Boomer Venture's Movers-and-Shakers

This year's Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit held a Business Plan Competition where entrepreneurs and leading venture capitalists met with one thing in common: they invest in or serve the 45 year-old boomer consumer.

The Summit is a good place to learn where and why VCs are investing heavily in the boomer market and to learn from key analysts about how they segment the market and evaluate opportunities.

Client Gilbert Guide sponsored the sponsor and speaker dinner last night at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley.

Below a sample of shots I took at the gathering, which brought together vendors, VCs and service providers for all things related to the aging market.

Leading authority on the Baby Boom generation Mary Furlong speaks to the crowd

Aging in Place Laurie Orlov, SilverRide's Jeff Maltz, Gilbert Guide's Jill Gilbert and Renee Blodgett

Caring.com's Andy Cohen, Elisa Camahort, Jill Gilbert, Laurie Orlov, Jeff Maltz, Mary Furlong, Safa Rashtchy and AARP's Jody Holtzman

Foodie Mollie Katzen, AARP's Jody Holtzman and Mary Furlong

Jill Gilbert and Elisa Camahort

Dinner keynote speaker Safa Rashtchy

firstStreet's Bud Myers

Jill Gilbert and Andy Cohen

In addition, I connected with SilversSummit's Susan Ayers Walker and Michael Sarfatti - they run the SilversSummit at CES every year.

I also had a chance to see a demo of MyGait's new GO, senior computing made easy and chat with Christopher Carbajal about the market.

Others in the mix included speakers and finalists Karen Routt of Magnolia Prime, HeartMath's Catherine Calarco, TravelingHealth's Deanna Burnett-Keeper, and MarchFriday's Marfrisa Geronimo Gipner, to name a few.

First Round Capital's Annual West Coast Bash

First Round Capital held their annual west coast bash in San Francisco last night at the Great American Music Hall.

The venue was perfect for a shindig: great flow for networking traffic, food in all the right places and an on-stage spectacle from Fliptography who were shooting 7 second videos of people which resulted in individual flipbook leave behinds for attendees.

Did I mention the complimentary valet and the fact that a boat load of A-listers showed up to partake in an evening of schmooze and cocktails.

Below is a sample of shots I took in relatively poor light so sadly, some of them are grainy. Thanks to Josh and team for hosting a fabulous event.

First Round Capital's partners: Howard Morgan, Chris Fralic, Josh Kopelman and Rob Hayes

Harilaos Loukos, Mike Copeland and Nicholas Goubert

Joe Hurd, Paul Martino and Chris Law

Daniel Rudick and Filip Tack

Renee Blodgett, Susan Bratton, Mary Hodder (taken by Susan)

Ted Rheingold and Jason Shellen

Thor and Amy Muller, Oren Michels

Ron Conway

Eric Tilenius and Dan Arkind

Nat Goldhaber, Mary Hodder and Janice Fraser

Alexander Mouldovan, David Ellington and Karl Simmons

Mike Copeland

The Zynga team and Robert Goldberg

Barak Berkowitz

Renee Blodgett, Christine Herron

Toktumi's Peter Sisson

The First Round Capital Team

DEMO Tweet-up

The DEMO team had a Tweet Up in San Francisco last night...

Steve Brehaut, Peter Sisson

Paul Boutin

Gilbert Guide's Jill Gilbert and Jacqueline Stolte

Look at Ubergizmo Live for more.

Iranians Know How to Throw a Party

A friend of mine came into town recently for an engagement party - his niece who is half Pakistani and half Iranian is marrying his nephew who is Indian. What an amazing blend of traditions for a party. It starts with drinks upon arrival but before you know it, someone's aunt is pulling you onto the dance floor.

You notice this incredible fruit platter on the table in the distance - no, its not quite a fruit platter, its a fruit mountain as you look more closely and realize its about 3.5 feet tall. You're not on the dance floor for long when you see plates of appetizer food and salads fill the kitchen table, including giant shrimp that is begging to be eaten. You then remember that you barely just arrived when you're given an unusually flavored punch.

There are heat lamps outside and those fabulous looking water pipes on the tables. They've had similar ones at nearly every Egyptian, Iranian, Turkish and Kenyan coffee bar I've gone to over the years. Since the 16th century, men in Persian culture have assembled in coffee houses, play chess and backgammon and discuss politics and business. It is there that they smoke these fabulous pipes (Kalian).

The age range is as expected - two weeks to 97. I move off the dance floor knowing I'll be spending a lot of time there later on. I marvel at the what I now see as three massive fruit mountains in the kitchen and while some party hosts may put a vase or two of flowers on a table, there seems to be fresh flowers on every side table, fireplace mantel and counter. And in all the bathrooms. Roses and wild flowers weave in and out of every visual image as I make my way from room to room.

There is a piano in the living room where at some point during the night, a thirty something year old nephew, uncle or cousin starts playing a few traditional songs while far too many aunts, great aunts and grandmothers for me to keep up with, start tapping their feet. When I smile at this, they give me that look that says, "we'll be dancing with you later after the first round."

Little did I know that it was the first round of food since the kitchen table and fruit platters were sufficient to feed the 80 or so family members and friends who had arrived by then. Round one complete. Round two of dancing begins.

Like every family affair regardless of culture, women's bags and shoes are scattered under chairs which were specifically brought out for the party - they lined the fireplace on one side with a couch and two soft chairs facing them. There was another string of them in the TV room and 8-10 large round tables outside atop a massive Persian rug Dad must have put out on top of the grass as a godsend for all the women who wore heals. And they all did, mostly pumps in vibrant colors.

These women were not afraid of color or glitter although the latter was tastefully and simply added, just enough to call attention to their outfits and remind us all that this was an engagement celebration. No American jeans and sneakers at this event and the little ones were in flowered dresses and shiny shoes, just like my grandmother used to subject me to in the seventies.

I learn quickly that a third have been here for about a generation, another third arrived within the last ten or so years and another third arrived in the last three or four. The accent divide reflected the arrival in America split, the strongest ones of course being the newcomers. Regardless of whether they worked in a plant or just graduated from Harvard, they all seemed to look after each other regardless what path they took.

Even though it isn't the big event (its the engagement party not the wedding remember), family flew in from Canada, New York, southern California and the midwest. It's not unlike the early days of my childhood when there still seemed to be a connection to a heritage far away through a great grandmother or father. Are we all losing this connection too soon?

I was surprised at how committed they were to keeping family events alive, ensuring tradition moved from the oldest relatives there to the two year olds flying around me with my pant leg as their only stable rope to keep them from falling down.The mother of the bride to be took four days off work to cook. All of it I'm thinking? I grew up with incredible cooks in our extended family but couldn't imagine any of them taking this much time off work in 2009. They'd likely cook a few dishes, ask family members to bring some and cater the rest.

And so, the second course arrived which was no less than 30 platters and casseroles of yummy looking meat, chicken, veggie and potato dishes all surrounded in various shades of gravies and sauces. Saffron rice with raisins sat in the middle next to yet another large vase of flowers. Each dish looked and smelled so good that you had to try them all. Each dish tasted so good you found yourself back for more. Did I mention that at least six tables if not more had large bowls of Iranian pistachios, cashews, almonds and Brazil nuts just in case there was nothing you could find on any of the three other tables or kitchen counter?

And now you want me to dance I thought? I could barely move as I shuffled my way back to the kitchen for some diet coke. Another little one came flying around the corner and stopped in front of my bright orange and brown gouchoes which were heavy with sequins, beads and more. I thought to myself - if she grabs the material in the wrong place, they're all coming off and I'm going down.

She just gave me a big smile and her hand and you guessed it, wanted to pull me onto the dance floor. Had she not come along, Aunt X, Aunt Y, Aunt Z or Cousin J would have gotten to me a moment later. When I'm at a predominantly white/european party, I'm often the one on the sidelines trying to drag people on the dance floor. Please, I beg. C'mon, I say. I wave my arms like a lunatic.

People smile but rarely do they come until the alcohol starts pouring and even then, its hard work. Not at this party. Every woman in the place except for the very elderly who sat on the couch and neighboring chairs, dragged people onto the floor. And guess what? They came. The men came. The elderly women with very little coaching eventually came.

Nearly all of the music was Iranian. God knows whether it was modern or from forty years ago since nearly everyone knew the words except for the five or so European guests who had long figured out we were lucky to be invited. And so we danced. And so they sang. And so the children ran. And so the piano played. And so the massive cake, twice the size of the fruit mountains arrived.

There were fresh flowers on each layer and several women including myself walked up to the table to insert more into the nooks and crannies so that the lavender glazed frosting would ooze with the fuschia flowers and the fuschia flowers would ooze with the lavender. And then a pause. I stood back and admired. You can't cut that I thought.

Don't you just want to stare at this thing for a few days? We'll all understand, I mean, its not as if I'm hungry. Surely no one else can be? We'll understand - don't cut this masterpiece just yet. But cut they did, and then the ice cream came, followed by custard and chocolate. More nuts and tea....lots of it. No coffee interestingly enough. One urn had tea, the other hot water to reduce the caffeine for the older folks.

Man, do Iranians know how to throw a party. And they live here. Imagine the parties at home without the Wal-Mart and Costco influence. If you get an invite from an Iranian friend or colleague, you must go. And after you do, write to me and tell me how it went.

Seesmic's TC50 Closing Bash

Industry pal Ben Metcalfe (otherwise known as dotben :-) took a number of fun shots at last night's TC50 closing bash sponsored by Seesmic in San Francisco.

His flickr stream is here, however I've pulled a few random ones - some of which had muted or interesting color-coated effects. As for the dance floor, way to go Israelis and Aussies. The Aussies in particular were really kicking up a storm.

Below, all taken by Ben Metcalfe.

August Capital Annual Bash

A few great shots from Thursday night's annual August Capital bash on Silicon Valley's infamous Sandhill Road.

Jaxtr's Konstantin Guericke and LinkedIn's DJ Patil

Thanos Triant

August Capital's Vivek Mehra

Great new look for VideoEgg's Matt Sanchez

mXact's Yezdi Lashkari

Thanos Triant and RepairPal's CEO David Sturtz

Katya Able and Rick Smolan

Six Apart's Jane Anderson, Dave Sifry and Renee Blodgett

Marc Cantor's On How to Build the Open Mesh

James Currier

Technorati & OffBeat Guides David Sifry and Pandora's Tom Conrad

Kevin Burton

Jobscore's Dan Arkind and Olya Lapina

Want some Oodle?

John Mayerhofer and Phil Lelyveld

TechCrunch Summer Bash on Sandhill Road

Below are a few fun shots from the TechCrunch Summer Bash a week ago. Arrington's TechCrunch bashes started in the backyard of his Atherton house when I first moved out here a few years ago. They were much more intimate and social, start-ups demoing their latest and greatest from a couch or Robert Scoble and Shel Israel posing bare chest during their Naked Conversation launch.

It has now progressed to the August Capital's deck on Sandhill Road and sponsors have lined up to bask in the limelight of the Bay Area's Internet Bubble 3.whatever. Zennie Abraham was running around with video camera in tow, requesting people's comments about the upcoming election.

Social 'milling' scene below taken by Alex Ho.

Jennifer Kammeyer, Carmen Hughes, Craig Syverson

With Reuters' Eric Auchard, who is finally moving to London. Bravo!

A shot I took of Powerset's Barney Pell and Sarah Lacy

Dan Farber

Renee Blodgett, Donna Sokolsky

The below two shots taken by Alex Ho

Justin TV's Justin Kan and Sanford Barr

Mashable's San Francisco Summer Bash

A long line leading into the Mashable summer bash event in San Francisco this week, one stop of many on their multi-city tour. Kudos to Pete and team for a smashing turnout.

Chris Heur, Will Pate

Brian Zisk

Hubert & Pascal

Pete Cashmore graces us with his presence on the stage at San Francisco's Mighty

Sarah Meyers

Sanford Barr, Yoono's Pascal Josselin

Pandora's Tom Conrad

Susan & Tim Bratton, Renee Blodgett

Vic & Sarah

Vanessa, Deb, Renee, Amisha

Michael Terpin

Pete Cashmore

The Twitter board - there's always a Twitter board at geek events :-)

Renee Blodgett, Eliane Fioret and Erica Lee

VentureBeat Celebration Party

VentureBeat held an anniversary party tonight at San Francisco's Ambassador on Geary Street. The celebration? Digital Media.

The entire crew showed up for it, including Eric Eldon, who was wearing his great grandfather's blazer, which he apparently wears a few times a year for special occasions. I was so touched by the story, probably because I was so close to my own grandfather, knew my great grandmother and marvel at this token of family honor. He even wore a tie.

Here's 'nearly' the whole gang. I accidentally brought my portrait lens which did a terrible job performing well with The Ambassador's light and my dying battery. Brian Solis captured a shot from grinning ear to grinning ear, which will no doubt be posted to flickr by tomorrow morning.

MDV''s Katherine Barr

Craigs List Jim Buckmaster

That guy - Doug Dalton, who's the "guy" behind at least four San Francisco bars that we know about including Swig and Bourbon & Branch. I thought he looked a lot like Kevin Rose and then he tells me he knows Kevin. But of course he does - this is such a small city.

Renee Blodgett, former Red Herring COO Daniel Essindi, who is now founder & CEO of new travel site tripJane (currently in alpha)

Uwe Maurer, who apparently just turned the big 50.....congrats Uwe!!

Dan Farber

A Dave McClure spotting

Alison Murdock who I haven't seen out and about in awhile :-) Great haircut.

Lisa Padilla, Renee Blodgett (taken by Brian Solis)

Dean Takahashi has the greatest smile

Lisa Padilla, Fred Davis

Sarah Lacy with her husband

Brian Solis and VentureWire's Tomio Green

Thor Muller

Matt Marshall

Zennie Abraham

Tom Foremski

Gabe Rivera

Matt again (it is his party after all)

Daniel Essindi, Heddie Cundle

Megan McCarthy

LA Times technology editor Chris Gaither

Kara Swisher and Mike Arrington also made an appearance but managed to dodge the cameras. At least mine.

Maker Faire Conference

If on the west coast this weekend, check out this year's Maker Faire Conference in the South Bay on Saturday and Sunday: