Thanks to an invite from Arjun Arora, I attended a private dinner in San Francisco's SOMA district last night.

What's happening: Silicon Valley Bank, Trinet, and Escalon hosted a dinner for SaaS founders in a backroom at Marlowe.

Our guest speakers were Arjun Arora (Format One) and Philip Braddock (Atlassian Ventures).

Here are my takeaways.

Overheard in the room (sans attribution): 

  • “I was only half joking earlier, but buy bitcoin."
  • Rather than an AI Terms of Service, I heard it referred to as an AI Constitution.
  • Traditional outbound SDR sales are not working in today's post-COVID environment.
  • Field events are working well post-pandemic; folks want to get back to normal.
  • Re: remote work, you better have knowledge sharing in place and enforced from the top.
  • "Leaders aren’t that good at distributing the rules.” (re: remote work)
  • “The people management in a remote-first world takes more effort.”

The bottom line: As I've mentioned before, being headquartered in San Francisco allows me to level up faster as a tech CEO.

 

Enjoy the pics! 

Attendee at Founders Dinner Series holding Paubox branded item

Arjun Arora rocking the black Pausox

Attendees at a founders dinner event, with a speaker presenting while holding a wine glass

I sat next to George Pai from Silicon Valley Bank

Dan Whaley (Hypothesis) and Josh C. (Ox)

Dan Whaley (Hypothesis) and Josh Clawson (Ox)

Two men in business attire seated at a dining table under an neon 'EAT MEAT' sign at a restaurant

Arjun Arora (Format One) and Philip Braddock (Atlassian Ventures)

Marlowe restaurant storefront with vertical signage and entrance

Marlowe - view from the outside

See related: HIPAA Compliant Email: The Definitive Guide