Reshma Saujani "Gets" Tech

Monday evening I went to this Reshma Saujani (@reshma2010) event near Union Square: What Are You Doing Monday? Come Meet Al Wenger.

Reshma Saujani: Innovation, Ethnic Pride, Thought Leadership

It was a great event. I got to meet a whole bunch of people. I got to meet Reshma's boyfriend Nihal. (@nihalmehta). At my first Reshma Saujani event in early April, towards the end, someone told me "Reshma's boyfriend is a DJ," and I was like, wow, that is like Madonna, Madonna's boyfriend is also a DJ. (Madonna Is Dating Jesus, No Kidding) Ends up Reshma Saujani's boyfriend is not a DJ, but a tech entrepreneur. He does do the DJ thing though. I asked, and he confirmed. (@buzzd)

Fred Wilson: A DJ
Fred Wilson: DJ

Nihal is a cool guy. He asked me if I was going to the after party after the event was over. Of course I was going to the after party. I was one of the last to leave, and it was not even that late. There on the rooftop I got into an intense conversation about Twitter with @a_buchanan. She said the first time she met Reshma she was like, "You are @a_buchanan!" The first time she met Cory Booker, that New Jersey Mayor, he was like "You are @a_buchanan!"

I got to meet Al Wenger in person for the first time. (@albertwenger) The guy was on his BlackBerry, typing away when I first saw him.

"For the longest time I did not realize Union Square Ventures was named after Union Square," I said to him. "I kept thinking so square is square like in rectangle square, but what is union?"

"People think we are west coast," he deadpanned.

Nate was on the panel. (@innonate) Running the NY Tech MeetUp has turned him into a public figure in the tech circles of the city, and that was obvious at this event. He sure has a personality that could handle all the fame that could come his way. He is comfortable, he is affable, he is sharp, he has presence.

I asked my question to him after the panelists had had their run.

"I am not going to hide the fact that I take obvious ethnic pride in this campaign," I began. The crowd laughed to that line. "But the first time I heard the Reshma Saujani name was at Nate's blog, and that is a tech blog. I looked at the blog post, and I remember thinking, this is obviously an Indian name, and an Indian face, but she is talking technology, she must be running in California somewhere. My question is, how do you explain this tremendous poverty among New York politicians when it comes to all things tech? Especially when it is no longer this fancy, elitist topic, it has by now become a do or die topic. The jobs that are gone are gone, they are not coming back. The next rush of jobs this city needs will be created by this innovation community. Our politicians can't afford to stay away from the tech community, and refuse to pick up the vocabulary. Not any more. How do you explain this tremendous poverty among New York politicians?"

Nate said it takes effort, and so far the politicians have not put in that effort.

I got to meet the Dropio cofounder Darshan. (@darshan)

Dropio's Indian Cofounder Darshan

Meghan Asha ran the show.

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