Silicon Valley is about people

Catching up with Yuka Nagashima

Silicon Valley is about people. Plain and simple. The concentration of smart, driven folks working on tech is simply overwhelming. It's one of the things I love most about being here.

Lunch with Yuka Nagashima

Using yesterday as an example, I had lunch with Yuka Nagashima at Amber India in Los Altos. I've known Yuka since she was CEO of LavaNet back home in Hawaii.

Among her list of accolades, she's served as CEO of the High Technology Development Corporation ( HTDC), done C-level consulting, and ran two startups. She also helped us out a lot last year before we got into 500 Startups. She's now President of Astia Access. Astia is a community of experts committed to propelling women's full participation as entrepreneurs and leaders in high-growth businesses, fueling innovation and driving economic growth.

Yuka Nagashima Takeaways

• Paubox is ferociously competent and fun.
• Attracting good people is a positive signal for a startup.
• To have diversity, you must have inclusion first.
• Make each person says 3 things in next staff meeting.
• Taught me the 2 Things game (for self reflection).
• Loves HIPAA Center.

Our lunch was promptly one hour, as I had a 30 minute window to hustle to Menlo Park for my next meeting.

SEE ALSO: Yuka Nagashima joins Paubox Advisory Board

Sand Hill Road: Home to Cookie Cutter Buildings and Billion Dollar Dreams

Sand Hill Road is a trip. It's the most expensive office space in the country and the buildings all the look the same. The architecture is uninspired and cookie cutter, yet it houses billion dollar dreams and pocketbooks. My 2006 Nissan Frontier screams Founder when I park it amongst Teslas, Maseratis and Ferraris.

Meeting with Bo Nam

I was a few minutes early to my meeting with Bo Nam, principal at Columbus Nova Technology Partners. Since it was our initial meeting, we got to know each other better. He went to high school with Mark Zuckerberg and helped with Facebook's IPO while he was at JP Morgan. That's pretty interesting. As I finished up my deck, I asked Bo if he wanted to see our inaugural HIPAA Center video. After he watched all 108 seconds of it, he politely asked me if I wanted advice on how to make the next one better. Turns out his weekend pet project is creating viral videos. Wow. Where else can you find people like that? You can rest assured I will be taking him up on his generous offer.

SEE RELATED: Silicon Valley is About People: Part II