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Adventures with

and a stealthy startup

by: Jessica Valenzuela, photography by Erin Loscocco

 Starring:Jared Friedman, Richard Price, Matt Brezina, Immad Akhund, FatemaYasmine, Anusha Su, Gabor Cselle, Erin Loscocco, Jessica Valenzuela

and friends from Peru, Poland, HongKong and Texas.

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FleetWeek 2010, San Francisco, CA

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Fleetweek in San Francisco, is uber Americana. Every patriot and

their pet is out. To navigate your way around from point A to pointB, one has to wake early (8AM on a weekend!) to ensure two things:

1) you make it to your destination without being stuck in traffic and

2) an ideal parking spot that will not cost an arm and a leg.

I was sure we’d be able to wiggle our way through the day, but you

never know. Thanks to Erin Loscocco, he made sure we took the“backroads” to get to Pier 39 from Treasure Island.

At 1:38AM on 10/09/10 I received instructions from my friend ,

host and Chief sailing mate, Jared Friedman aka co-Founder and

Chief-Technology-Officer at Scribd, the world’s largest book club andself-publishing social destination. The note contained a list of whatto bring, including:

• Sunblock

• Sun glasses

• Camera

• Warm clothing in layers (leg warmers, face mask, sweatshirt and jacket)

• Flare gun (JOKE!)

Check, check and check. Woops, I need to grab strawberries and

chocolate! I promised to bake my famous flourless chocolate cakefor this session, but no time for that now!

After our chocolate strawberry hunting...yes we found some luscious

strawberries dipped in dark chocolate along the touristic corridor of

Fisherman’s Wharf. Note to self, next time check out the TraderJoe’s or Safeway on Bay Street. I discovered that these twoestablishments existed nearby five hours too late. I should have used

my Where iPhone App! Argh!

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At exactly 12:45PM, all aboard! Shouts Captain Friedman. After the

ritual hi, hellos, cheerios with beerios with the rest of the crewincluding fellow co-Captains Richard Price, aka Founder of

Academia.edu and Matt Brenznin, fellow MaiTaier, Founder of Xobni 

and the new stealthy startup.

HeyZap’s co-Founder Immad Akhund and his lovely wife, Fatema

Yasmine and Scottish/German born, Gabor Cselle of Google werepresent. Lionheart’s Fleetweek crew had international representation

from Peru, Poland, Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, HongKong, NewYork, San Francisco and Texas. Diversity in one sail boat on

FleetWeek. This is how it should be.

What Startup People In Silicon Valley Talk About?

The conversation ranged from startup histories, user numbers,kiteboarding, sailing, startups, Social Network the movie, go karting,

startup holiday parties, planning a wedding, diamond ring sizes andmore.

Excited screams, laughter and clap clap clap could be heard in

between the chatter as the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels madenose dives, flips and repeat. Simply riveting!

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One can’t help but notice the sunglass and hat changes that

adorable Fatema pulled off. She remarks “One of the many blessings

of having a husband to carry your things.”

The crew was obviously curious about Matt’s stealthy startup, but

Matt would rather share when it is ready for primetime. Sorry

Michael Arrington!

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How Is This Story Relevant To You?

In many ways it is and perhaps it isn’t. I do hope that it is.

In case you haven’t noticed, the social economy has flooded yourinboxes and lives with useful and at times useless information. It has

influenced change in how you live and given you tools on new waysto do things. You may not realize it, it also opened doors to

gargantuan opportunity in your fingertips.

Everything that is good and great, comes with a new set ofchallenges.

Society’s use of technology fueled conversations and concerns

about privacy. The privacy that we all hold sacred, yet so easilycrossed when one dabbles and consumes online content,

participates and uses anything digital, including yes purchases andpayments for the most basic things in life. There is no escape unless

you choose to live a life free from anything and everything digital,mobile or online. A life protected and secluded from change. Exciting

change that is UNSTOPPABLE.

The social network and technology allows and opens up space forlike-minded individuals to engage and interact. It pushes one out of

their convenience zone to discover others openly. The connectionsand friendships on that sailboat is a testament to online and offline

convergence. Meeting like-minded individuals who share similarpassions on how startups in technology are changing lives and re-

architecting the way we live. Technology and the web has allowedusers to instantaneously cross global boundaries, socio-economic

backgrounds, ethnic origins and more!

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Admittedly, every grain of change comes with dangers and evils, yetas a good netizen, one has to rely heavily on self-regulation. Once I

asked a friend about a difficult decision I had to make, her wise

answer “when faced with challenging decisions, in the end whatmatters is not who is right or who is wrong, in the end what mattersis will it make you happy?”

The Social and Mobile Universe is an iconic testament far bigger than

the tumbling of the Berlin Wall and the coming of age of China intothe new world.

Where will you stand?

Photographs and Memories

Our FleetWeek experience would not be complete without the

amazing photos as the fiery birds zooped and zapped over the clearblue San Francisco skyline. More amazing photos!

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Thank goodness for Erin (TGFE), his amazing talent with the lens

captured the riveting visuals of FleetWeek in San Francisco 2010.More amazing photos!

Thank you to our startup hosts who continue to make changehappen with their ideas while hosting great sailing parties! :-)

More on Jessica Valenzuela’s musings.More photos from Erin Loscocco.

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The Blue Angels