Yes. The secret is to find a few well-networked people and then get invited to gatherings/parties in the homes of said people. You'd be shocked at both how conn

Yes. The secret is to find a few well-networked people and then get invited to gatherings/parties in the homes of said people. You'd be shocked at both how connected all of the important and wealthy people in SF are and how much business gets conducted at intimate gatherings. What's nice is it's somewhat less insular than other status-oriented hierarchies in that you can break into these circles by being reasonably good at generating value (particularly as an engineer/technologist) and even vaguely charismatic. That said, in my opinion the primary focus should always be on figuring out how to create value. These days the upper echelons of the Bay Area are alarmingly saturated with talkers and bloviators, as opposed to doers.