Lunch 2.0 LA @ YellowBot

By Nicole Jordan, LA Correspondent

There is truth to the rumor about the eye-rolling that ensues when you live in LA and you’re invited to attend an event that requires freeway driving. It just feels so faaarrrr because traffic here turns a 15-mile drive into a 1 1/2 hour I-want-to-hurt-someone-get-me-out-of-this-car experience. I think West-siders rival Manhattanites in that way. Burbank feels like as much of an effort as going to Queens.

Yet I made the trek from my sunny little enclave of Santa Monica over to Burbank to attend LA’s second Lunch 2.0 at YellowBot on October 12th (see pix here.) YellowBot is essentially a local search site for finding and reviewing the places you go to in your community (and elsewhere). They are also building ways for patrons and business owners to exchange tips and experiences.

Ask from YellowBot

I showed up early and was greeted by Ask and Vani whom I’d met at the inaugural Lunch 2.0 at ThisNext.com. Last minute touches were being made. A dolly loaded down with a wide variety of drinks, cookies, pizzas, sandwiches and more was wheeled in and laid out. About 100 people turned out, all eager to catch up with colleagues and network.

I met people from the big boys like Google and Yahoo, people from established start-ups and new start-ups. Most had never heard of Lunch 2.0 before. The guys from Appulate, an insurance software automation company, learned of it at 10:00 that morning, just two hours before the event started. Another attendee heard through Facebook, told a friend who told a friend, etc. Love those examples of WOM influence.

I ran into Eric Hammond with Campusexplorer.com, a new company founded by four people from Rent.com. The service connects students, counselors and parents to the best college fit. They’re funded by Rincon and O’Connor ventures.

I chatted with Efren and Mel from the Campusbug.com team (hmm, think college is a booming market for .com’s?) that I first met at Twiistup2. The team is looking for angel funding and were heading to the Valley the next day for a breakfast to pitch VC’s.

Brette Borow has a side project called Girlsguideto.com that sounds intriguing. She likened it to a female Maxim, focused on user-generated content and editorial.

Team MusicIP. Rachel won the laptop bag from Higher Ground Gear.

I met Adam, Jen and Rachel from MusicIP, a music discovery solution for business and music fans and then later brought my pal Christoph Buerger from Rhino records over for an introduction. Synergy!

My favorite quotes from the day both came from the guys at Fidget, “LA’s going to bring it!” and “We’re a hybrid of tech and content geeks.”

In addition to the Higher Ground Gear laptop bag giveaway the YellowBot team donated a swanky iPod nano, won by Vak from Campusbug.

The next Lunch 2.0 LA is happening November 2nd at Shopzilla.com on the Westside. There are already 200 RSVP’s. Want to go? Know someone who should? Visit Mixergy to get on the list.

Vani from YellowBot with Michelle from CNET

Vak from CampusBug.com with his new win, donated by Emad from YellowBot.