Startup Embassy Silicon Valley — the lovechild of an accelerator, a co-working space and a hostel…

Finding a place to stay in Silicon Valley can be tough. Hotels are expensive, the cheaper hotels are horrible, and Airbnb properties are hit and miss. Then I came across Startup Embassy and got intrigued.

“It’s kinda like a frat house for startup founders”

I mentioned it to a guy I work with — “here, check this place out” I said. “It’s kinda like a frat house for startup founders”. “Do it, it’ll be fun” he said. My wife was slightly less enthusiastic. “A frat house for startups? You’re away for work — is that really the best option?”

The house is a landing pad for entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. It gives them all they need to find their feet — somewhere to work, somewhere to sleep, and an instant network of founders connected into the startup scene in the Valley.

When I arrive, i’m met by Alvaro, the House Manager. He shows me around the house — the co-working space, the common areas, and the room i’ll be staying in. He assigns me my own startup logo (which gives me shelf rights in the fridge) and explains the open source program for communal food.

I also meet with Marta who arranges weekly events held within the Embassy, and makes sure that Ambassadors are connected into meetups, speaker events, and demo days being held across the Valley.

Sitting out on the balcony having a few drinks, I got talking to Sergey, one of the ‘inner circle’ Ambassadors at the Embassy. During the day, he works at Google, and spends his spare time helping build Startup Embassy as a community for early stage founders. “This is our v1.5” he tells me. “Our vision is to scale and create a campus, or a global network of campuses, operating as startup communities… Our v2.0 will be a bigger space with 40–60 founders in say SF, where we can start to show that the model will scale.” For me, it’s interesting to hear him blending Lean Startup techniques into the way they approach the house as a scalable business.

He tells me the stories of some of the Ambassadors who have made the Embassy their home. Mukul a reserved founder from India stayed at the house for 13months while he built Mashgin which creates automated checkout systems, and recently signed a letter of intent for $50M monthly revenue from an unnamed client.

Paola made the house her home while working on the Matternet drone logistics system, before partnering with Mercedes for their last mile delivery program. Paola was recently was named in LinkedIn’s Top Professionals under 35.

The Ambassador wall within the house shows the photos of the 1500 Ambassadors who have used the Embassy as their base, as a stepping stone to their next opportunity.

Sitting in the lounge, one of the Ambassadors invites me for drinks at a local bar. Over drinks I hear the stories of Tommy from Singapore (who left his role at a Singaporean hedge fund to travel and start his own company), and Abdullah, a Kuwait national, and founder of fishfishme. Abdullah told of his highs and lows of funding, founder breakups, international moves, and experiences at accelerators like 500 Startups and Blackbox. We talk late into the night about work, family, cultural backgrounds and the future of what lies ahead. Friendships are forged instantly.

For me, the impact of the Embassy was instant and significant. To step off a train in Palo Alto and have an instant network of like-minded entrepreneurs, with different skills backgrounds and experiences — all interested in your personal story and willing to provide feedback and advice. The Embassy does a great job of providing a knowledgeable and supporting network of people with their finger on the pulse of Silicon Valley. For any founder setting our in the Valley, and trying to find your feet — join the Embassy, get your photo on the wall connect into the Valley scene and get cracking on creating the next SV unicorn.