Finally Friday...

Today I was supposed to just have three meetings which made it quite a relaxing day - and in the morning I learnt that my afternoon meeting was unfortunately cancelled because Lisa Zhang of Intel Capital who I was supposed to meet had to go to Mumbai, so even more relaxing...

Started off with a breakfast with Vlasta Pokladnikova, this time more focused on Sequoia and discussion on how I could contribute and what I would like to speak with them... Basically, I told her it would just be great if Sequoia looked a little bit at the Central & Eastern Europe, and even better if they had a partner there who would be their contact point - and of course, vise versa... I don't know if there will ever be anything out of it, but who doesn't try, doesn't lose...

And after breakfast in University Ave, Palo Alto I rushed to go to Richard Pivnicka - Honorary Counsel General of the Czech Republic in Silicon Valley... I have known Richard for a while but only through emails and my friends' stories - he is basically "our man in the Valley" (or "Silicon Man" as one Czech newspaper called him), he runs CzechTech and tries to promote the Czech Republic and Czech companies whenever he can... And now I was supposed to go to his house in Woodside (nice residential part of Palo Alto) to pick him up...

The house is just BEAUTIFUL, not visible from the street it opens up as you drive the little sandroad, and it has two flags on it - Czech and Slovak... It almost feels like Czechoslovakia again... I will have to remember to show this to Sheamus, Bruno, Mohammed and Camilla, they will be rolling on the floor laughing... And so will Mihai... :-)

Richard gave me a quick tour of the house (including a wine cellar) and garden (including a vineyard), introduced me to his wife Barbara who is the Slovak Honorary Consul (that's how the flags come to place) and then he took me to lunch with his new car... a Tesla Roadster which was just delivered to him 2 weeks ago - and one with a number 209... More about Tesla will be in the next posting...

During lunch we discussed all the different stuff about supporting Czech entrepreneurs to come to Silicon Valley, even just for a couple of months - sort of on a scholarship, but also seriously trying to create a bridge for startups and SMEs who could aspire for something more than just Czech (and maybe Slovakia)... Richard is a bright guy and although his main experience comes from real estate and development, he understands the "Silicon Valley business" and also has some pretty cool contacts (I should have known earlier that he is in the same club as Tim Draper or Larry Sonsini, dammit)...

But we agreed that we'd stay in touch as our passion is very similar - helping Czech entrepreneurs to succeed (Richard in the Valley and altruistically, I just in general and with profits in mind)... Very pleasant meeting, indeed...