geekSessions - Web Infrastructure: Surviving the "Hockey Stick" July 31, 2007

It's both a blessing and a curse--web startups work long hours building products that everyone loves only to face the threat of being killed by their own success.

This month, geekSessions tackles the topic of how to keep your web infrastructure alive and thriving when demand goes through the roof. We've put together a great panel of people who've experienced the "Hockey Stick" first hand and will come to share the lessons they've learned and answer your questions. Our speakers hail from Digg, Friendster, Meebo, and VideoEgg.

Join us on Tuesday, July 31st from 6 to 9 PM at the elegant City Club in downtown San Francisco. Come for the panel and stay for an informal catered reception to continue the discussion. Oh, and don't forget--there's an OPEN BAR!

Event Info

What: Web Infrastructure: Surviving the "Hockey Stick"
When: Tuesday, July 31st, 6:00-9:00pm
Where: The City Club of SF, Google Map: 155 Sansome, 11th Floor

How: A limited number of tickets are now open to the public! Get them while they last.


Transportation: Parking can be a bit tricky in the financial district at this time, so it's highly recommended you take public transportation. If you must drive, your best bet may be to park in the parking structure for the Metreon over on 4th and Mission and walk to the event.

3 hours isn't enough, you say? Stay tuned for details of the geekSessions after-party being organized by Sean Plaice of Yelp!

Submit a Question for the Panel

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About the Panelists

Jonathan Abrams
Founder, Friendster and Socializr
Jonathan Abrams is the founder, CEO, and Junior Computer Programmer at Socializr, an online service for sharing event and party information with your friends. Jonathan is an award-winning serial entrepreneur who created the pioneering social networking service Friendster in 2002. Jonathan is the inventor of a United States Patent for a "System, method, and apparatus for connecting users in an online computer system based on their relationships within social networks.

Nick Heyman
VP of Operations, VideoEgg
Nick Heyman has over a decade of IT experience, most recently at Facebook, one of the leading social networks in the US, where he was responsible for scaling the infrastructure of the site from 2 million to over 14 million users. He also worked in operations at another popular social network, Friendster. Nick started out his IT career in 1995 working for the Secretary of the State of Rhode Island where he helped build and launch one of the first web-based legislative tracking systems in the country.


Ron Gorodetzky
Senior Systems Administrator, Digg
Ron attended University of California San Diego after which he did small scale computer consulting. In 2004 he was asked to help administer a small server for a side project called Digg, a social news site. Soon after he co-founded and acted as Director of Technology for Revision3, an online production company and distributor. Both ventures have become quite successful in their own spaces.


Sandy Jen
Founder, meebo
With a BS in Computer Science from Stanford, Sandy founded meebo in 2005. Today, Meebo's users exchange over 80 million instant messages a day! She is primarily responsible for the server side development of meebo. This includes coding up new features but also architecting a scalable, robust server infrastructure to interface with the front-end.

Official Website: http://www.geeksessions.com