There are a lot of good channels on Freenode generally, but it's a bit like saying one's circle of friends are good.. they're not so great until you know them,

There are a lot of good channels on Freenode generally, but it's a bit like saying one's circle of friends are good.. they're not so great until you know them, etc. #startups is probably one of the better ones for strangers, but it's certainly worth branching out into several at a time, particular technology specific ones where newcomers are expected and frequent (e.g. #redis, #rubinius, #ruby-lang). You can then get invited or drawn into the more cliquey but interesting channels that no-one talks about as much.