Startups do the (Electric) Slide Down Castro Street

The rules were simple: eat, drink, socialize and when the "Electric Slide" played over the loudspeakers slide on down to the next startup.

More than 90 people did just that on the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 4 at the first ever StartUp Slide organized and hosted by three of Mountain View's downtown startups Saygent, Outright and Polyvore. The event aimed to give employees at startups an outlet where they could have fun and meet others in the process.

"I find that even though startups are social, we still spend 18 hours a day working," said Evy Wilkins, director of marketing at Saygent a voice survey and analysis company. "It just made sense that everyone met each other at this neighborhood block party."

The first stop of the Startup Slide took place in the common space of 500 Startups at 444 Castro St. There attendees traded businesses cards and at a brief open mic session announced if their startup had job openings or if they themselves sought a job. The companies with openings for developers included field photography camera startup Lytro and Saygent. Crave's CEO Erin Turner also inform that her startup, a social marketplace for collectors, needed a public relations professional.

Vice Mayor Mike Kasperzak and members of the attended to show support to the people who kept Mountain View in the center of technology innovation and who made Castro Street a vibrant city center.

Kasperzak quipped about how many startups called Mountain View home "even though there seems to be no space because seems to buy up everything. But we like that too."

Tiffany Chew, business development specialist for the city, acknowledged that "from the city's economic development perspective, we need to suppot both large and small companies."

"Mountain View has been a great place for startups to locate to and it's great that they are working together and building a community," said Chew. "The startup community is becoming a big part of downtown."

At the second stop of the Startup Slide, Ben Curren–chief Technology officer and co-Founder of Outright a small business accounting platform–expressed how successful the night seemed to be going.

"When Melanie [Jones of Polyvore] and Evy reached out to me, I had been thinking about participating in different events because we are so focused on work sometimes," he said and then added how fast the guest list grew. "I think it's awesome. I love it."

The Outright team, on the second floor of 191 Castro St., had set up a RockBand area and an obstacle course to fly remote control helicopters through.

Formerly on Castro Street but now at 100 View Street, the online social fashion and style network, Polyvore invited everyone over for dessert–out of Treatbot's karaoke playing ice cream truck–and more beer.

The crowd of nearly 100 had started to dwindle by 9 p.m. but until then had obviously enjoyed their time together.

For the next Startup Slide, they may not close the guestlist, according to Saygent's Wilkins.

"We kept 130 people on a waitlist."