Back from SF…

Well, we just wrapped up a pretty incredible week in the San Francisco / Bay Area, as well as a few other surrounding parts. Before getting down to the business side of our visit we took a little road trip out to Mavericks, hit up Santa Cruz, had a pint on the 18th hole of Pebble Beach, and took in a sunset at Carmel. Not bad. We even slipped in a Giants game against the Brewers (2-1 Giants).

Following Accelerate AB, we were inspired by a number of panelists who simply told us that if we had never been to San Francisco, get on our horse and get down there, asap. In the least, we should get a taste of what’s going on – “When you go down you’ll see that it just ‘feels’ different.” And it does.

You walk around certain areas of downtown and there are 25-35′s going from coffee shops to buildings, to subways, to incubators, and then back to a 400-500 sq ft apartment, all lugging a laptop bag behind them. What ever is in that bag might just be the next ‘big thing’. It’s inspiring when you realize that a premier portion of the free world’s tech community look to, and attempt to congregate within, a handful of area codes. Entrepreneurs looking to capitalize on very unique commercial opportunities.

On my last day I was able to meet with Atlee Clark of the C100 group at RocketSpace (181 Fremont, SF). It’s an incubator/workspace for international start-ups and currently has a solid group of Canadians working within it. Through application with the Canadian government, an accepted Canadian start-up can enjoy 3 months of free, fully equipped office space in downtown San Francisco. It clearly opens great opportunities for connecting with the right investors, garnering support, and recruiting talent.

Anyway, this week is filled with a number of slated tasks for Pluggin.it’s summer development, as well as discussing possible changes in certain areas. Oh right, and let’s not forget GROW2011 coming up. We’ve got our hands full.

Shot of RocketSpace: