「Everyone knows Silicon Valley. But have you actually been there?」
This Silicon Valley Innovative Trip, organized by TechNode (the exclusive operator of TechCrunch in China officially authorized by TechCrunch), will take you to the top innovative companies in Silicon Valley, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Mozilla, Pinterest, Coursera, Flipboard, and also some advanced entrepreneurial incubators—-Plug and Play, Draper University and Y Combinator. The visit also includes Stanford University, where you can meet and have discussions with Chinese oversea students.
We hope this trip will not be a cursory glance, with only a superficial understanding obtained. We would like to see everyone of you broaden your horizon and spark your inspiration and creativity in every single day. Therefore, we will arrange lectures and salons in different venues everyday, inviting some founders and senior executives to share their experience and thoughts with you. And also we will invite some of our excellent entrepreneurs to give lectures of various topics.
After the visit to the leading companies, incubators and universities in Silicon Valley, we are to participate in TechCrunch Disrupt（http://techcrunch.com/event-type/disrupt/）,which is the largest sci-tech meeting worldwide, with sci-tech companies all over the world gathering together in Silicon Valley seeking communication and cooperation. As the official operator of TechCrunch China, TechNode will organize to participate in meetings, from which you can draw experience and inspiration, and every afterparty will not be missed. We are also to arrange a high-class cocktail dinner, where 20 Chinese elites at some important posts in Silicon Valley companies will be invited to share their experience with you.
Besides, there will be one day set aside for city tour, during which you can experience the life of a local engineer after work.
Confirmed attendance (entire trip or part of the trip):
Minghua Xiong, former CTO of Tencent
Jun Yang, Co-Founder and former VP of sales of Meituan, Co-Founder of Xiaonei
Lu Gang, CEO and Founder of TechNode (official partner of TechCrunch in China)
Ning Nan，CEO of 10lab
Our visit agenda
11 days and 10 nights all together.
We start off from Beijing/Shanghai/Taipei on 19th September, and return from San Francisco on 29th September.
Due to Mid-Autumn Festival and National Holiday after the visit, you can also choose to have a tour in US afterwards (we can offer tour advice and help). Therefore, we also provide return flight option on 6th October from San Francisco.
Our Team
Among our team, Dr Gang Lu, CEO of TechNode, is senior media professional, with special insight into latest technology and wide social contacts in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, there are also many Chinese in our team who have been working and living in Silicon Valley for years. They are young people born after 1985, working as engineers or doing scientific research or media work. They gathered because of SVIT. Except for assisting to make preparations, they will also accompany us throughout the entire SVIT trip. Besides, we have also contacted local Chinese travel agency in Silicon Valley, who will offer rear service in transportation, tour guide, dealing with the unexpected situation and so on.
Our Travel Agenda
D1 (9/19 Sat): Arriving in San Francisco. Some staff will pick us up at the airport and help us check in. After a rest, we have the SVIT welcome dinner.
D2 (9/20 Sun): In the morning we will visit Facebook zone. We will have lunch together at noon. If time permits, we will visit Computer History Museum, reviewing the history of Silicon Valley and trying to answer our common question: why Silicon Valley became the innovative center and why Silicon Valley is still at the top after decades? Afterwards, having passed the famous Sandhill Road, where top VCs across the world gather, we arrive at Stanford. In the afternoon, we will visit the campus guided by Chinese oversea students and have SVIT Talks #1. Dr Lu Gang, CEO of TechNode, will share with Stanford students the current entrepreneurial environment and atmosphere in China. Some students will also share their stories in Stanford. As many people in the industry have a strong interest of having MBA in Stanford, we will invite some students who are having MBA now in Stanford. They will share their experience in applying and choosing school and what they have attained in Stanford.
D3-D5 (9/21~9/23 Mon~Wedn):TechCrunch Disrupt（http://techcrunch.com/event-type/disrupt/）
TechCrunch Disrupt is the most anticipated technology summit this year. It receives most attention, with a special symbolic meaning to entrepreneurs. The TechCrunch Disrupt SF this year will be held from 21st September to 23rd September. The Disrupt include sci-tech seminars, lectures, one-to-one discussion. People who attend the Disrupt include journalists, editors, famous guest speakers, top investment institutions and remarkable entrepreneurs. Particularly noteworthy is the important part “Startup Alley” which we have in every Disrupt, where there will be hundreds of most cutting-edge Silicon Valley Startups this year displaying their products and achievements, seeking cooperation. And at the Startup Alley this time, there will be a “Special Zone of Great China” organized by TechNode, which also include the Stratup partners in our team. If you are interested in exposing your own Startup at Startup Alley, please contact us, and we will arrange stands for you for free.
D6 (9/24 Thur):In the morning we will visit Google. Under the guidance of Elliot Ng, Director of Product Management for display products, we will visit Google campus. Here we will have SVIT Talks #2. Mr Elliot Ng will give a keynote lecture on how Google can keep the lead in top sci-tech enterprise. Yang Jun, representative of our team, also Co-Founder of Fanfou and Meituan, VP of Sales of Meituan who created a ground-based promotion army, will also give a lecture introducing the entrepreneurial story of Meituan and Fanfou. We have lunch together at noon. After lunch we will go to Sunnyvale and pay a visit to Plug&Play, the most known and most international incubator of Silicon Valley. Jupe Tan, VP of Plug&Play, will receive us and here we have SVIT Talks #3, talking about the operation of the entrepreneurial incubators in Silicon Valley. Mr Jupe Tan will also introduce some successful entrepreneurial cases and stories of the teams from Mainland China and Taiwan coming to Silicon Valley and applying for incubation.
D7 (9/25 Fri): Today, we will have TechNode Demo Day held at the AWS Pop-up Loft in Amazon zone, supported by The Bridge of Japan, III(Institute for Information Industry, Taiwan), Cyberport of Hong Kong. We will invite more than 15 young Startups to give keynote speeches, introducing their ideas, products and dreams. Among them are young people from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japen and Singapore.Also some local Startups as well. We will also invite some active VCs and senior managers from 500Starups and Plug & Play in Silicon Valley to give some advice and guidance to the Startups doing demo. Sam Altman, chairman of Y Combinator will be present and give lecture. If you are interested in exposing your Startup at Demo Day and seeking investment and cooperation, please contact us, and we will make arrangements for free.
D8 (9/26 Sat): In the morning we visit Twitter, and we have SVIT Talks #4 at Twitter. Former Tencent CTO Mr Xiong Minghua will give us a keynote lecture introducing the entrepreneur story of Tencent and his thought and reflection about his work experience both in China and in US. The team manager of Twitter Growth Team will also share with us the venture history, enterprise culture and working procedure of Twitter. We will have lunch at the cafeteria of Twitter. In the afternoon we will visit Mozilla and have SVIT Talks #5. Keynote lecture will be given by Ms Jinghua Zhang, senior strategy director of Mozilla. She will introduce the unique and innovative culture of the enterprise. After Mozilla, we will visit Frog design or Dropbox.
D9 (9/27 Sun): The fifth day is Sunday and a relaxing day. We will have a one-day city tour in San Francisco. All the famous sites will be included: Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Palace of Fine Arts, Lombard Street, etc. An Outlets shopping trip will also be arranged. You can choose to join. We have lunch during the tour. The dinner will be a highlight of our trip, as we will have a high-class social mixer. And we will specially invite 20 Chinese elites in Silicon Valley to the dinner.
D10 (9/28 Mon): In the morning we will visit Airbnb, and have SVIT Talks #6. Some friends in Airbnb will introduce how they view Chinese market and thus make strategies. We will have lunch together at noon. In the afternoon we will visit San Francisco City Hall and have SVIT Talks #7, talking with SF Chief Innovation Officer. He will introduce how SF government helped the local entrepreneurs and created an ideal entrepreneurial environment. Afterwards, we will visit PayPal.
D11 (9/29 Tue): Return date
(Special note: the above scheduling is subject to the personal schedule change of the visited companies and guests in mid-September)
Price: 58,888 RMB/person.Maximum 20 persons
Type of payment: Bank transfer or AliPay transfer.
If you are interested or you want more detailed information, please contact lock@technode.com directly.
For booths of Startup Valley only,please click here.
For presenting chance of TechNode Demo Day,please click here.
What the price include:
1.High-quality flight: round-trip ticket from Beijing/Shanghai/Taipei to San Francisco.
Departure date: 19th Sept
Return date: 29th Sept
2.Boutique Hotel: 10 nights in San Francisco, local three-star hotel.
3.Three-day ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt: you don’t need purchase ticket from official website of Disrupt. If your Startup makes the grade up to the standards of TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Alley, we can arrange exhibition stand for you at Startup Valley and pitch at TechNode Demo Day for free.
4.Airport pick-up and drop-off.
5.All transportation fare for group visit in Silicon Valley. If you need go out yourself, we recommend you to take Uber.
6.Outbound travel accident insurance.
7.All breakfasts in Silicon Valley; Some lunches and dinners. For concrete arrangements, please refer to the detailed agenda.
Please note:Except for SVIT Welcome Dinner on D1 and SVIT Cocktail Dinner on D5, we will not arrange evening activities or dinners, so as to set aside some time for social contacts and relaxation. We will introduce you the various sci-tech activities in SF every night and offer help base on your needs.
On D3, D4, D5 and D8, we have conference for the whole day(TechCrunch Disrupt & TechNode Demo Day). Please have lunch yourselves. We will offer help when you need.
The price does not include:
1.Fee for passport; insurance; visa fee for travel to the U.S.A.; arrival visa fee.
2.Tips for hotel attendants; fee for other toll facilities in hotel.
3.Tax charged by custom; the cost on over weight luggage and its deposit.
4.Laundry, haircut, phone call, beverage, liquor & tobacco, pay TV, baggage porterage, other private cost.
5.Other fees that are not mentioned in the price.
6.Due to the force majeure (eg, acts of gods, war, strike), or flight delay or cancellation, delay in visa processing of consulate, insufficient enrollment, our company is entitled to cancel or alter the trip. Our company is entitled to require added expense for extra cost (eg, fee for visa processing delay, accommodation, food, transportation, adjustment of national freight rate).
7.Another 8000RMB forsingle bed room(Basically,we choose due-bed room). But we can not assure you the single bed room reservation because of the lack of rooms during Disrupt in San Francisco.
Cancellation rules:
1.Due to the necessity of flight reservation in advance, please do not try to make alterations after reservation. Ticket alteration results in substantial loss and compensation shall be made according to the liability for breach of travelling contract if there is no specified cancellation rule in the route that the customers purchase.
2.If the traveler terminates the contract unilaterally, the traveler shall undertake corresponding consequences according to the relevant cancellation or annulling rule concerning flight, hotel or visa. Our company will not refund corresponding cost. Meanwhile, the traveler shall pay expense and liquidated damages as follows according the following provisions:
Termination made 15 days before departure, 15% of total travel expense.
14 days to 7 days before departure, 75% of total expense.
6 days to 1 day before departure, 95% of total expense.
Termination made on the day of departure or during the trip, 100% of total expense.
3.Travelers who temporarily ask for alter flight, hotel or car rental without complying with contract or consent, shall pay on their own, and the fees for flight ticket, hotel and can rental being paid are not refundable.
4.After deducting the expense and liquidated damages specified in (1), our company shall refund the rest expense to the travelers 10 to 15 days after the arrival of cancellation notification. The refund will be sent back through the third party payment platform if the traveler paid through the third party payment platform (eg, AliPay, UnionPay) at first. Our company does not accept liability for refund delay or commission charge resulting from the third party payment platform or bank system.
5.The content above is all specified in the online contract presented when the order is placed. For detailed content, please refer to the online contract.
If the customer is not able to depart on time due to visa problems, we will refund to the traveler after deducting necessary losses. The maximum amount of necessary losses shall not exceed the total amount of travel expense. Our company is entitled to cancel reservation if departure is impossible due to force majeure. If the hotel is fully booked, we will arrange you into hotels of the same grade.
One should know:
1.To ensure the best chance of meeting your intended departure date, please make sure to arrive at the airport check-in 120 minutes before international flight departure and go through the exit procedures. If you have to take domestic leg first before taking international flight, please arrive at the airport check-in 60 minutes before flight departure.
2.We temporarily do not accept application by juveniles under the age of 18 going alone or the aged over the age of 70. The health condition of the traveler should be fit for this outbound trip. Pregnant traveler or traveler with medical history of heart disease, hypertension, disease of respiratory system should get doctor’s consent before going.
3.If you go abroad from China with foreign passports (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan), please make sure that you have valid visa for re-entering Mainland China. (The price showed on the website applies for travelers with ID of Mainland China citizen. If you have passports of other countries or regions, please give clear indication when booking. The airlines will charge people with foreign passports differently. Our company reserved the right of price adjustment)
Speciel thanks to Amazon AWS for providing us the event field of TechNode Demo Day,Cheetah Mobile for sponsoring the social mixer and iii for sponsoring the dinner party.