By Marissa Louie

Ok my fellow Young Grasshoppers, we need to fly. Let’s close deals, chomp on some revenue, and raise cold hard liquid cash. My Dot2Dot family and my NYC Nerdsters, I can be your connection to Silicon Valley who will get you in with the right people. But to actually cut the deal in SF, you need the right venue, with the right mixture of old school (for historical context), understated class, and worldliness (so you can think about the possibilities outside of the room). The point is to focus on the people at the table, the deal, and your future partnership together. Just be strategic about your bathroom breaks and watch your toes. Here’s where I’ve cut deals from $1000 to $24m.

Marissa Louie and Nalin Mittal at Cafe de la Presse, by David Gelles of Financial Times

These work for me:

Seasons Four Seasons

• I always get deals done here. I got my biggest deal done here.

Carnelian Room

• Ask for longtime General Manager Philip Ip and tell him I sent you. He pays 100% attention to detail and knows exactly what to do.

Hyatt Regency

• Before you go, take a ride in the speed elevator while you watch everything beneath you shrink. Now take that soaring feeling straight into your meeting.

NOPA

• It’s best to come late at night with a cheery spirit and with no intention of cutting a deal.

Masa’s

• Do your deal in a hushed voice. And wear something conservative unless you want men gawking at you during your deal.

Café de la Presse

• This is the social media, PR, and communications hub of SF, so cut your deals related to those arenas here. According to superstars @dgelles, @nalin, @rafer, @dayo, @dipw0nder, and more.

The Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton

• Bring your East Coast colleagues here.

Kokkari

• I took control of a client dinner where everyone was twice my age by talking about how consulting executives cannot sell, even though 90% of top executives have a background in sales.  We got the deal, celebrated, and then I bumped into Gavin Newsom and Willie Brown on my way out.

The Palace Hotel

• It’s where you make history.

Sugar Cafe

• It’s where my company, AD-Village, was born. I’ve taken that energy into cutting multiple deals, and have been a loyal customer for 2 years.

You’d think these would work, but they don’t for me:

They’re great dining places, but for me, the settings are uncomfortable, the people tend to stare rudely, or the waitstaff is stiff and awkward. The chi is just not right.

Aqua

Gary Danko

Fleur de Lys

Boulevard

Jardiniere

Silks

The NYC version is on its way!

Marissa is the CEO and Co-founder of AD-Village. On the job, she handles, sales, PR, customer service, community relations, marketing, speaking at conferences, strategy, recruiting, coding, text messaging, Twittering, and returning calls and emails.

She is a frequent conference speaker and will make a keynote speech or presentation at Web 2.0 Expo New York, Wharton West Entrepreneur Club, LeadsCon Las Vegas, and the Mobile Marketing Summit.

Marissa blogs at BusinessWeek, Adotas, and here at Bub.blicio.us.

Find her on Twitter: @malouie

Contact her at (510) 375-1941 or Email her at marissa@ad-village.com.

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