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I went to Startup school in 2012, and although the talks and event were good, is there a strong reason to go to the physical event over watching the live stream? I remember it being difficult to network, and not having much time to do so. I guess the "energy" was nice, lots of Stanford students and startup hopefuls that were really excited, but I didn't get any value out of being there. Was I just doing it wrong? Is it because there wasn't anyone there in my network to introduce me to people. Was it an age\experience or because I work in a tangential industry? Curious to see what people's thought are as to what they get out of going to the event outside of the talks.

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I lol'd at Jessica Livingstone at the Women's conference telling attendees to not get distracted and do things like... go to conferences.

There is some networking but that has a pretty dubious cost\benefit. You can treat it as a day off that might help you view your startup from the outside. If you are in a very isolated place then a bit of startup buzz might be nice. However, if you've got shit to do, I wouldn't bother and just watch the talks on youtube at your own pace in your downtime.

I went to Startup School in 2014 (this was at De Anza, not Stanford) and made one good friend at the pre-Startup School BBQ. IMO that alone made the meet and greet cocktail party nature of the pre-event worthwhile. I don't think the "meet people" aspect was nearly as strong during the actual event.

The talks were "inspiring/motivational rather than practical/tactical", and I agree that you can get 95% of the value from the video streams. I think that being in the presence of "luminaries" will bring you back down to earth realizing that they're just ordinary folks at the end of the day.

Most of this stuff is noise, but Startup School is a notable exception. I found the combination of great talks and interesting attendees made it a decent use of time. Oh, and it's free. :)

As for networking, like most of these things your mileage will vary depending on your base networking-quotient * luck (who you happen to talk to).

There are definitely worse ways to invest a Saturday.

I've been several times. I think if you're from Northern California (you can drive to the event in < 90 minutes), it's worth it because there's a pretty good crowd of interesting people to talk to. But I don't think it's worth flying in just for the event. It would be worth it if part of a larger Bay Area vacation / business / touring trip.

I went a few years ago when it was at De Anza (2014?). There's a fun energy to the day and there are some networking opportunities during the lunch hour and breaks. It's worth checking out if you've never been and are nearby.

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