Palo Alto Day - Stanford University

Cold, Ok just much cooler air had arrived by morning and I set out for a lunch meeting in Down Town Palo Alto. This is the City a few miles north of Mountain View. It's also the location of Stanford University. I was there for lunch initially. You walk for about 20 minutes along Palm Avenue, aptly named before you are greeted by a welcoming cirlce at the University campus. Walking up to the University was the first time I felt the pace of life slow down since my arrival in the Bay area. Grass land and tree grace the land with only the veins of roads to interrupt. The sun was shining, making a perfect spring day. I found a map and got my bearings before checking out the department of computer science. I did encounter one unexpected problem. I was surrounded by scores of WI FI (wireless internet) signals but all required a password to access. So, I used the rest of my time to soak in the rest of the campus including the Aquatic arena where the world master swimming championships will be held in August. An impressive complex. Swimmers were training under the coach's watchful eye.

Time to eat or to be more exact time to eat and surf the web as all cafe/restaurants provide free WI FI. I had a 30 minute walk to my next Investor focused seminar. I was first to turn up so when the chairman for the evening arrived I got a good lot of valuable info. out of him. The discussion was on start up issues, finding a team, how to fund and structure the funding etc. The panel included VC's and business angels, ie sources of cash along with entrepreneurs. A very valuable event in terms of content and contacts for me. More on those later I hope.