I'm British and travelled from London to SF with my co-founder last year.
I'd recommend to not try too hard and just to enjoy being out there. You've only got a week or so and it'll go quickly. I would forget all about VCs, they will sort themselves of their own accord if/when the time is right. Seeing and getting a feel for the city and the surrounding area is far more important in my opinion.
Hire a car. I was a little hesitant about driving in America at first, but it's actually very easy compared to driving in the UK (and trivial compared to London). Remember you can usually go through a red light if you're turning right! Driving will save you a lot of time and effort as public transport around SF is very limited (again compared to London) and it's quite a big city to walk around. Hiring a car is easy to do, we just walked into one of the many hire car depots on Mission and signed up on the spot.
If it's a sunny day then take a couple of hours to drive south down the 1 highway (the Pacific coast highway). Wow.
Knowing where all the startups are located is a bit overrated, I wouldn't bother visiting startup offices/buildings on spec, we drove down to Cupertino to see Apple's HQ which in hindsight was an adventure better suited to an even bigger Apple fan than I :)
Go to all the startup meetups you can, then go to the after drinks, stay til the end and chat to random people. We didn't actually get chance to do enough of this and I do regret that a bit. But I wouldn't worry too much if you don't make amazing contacts or friends in a few days there, these things usually take time.
Americans are very hospitable! We were treated like old family by the staff at a fantastic diner near where we were staying.
I'd recommend to not try too hard and just to enjoy being out there. You've only got a week or so and it'll go quickly. I would forget all about VCs, they will sort themselves of their own accord if/when the time is right. Seeing and getting a feel for the city and the surrounding area is far more important in my opinion.
Hire a car. I was a little hesitant about driving in America at first, but it's actually very easy compared to driving in the UK (and trivial compared to London). Remember you can usually go through a red light if you're turning right! Driving will save you a lot of time and effort as public transport around SF is very limited (again compared to London) and it's quite a big city to walk around. Hiring a car is easy to do, we just walked into one of the many hire car depots on Mission and signed up on the spot.
If it's a sunny day then take a couple of hours to drive south down the 1 highway (the Pacific coast highway). Wow.
Knowing where all the startups are located is a bit overrated, I wouldn't bother visiting startup offices/buildings on spec, we drove down to Cupertino to see Apple's HQ which in hindsight was an adventure better suited to an even bigger Apple fan than I :)
Go to all the startup meetups you can, then go to the after drinks, stay til the end and chat to random people. We didn't actually get chance to do enough of this and I do regret that a bit. But I wouldn't worry too much if you don't make amazing contacts or friends in a few days there, these things usually take time.
Americans are very hospitable! We were treated like old family by the staff at a fantastic diner near where we were staying.
Hope that helps!