Cyber party virgin Calvin Naito has just arrived, and already he's running out of time. Two hours. That's all the time he has to connect. To sell himself. To seal that deal.
He hates this feeling--like an animal on the prowl--but what choice do you have when your Internet company needs an infusion of cash? As in seven figures. And then some.
Quickly, the crowd of Web-heads swells and this mid-June Santa Monica party is buzzing. If Naito works the rooms, he's sure to run into CEOs, CTOs, VCs . . . and, maybe, if he decides to come back another time, romantic prospects.
High-tech execs and pretty young things mingle easily here at the town's best-known Internet bash, hosted by the town's biggest Internet networking group, the Venice Interactive Community. The town's ultra digital schmoozefest, VIC Night takes place each month at the quaint converted house that is the Victorian restaurant.
VIC has given birth to a new culture among its members--one that combines the unrestrained entrepreneurialism of the dot-com world with Hollywood-style schmoozing.
From Silicon Valley to Silicon Alley, the work is defined by long hours and constant electronic communication. As face-to-face interactions have become a luxury, organizations like VIC have become a necessity.
The group's cocktail mixers, parties and conferences offer Netizens a chance to meet in person, land high-stakes deals or recruit each other for coveted jobs. In some cases, they even find love.
Naito, however, confesses he wouldn't be at VIC's most popular party if he didn't have to be. He's a "purposeful" guy, he says, who'd rather be "networking" in front of his computer screen than schmoozing over drinks. But Naito's priority is helping his boss find financing for the company. And if that means tearing himself away from his computer for two hours to chase down some deep pockets, so be it.
Naito, former press secretary to L.A. Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, is vice president of public relations for IntraCom, which produces a device that can transmit ultrasound images live over the Web. IntraCom will probably not survive if it can't find some capital fast, says Naito.
"Do you know who Brad Nye is?" Naito asks, scanning the room for VIC's co-founder. It's important to know the ponytailed and gregarious Nye, because Nye knows everyone. ("VIC is the six degrees of Brad Nye," jokes one of his 20 staffers.)
