One of the premiere opportunities to present to VCs is happening tomorrow at the Microsoft campus. The event is called Under the Radar and happens every year. I had considered applying Geogad for the event until I looked at the application form. It looked like they were looking for startup companies that were more developed than Geogad.

The list of companies that have been accepted and are going to present is on the Under the Radar web site. The startup cover many areas and are based on several interesting ideas. It may be professional bias, but I still think that the Geogad business model is better than most of the ones that the startups will be presenting.

Maybe next year after Geogad grows up a bit more.

I attend the open house at the new Plug and Play location in Redwood City. What a great event! So much energy and a great mix of startups, VCs and angels. I am looking forward to more events from these guys.

Plug and Play seems to be a business that mixes rental of temporary office spaces to businesses, primarily startups, with angel and VC investing in some of these businesses with their own capital. It is a bit like an informal business incubator. It is a unique business model.

What surprised me is how many people attended the open house. The open house was from 5-7pm on Thurs, May 22, 2008. I had expected a few of the people who worked in the Redwood City office to hang at the party, mainly because the open house included free food. (You would be amazed at how many people will show for free food, even in this expensive area.) But the place was packed with people from all different businesses including startups, support businesses like accountants, insurance agents and hiring firms, the Plug and Play staff and VCs and angel investors.

The part that I enjoyed most was speaking to other entrepreneurs who have been successfully building their businesses for a while. It is always great to hear about someone else’s experiences in the trenches.

The best part of all is that this open house suggests that Silicon Valley is not seeing any downturn despite what may be occurring the the US economy as a whole.