One of the perks of living in this part of the world is the chance to attend cool startup mixers and networking events where you can see what’s brewing in the world of internet startups. While I was bummed that I wasn’t able to attend the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas that took place over the past few days, I at least had a chance to cover the SF Beta event that Rob Garcia of Lending Club invited me to attend. I was aware that some folks I know were going to be at the Affiliate Summit, including reps and bloggers from GoBankingRates, Prosper.com and AskMrCreditCard.com :); but while they were having their fun there, Silicon Valley had their share of happenings in the world of business.
So what is this event I attended last night? It’s called SF Beta, which is a social event that allows anyone who works in the startup realm (investors, executives, business development folks, marketers, founders and even bloggers(!)) to converge in one place, to network and to check out some site and application demos. Some drinks and food were available but the place was pretty crowded so the food quickly evaporated.
At any rate, I attended this event with the Digerati Spouse and the lazy guy behind Lazy Man and Money. I have to give special thanks to Irene Shubladze from Credit Sesame for helping us get in with an extra ticket at the last minute.
There were many new people I got to meet for the first time: I was thrilled about meeting some of the people I work with online whom I finally got to see in person. There were also a few people I had already met in the past whom I was able to touch base with again. All in all, great fun and learned a few things!
Financial Innovation In Silicon Valley (SF Beta)
The sponsors and attendees included:
 
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You can see how there is a lot of representation here in the financial startup space, with a few newcomers that you may be interested in hearing about.
Some of the companies at the event, such as Lending Club, Credit Karma, Credit Sesame, DebtGoal (now SavvyMoney.com), Mint.com and Zecco have been featured to some degree on this blog. I’ll surely be featuring more of them and other sites I’ve encountered in future posts. Stay tuned for more news from these companies and more coverage on their products and services!
Personal Finance Articles
Now on to some great pieces from around the blogosphere!
- The Simple Dollar: Cost and Quality: Best and Worst Case Scenarios
- Wise Bread: 5 One-Size-Fits-All Spending Tips That Don’t Really Fit Everyone
- Kiplinger.com: Turn Your Wheels Into a Rental
- Learn Vest: Is The Unemployment Rate Improving?
- Free Money Finance: How To Make Your Name Professionally
- My Dollar Plan: 10 Creative Ways States and Cities are Plugging Leaks in Their Budgets
- Lending Club Blog: Too Many Goals For The New Year? Just Pick One
- Credit Karma Blog: How Do You Spend Money? Your Spending Personality Type
- Ally Bank Blog: The New Retirement: A Changing Perspective
- Taking Charge Blog: Will 2011 be the year of living frugally? Maybe, maybe not
- Moneyed Up: Goodbye Gold, Hello Oil!
- Lazy Man and Money: Social Security’s Death Clock Ticks Faster this Year
- Money Crashers: Outdoor Activities for Kids and Adults
- Money Smart Life: What’s The Soundtrack To Your Life?
- Frugal Dad: Quit Making Excuses and Start Making Opportunity
- Oblivious Investor: Does This Count as Market Timing?
- One Mint: Dividend Declaration, Ex Dividend and Record Dates
- PT Money: Create Accountability for Your Finances
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SF Beta sounds pretty sweet and like quite the group of people! Cool stuff! Thanks for the mention!