Extraordinary wealth
creation.
 Some entrepreneurs choose
to invest in new type of
social ventures to create
Social Value/benefits.

Google.org?
Skoll Foundation
Betty & Gordon Moore
Foundation?
Any Community foundation?
Museum of American Heritage
Fri, Sat, Sun: 11AM – 4PM
3xx Hornet St.
Theme: Inventing the 20th
Century
Check the National Registry of
Historic Places
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Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.moah.org/
Palo Alto History Museum
3xx Hornet St.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Federal Telegraph Company
913 Emerson Street/Channing
Palo Alto, CA 94301
http://www.homeravenue.co
m/Lee_deForest.htm
Contact Person(s):
Name
Phone
e-mail
On the southeast corner of
Emerson St. and Channing
Ave., there is another plaque,
this one entitled “Electronics
Research Laboratory”
(California State Historic
Landmark #836). It reads:
Make the connection and
differentiate scientific
discoveries to technological
innovations:
The founding of FTC predates
Hewlett-Packard by nearly
forty years, but when busloads of visitors come to Palo
Alto to pay their respects to
the birthplace of Silicon
Valley, they stop at the first
plaque (the HP garage), but not
the second (FTC).
 Radio communications the
early hi-tech presence in the
Valley,
 Connect to G. Marconi
Technological innovations.
 Difference between
Marconi and brilliant
scientists like Maxwell,
faraday, Tesla, Hertz, etc.
“Original site of the laboratory
and factory of Federal
Telegraph Company, founded
in 1909 by Cyril F. Elwell. Here,
with two assistants, Dr. Lee
deForest, inventor of the
three-element radio vacuum
14
tube, devised in 1911-13
the first vacuum tube amplifier
and oscillator. World-wide
developments based on this
research.”
Medallion Rugs
353 University Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Carpet store as an
Angel Investor
Store hours: 9AM to 7PM
Monday through Saturdays.
Sundays closed
Tel. 650 329 9020
http://www.medallionrug.com/
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2
012/0409/feature-pejman-nozadtech-silicon-valley-cinderella.html
Steve Job’s Home
SV entrepreneurs live here!
Contact: Amir Amidi (owner)
Athletic Club/Cycling
How one guy who barely spoke
English landed in the Bay Area,
sold Persian rugs to venture
capitalists--and became one of
the most successful angels in
tech.
Increase awareness in the
areas of:
 Angel investing: definition
and role
 Introduce “smart money”
 “Everyone could become an
angel”

Increase awareness in the
areas of:
 The importance of
networking in SV
 Common interest outside
work lead back to work
Restaurants
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