Dave Torrey has been living in the Bay Area for more than 40 years and had the pleasure to experience the HanaHaus space since it was a movie theatre. As an independent consultant, he collaborates with startups and entrepreneurs and helps them to grow their businesses. Read in our brand-new “People of HanaHaus”-Blog what makes him to come over to the heart of Silicon Valley.
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Name: Dave Torrey
Age: 65
Origin: Portland, Oregon
Hanahaus Visitor since: Spring 2016
Job Title: Marketing & Strategy Consultant
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My Job in Silicon Valley is about…
“…working with individuals and especially entrepreneurs to help them figure out strategies for their businesses. I also help them with marketing strategy and with fundraising. I’ve been an independent consultant and coach for about 25 years. Also, I am doing nonprofit work. I just finished a nonprofit project for the Stanford d.school. It was for an exciting new venture called 'Project Wayfinder' which helps high school students find a greater sense of meaning and purpose in their lives.”
Got to know HanaHaus …
“...because I’ve been coming here since it was a movie theatre and then a bookstore. I’ve known about it for a long time. I watched movies here in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It was a beautiful place and I am glad that you kept the marquee! When it was a bookstore, I used to bring my kids to shop for books and attend Harry Potter book launch parties. I was curious when I saw it was being converted to a new place.”
Why I come to HanaHaus…
“…to meet colleagues or to have discussions. Other times I am just working on my projects individually and I like hanging around all the interesting people working here. Also, I like the staff - both the people that work for HanaHaus and BlueBottle. They are fun and interesting people!”
My journey to Silicon Valley started when…
“…I moved from Oregon to Redwood City with my family when I was 4 years old. It was of course not ‘Silicon Valley’ back then. I grew up here in the 50s and 60s when the valley was more about agriculture than technology. In the summers, I worked in a can factory which provided cans to the agricultural industry. After I graduated from college at U.C. Davis, I was gone for a while for working in Washington D.C. In 1977, I came back to Palo Alto to study at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Then I worked for a management consulting company, the Boston Consulting Group. After that, I was an executive in a couple of high tech companies, including one which went from a small start-up to a successful public company. I eventually started my own consulting practice working primarily with high-tech start-ups.”
HanaHaus is unique because…
“…its space. The design and the history of this space makes it very interesting. Especially if you were there before it was converted. Also, I like the variety of people here. I like being around them, especially when they are being creative and innovative. They are full of energy, working to inventing the future. When I am talking to them you can feel the energy, which I like. In my view, HanaHaus is a great resource for Silicon Valley.”
The best experience at HanaHaus was...
“…starting to go to the events in the evenings. I went to the Pico Iyer’s talk about the 'Value of Travel', which was great.”
The favorite spot at HanaHaus…
“…are the standup tables. They say that sitting is the new smoking. It’s not good to sit all day!”
In 3 words HanaHaus is...
“…creativity, buzz, energy”.
In our new blog series, People of HanaHaus, we present the folks that fill our workspace cafe with life: Start-Uppers, entrepreneurs, artists, founders, innovation managers, students, unicorns, venture capital investors and the people who make HanaHaus unique. We want to learn about their journeys and what brought them to Silicon Valley. We ask them to speak about their current projects and why how they leverage HanaHaus for their business.