The Magic of Coffee Shops in San Fran

Where else can you be sitting in a coffee shop and listen to conversations all around you on funding, success, failures, and product market fit? There aren’t many. There are fewer where you can interject and start a new conversation…which is my specialty. I am in San Francisco for a conference that is starting tomorrow. Today I explored the city and am now in a coffee shop in downtown San Fran near the financial district. As I was sitting, here I saw these 2 guys walk in. It appeared to be a founder and an advisor as one (advisor) was older with a notebook and the other in slacks and a zip up. During their conversation, I listened and heard about the founder’s successes over the past year. Raising millions of dollars and succeeding. He is now cashflow positive. The advisor said, “Just think about how amazing this is and you did it all. Think about how many companies in the 1-mile radius of us have tried and failed..and you did it, you broke through.”

I was thinking, this is incredible I am right here listening to this conversation with a successful startup founder in the place where startups are born. As the conversation was ending, I knew I had a split second to grab the advisor’s attention before he walked off. I turned to him and said, “Sorry to bother you, but your conversation sounded very interesting, what do you do?” He started talking with a soft, kind voice about how he does change management. I was a little confused and asked, “In what area.” He said, “People.” I was hooked, I had to learn more.

The next 15 minutes we sat talking about how he advises people on helping them get from point A to point B, by understanding who they are themselves and then helping them realize that they have all the resources that they need to succeed. I had to learn about what his background was and quickly learned, as he said: “he brought the first people to the internet.” I knew this was real now. Not just a conversation but one with true value a true gem in San Fran. I explained to him what I am working on and how I was here for a conference, but from Chicago. I also explained how in Chicago, this environment or this conversation never would have happened…its just different. He seemed to understand.

We finished the conversation with exchanging business cards and saying I hope to continue the conversation. Who knows where it will lead but I hope he reaches out and we can continue talking. These are the serendipity conversations that I love to engage in.

Update: Literally 25 minutes after this conversation I get an email from this guy’s secretary saying Meeting with Dave. WOW, the power of San Fran!