Guide to the Bay Area

Accommodation

BAY AREA HOTELS & TRAVEL SITES

Palo Alto: A temporary live/work site specifically geared to best serve the needs of the international startup community, located near Stanford University and University Avenue.
Startup CrashPad A dynamic co-living and working space in Palo Alto with shared rooms for $50 per night and/or individual rooms for $90 per night. Only 250 meters from the California Avenue Caltrain station, bicycle rentals, restaurants/bars/pubs and more! Contact Sanita Laivina at startupcrashpad@gmail.com. Be sure to mention USMAC! www.startupcrashpad.com.

Palo Alto: A hacker house located in Palo Alto. They provide a soft landing for international tech entrepreneurs that arrive to Silicon Valley.
Startup Embassy They only accept entrepreneurs working in their startups so that you get the benefit of sharing your time with like-minded individuals. Must book in advance as they do fill up! Charge about $64/night. Host lots of events especially BBQs in their backyard. Contact hello@startupembassy.com. www.startupembassy.com.

San Francisco: With multiple buildings they offer various options for accommodation, from single rooms, to shared. Be sure to book well in advance as they do fill up. Their location is perfect if you plan to have most meetings in San Francisco, or even the East Bay. It is also in walking distance to Rocketspace if you plan on working there during your stay.
Paramount Student Housing (part of Paramount Hotels) provides safe, affordable and quality housing for International Students, Interns and visiting professionals. To check availability and reserve a room, contact Janine Penadoat 415.397.4924, janine@paramounthotelsinc.com. You will need a formal letter of acceptance of the program you are participating in with US MAC, a copy of your Visa, Passport and the Credit Card you will be paying with.
http://www.paramounthotelsinc.com | www.sfohousing.com.

San Francisco: A communal living space and startup community. They prefer guests to stay for 5 days or more- but they are flexible! They are growing relatively fast and opening new locations around the Bay Area and beyond!
Startup Basecamp: Startup Basecamp is the first Startup Hotel in San Francisco offering a unique co-living and co-working space for startup professionals and entrepreneurs to easily land in San Francisco. Quality rooms are very affordable ranging from $49/night – $139/night. More: https://www.startupbasecamp.org/co-living

Get 10% discount with code: USMAC

email: bookings@startupbasecamp.org

San Francisco: A relatively new living space for entrepreneurs that is in a great location. They are looking for longer term visitors who can stay months at a time.
Bed|n|Build is the perfect landing pad for entrepreneurs and other builders. They house entrepreneurs from around the globe and foster personal relationships and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange. Located at 2332 Fulton St San Francisco, CA 94117, their place is safe, fun and well connected to public transportation. They offer shared and private rooms starting at $1,000/month. Stay with them and join their community of like-minded peers. They are continuing to expand and are opening new locations around the Bay Area. Contact Oliver Hanisch at ohanisch@one49labs.com and mention USMAC as reference. www.bednbuild.com.

San Francisco: Better for a longer duration stay in San Francisco.
Landmark Realty Rent furnished or unfurnished apartments in San Francisco. www.landmarksf.com.

Bay Area: The go-to website for domestic and international travelers alike. You will certainly have a more “local” experience with AirBnB and most of our clients have had only good things to say about the places they stayed.
AirBnb Founded in August of 2008 and based in San Francisco, California, Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world —online or from a mobile phone. www.airbnb.com.

Bay Area: With locations throughout the Bay Area, this is a great option for travelers that do not mind sharing a room.
Oakwood specializes in providing custom housing solutions to your program’s need, whether it’s global mobility and relocation housing, intern program housing, corporate executive housing, or training program lodging. Please contact Sally Kopf, Account Executive, E: skopf@oakwood.com, P: +1 650-906-8705, A: 90 New Montgomery Street, Suite 1020, San Francisco, CA 94105.
www.oakwood.com.

South Bay: Although we have deals with these two hotels, they are quite far south. Staying here would be ideal if you know you will have meetings predominantly in the South Bay as they are closest to Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Mountain View and of course, San Jose. Please note that to drive from here to San Francisco will take about 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the traffic.
The Sainte Claire Hotel 302 South Market Street, San Jose, CA. 95113. To reserve a room at The Sainte Claire, use this booking link and the Promo Code: USM. Or you can book by calling the hotel directly at 408-295-2000 and asking to speak with reservations. Their direct central reservations number is 1-888-298-7185. www.thesainteclaire.com

Hilton Santa Clara 4949 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA 95054. To reserve a room, contact +1 408 562 6717, info@hiltonsantaclara.com. www.santaclara.hilton.com.


Transportation

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION -BAY AREA

While staying in San Francisco, public transit is a viable option to get around the city. Always give yourself ample time when taking public transit to meetings. Once outside of San Francisco, you will need a car to get around as the public transit options do decrease. If you are able to plan meetings near a Caltrain station though, then you can get by without a car.

Muni: San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency provides bus, streetcar, and metro service in the city of San Francisco, California.
http://www.sfmta.com/ , http://511.org/ , http://www.nextmuni.com

Bart: Bay Area Rapid Transit provides regional rail service in the San Francisco Bay Area. http://www.bart.gov/

Caltrain: Commuter rail between San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. http://www.caltrain.com/schedules.html

VTA: Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) provides bus, light rail, and paratransit services throughout the county, including the municipalities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga and Sunnyvale. http://www.vta.org/

Marguerite Shuttle: Marguerite is Stanford’s free public shuttle service, which travels around campus and connects to nearby transit, shopping, dining, and entertainment. http://transportation.stanford.edu/marguerite/

Clipper card for public transit:
Clipper can be used on Muni, BART, AC Transit, VTA, SamTrans, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit and Ferry, and San Francisco Bay Ferry. https://www.clippercard.com


TAXI -BAY AREA

Hailing a taxi in the Bay Area is a far different experience than doing so in a city like New York. You’re best bet is to use Smartphone friendly applications such as Uber and Lyftto get around fast and efficiently.

DeSoto Cab Company: 415.970.1300

Yellow Cab:
415.333.3333

Lyft: A mobile app for on-demand ride sharing. https://www.lyft.com/

Uber: A mobile app that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire and ridesharing services. https://www.uber.com/

Flywheel: A mobile app allows you to catch a cab and pay for it all with your smartphone -no need to hunt for cash.
http://www.flywheel.com/


RENT A CAR -BAY AREA

If you plan to stay outside of San Francisco proper, you will need to rent a car for the duration of your stay. If you stay in San Francisco, but occasionally need to drive to the South or East Bay, then you can rent a car for the day or even just a few hours.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car: An internationally recognized brand with more than 6,000 neighborhood and airport locations in the United States, Canada, the U.K., Ireland and Germany. http://www.enterprise.com

City Rent-A-Car: San Francisco car rental for exotic, luxury, and discount cars, SUVs, vans, and trucks. http://www.cityrentacar.com/

Zipcar: The world’s largest car sharing and car club service. http://www.zipcar.com/

City Car Share: A non-profit program that provides its members with the use of fuel-efficient vehicles by the hour.
https://www.citycarshare.org/

Getaround: Peer-to-peer/Social car sharing and local car rental. Rent cars by the hour from people around you.
http://www.getaround.com/

RelayRides: RelayRides is a peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace. It allows private car-owners to rent out their vehicles via an online interface.
https://relayrides.com/


OTHER INFORMATION

WAZE app for real-time traffic reports, detours and more while on the road. Download today: https://www.waze.com/

Steve Blank’s Visitor’s Guide to Silicon Valley: http://steveblank.com/visitors-guide/

Stanford University Entrepreneurship’s Corner:
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/


US MAC Partners

Financial Services

Bank of the West, BNP Paribas Group: A financially strong, well-capitalized and prudently managed FDIC-insured bank that customers have entrusted with their money for over 135 years. www.bankofthewest.com
Julien Christiaens, AVP Business Development Officer
P: 415-432-3335

PP&Co: Petrinovich Pugh & Company has provided Silicon Valley with its expert financial services since 1951. ww.ppandco.com
Jie Zhu, CPA, PFS, Partner
P: (408)287-7911 ext. 1937

Law Firms

ReedSmithLLP: A law firm with more than 1,800 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. www.reedsmith.com
Richard Horning, Partner
P: +1 650.352.0509

DLA Piper: DLA Piper is a global law firm with 4,200 lawyers located in more than 30 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, positioning us to help companies with their legal needs anywhere in the world. www.dlapiper.com
Curtis Mo, Partner
P: 650-833-2015

Accelerator/Incubator
Rocketspace: RocketSpace is an open innovation campus located in the heart of San Francisco. Startup. Blastoff. www.rocket-space.com