After he joined the startup in question, Cerda saw the board bring in a CEO with a "big company background." A guy who subsequently who went around the founders and straight to the board, in the middle of financing, to tell them that the company was screwed.

While Cerda was talking, I was thinking, "Why blame the new CEO? I mean, come on, this is Ooma, which sells a pointless $400 phone gadget thing and hired actor and model Ashton Kutcher to make wacky commercials. We could have told you it was doomed from the start, too."

Cerda's lesson? Stick to your circle of trust. Well, it worked for Peter Thiel's PayPal gang, so Cerda might have a point. But it's not going to make skittish startup founders any less paranoid. Maybe that's a good thing.

Update: There's an odd postscript to Cerda's tale. He never named names in his brief speech, and certainly didn't do anything to correct listeners' impression that he was talking about Ooma. (Or to be fair, have much chance — he was cut off before his four-minute time allotment was up.) But Cerda now tells us the company in question wasn't Ooma. Who was it? The only other startup he mentions founding on his blog is The Yoga Company, a San Ramon yoga chain which seems an unlikely venue for such boardroom drama.

Cerda now explains that he was talking about a company where he worked as an early employee, not a founder, and that he was relaying a lesson he later applied as a founder. That narrows the possibilities to the host of network-equipment companies he worked at early in his career: Netopia, Livingston, Redback, Procket, and Trapeze Networks. So which one do you think it was? Cerda's still being discreet, but we're hoping you won't be.

• Wikipedia founder Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales (pictured, above) speaks to San Francisco's Commonwealth Club tonight at 6 p.m., on "the accuracy of Wiki posts" and Internet politics. [Commonwealth Club]

• Schmoozefest Stirr presents Founder's Hacks, its cutesy term for entrepreneurial tips and tricks. Ted Rheingold of Dogster, David Marks from Loomia, PBWiki's David Weekly, and Riya CEO (and offshoring opponent) Munjal Shah share the lessons they learned while beginning their companies. It's at Trader Vic's in Palo Alto, on the El Camino Real. This code for Valleywag readers will get you a $10 discount on your ticket: fhkrowt3n [STIRR]. (We hope that "fhk" is short for "Founder Hacks.")
• It's earnings call season! Yahoo kicked us off yesterday, eBay's call just wrapped up, and tomorrow is a big day for finance geeks as Dow Jones, Google, and Microsoft all release their figures.

Tribe goes native
8pm October 10th, 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission Street, San Francisco
It's the Return of Digital Utopia! Judging by the party logo, Mark "Jack" Pincus will mark his return to Tribe.net by ritually draining the lifeblood from Jan "Piggy" Gullett's previous administration. Join the hippies and help them spin the night away with DJs culled from Tribe's membership rolls. Expect lots of hugs and touchy-feely vibes from a crowd sure to be having a rollingly good time. Remember, though, you will be surrounded by Burners, so leave the glasses at home in case security wisely tries to confiscate all incendiary devices.

Phone Phreak Out!
7pm October 10th, Phone Booth, 25th and S Van Ness in San Francisco
Remember when Cap'n Crunch was more than just a cereal? The guys behind Radio Handi go retro tonight at the aptly named Phone Booth and get their phreak on in the geekiest way possible. They ask that you "bring an interesting fixed line phone (rotary phones especially), [or] a small KSU or PBX that can power rotary phone ringers." This is the perfect place to get rid of all those RJ11 extension cords you have lying around the house. So, stop by, show off your mad skillz, and prank call that person sitting in the booth 10 feet away from you.

Creative Commons Salon SF / Fundraising Campaign Launch Party
6pm October 11th, shine 1337 Mission Street San Francisco
Come hear Boing Boing's David Pescovitz, Revver's Web 2.Ooh hottie Micki Krimmel, and Ryan Junell (uh... who?) as they try to wheedle some cash out of you in support of Creative Commons - the intellectual property agreement that allows Valleywag to have pretty pictures of parties. Check out the Flickr Photo Booth - San Francisco's nerdier version of Blue States Lose.

STIRR Mixer 1.7
6:00pm October 11th. Fanny & Alexander's 412 Emerson St, Palo Alto
Four more companies add themselves to the STIRR Alumni Roster - this month it's LicketyShip, PrefPass, Vyatta, and vFlyer all vying for your love and attention (this goes double if you're an investor) at the monthly demo-and-schmooze. Not on the exclusive guest list? I am! Comment below or email tips@valleywag.com and tell me who to stalk at this party. Who is an interesting conversationalist? What companies should we know more about? Most importantly, who's good looking & single? I need to know for research purposes. Kthx.

As CBS anchor Manuel Ramos says, Stirr is a meetup where entrepreneurs, VCs, and the whole startup crowd schmooze and pitch each other. (It's also a great room to stand in the corner of and snicker.)

Manny also sums up the social aspect: "Remember, these people spend a lot of their time in front of a computer screen."

Stirr Mixer on CBS 5 [YouTube]

• Creative Commons Salon: Hang with master archiver Rick Prelinger and others at San Fran bar Shine. Starts at 6, drop in any time by 9. [Upcoming.org]
• Stirr 3: The guest list's closed, but come late and see if you can't slip into this Palo Alto mixer after the one-minute demos are over — they're overrated anyway. What you need is to network. Hard. [Upcoming.org
• Diggnation One Year Anniversary Show: Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht (pictured) record the 50th Diggnation show at San Fran's Beach Chalet. Buy them shots, dude, so they can get sooooo wasted.

Check out who's coming — Canadian Flockstar Will Pate, Digg hottie Kevin Rose, media maven Irina Slutsky of GETV, and so many more! Sign up or just stumble in!

And thanks to the $100 sloshcon sponsors — which now include WordPress.com owner Automattic, Mena Trott of Six Apart, Gabriel Venture Partners, Digg, STIRR Network, and Laughing Squid. Silver $250 sponsors are Topix.net and Valleywag owner Gawker Media.

Booze! Shouting! TV coverage (no seriously)! Get ready to get drunk and argue about the Internet (and those damn humanity-killing robots) this Thursday night at San Francisco's House of Shields!

Web Infinity Plus One: The SloshCon [Upcoming]

No joke, we're holding a Web Infinity Plus One Conference at the House of Shields a week from today! The top room's reserved and the sponsors are ponying up for the bar tab. The deets:

• Where: San Francisco bar House of Shields
• When: Thursday, 8 June, 9ish PM
• What: Live GETV interview by Irina Slutsky; impromptu drunk speeches; OPEN BAR
• Why: To make a paper trail so Valleywag can pull an O'Reilly.
• $100 Sponsors: Automattic; Mena Trott of Six Apart; STIRR Network; Gawker Media ($250)

Oh boy there's more! Watch Valleywag every day til then for updates on the Best Night This Side of the Singularity!

Web Infinity Plus One: The SloshCon [RSVP on Upcoming.org]
HoS photo: Web 1.0 Summit [Scott Beale on Flickr]

Didn't make it to the second iteration of the Stirr emerging tech event? Neither did I, despite digging Stirr #1. But through the magic of the Internets, we can pretend we were there. Photos courtesy of Hot From Silicon Valley (actual approval pending).

Whoa. The Mint Pages founder Angie Chang is totally gonna blog your makeup.

Pandemonium ensues when the Meetro staff reinterprets "Naked Conversations."

A baker's half-dozen more, after the jump.

"This is Armand, and he's about to fund me with two million."
"Haha, no, I—"
"Shut up, Armand."

Straight from the warehouse: Rent your Web 2.0 Grinning Asian Girls today!

"When I get tired of a conversation, I just gently sway my head back and forth. Always hypnotizes them."

"So did these guys want to re-create the Best Buy prank?"
"Dude, they're Valley wonks. Thomas Kinkade has a sharper sense of irony than these guys."

"Wastin' away — sing along! — in Margaritaville!"

Stirr organizer Sean Ness quickly adopted a Lord of the Flies strategy: "Whoever holds the Valleyschwag pack has the floor."

Sporting a really killer Botox job, George Clooney cannot escape getting Gawkered.

That's as exciting as a Valley party gets. Dear New York: Please send drugs. Kthxbye.

Photos: Hot From Silicon Valley [Home page]

• Monday: Entrepreneurs pitch their startups in a structured contest called "First Impressions (Upcoming.org)." After each round, the weakest contestant is sacrificed to a bronze idol of John Doerr.
• Tuesday: Solve geeky puzzles and bet on Roomba cockfights (Phil Torrone's bringing his) at the next Nerd Salon (Upcoming.org) at San Fran's 111 Minna.
• Wednesday: Google manager Chris DiBona, Webby Awards founder Tiffany Schlain, and others speak about the geek-led intellectual property revolution at the Creative Commons Salon (Upcoming.org). Sneak off to the Flickr photo booth at the venue, SF bar Shine.
• Wednesday: Let's hope this one's catered — Stirr, the tech meet-and-demo-and-drink in Palo Alto (wagged in April), is back for Round B (Upcoming.org).
• Thursday: The $25 RSVP rate — $40 at the door! — might shrink the crowd at the SF Web Innovators meetup (Upcoming.org; 6 PM in Adaptive Path's SF office), but that means only the hardcore (or the hard-up-for-funding) will show up.
• Thursday: Use Flickr? Meet others.
• Thursday:Use Consumating? Meet others.

You know there's a bubble because the chicks at these events are getting hotter.

Don't worry, he loves them for their minds.

Stirr's mixer last night brought startuppers, marketers, and investors (and one gossip blogger) to Palo Alto's Fanny and Alexander bar for a handful of one-minute dot-com presentations and a night of drinking, demoing, and awkward schmoozing.

Demo-ers included:
Sean Savage of cafe-driven PlaceSite
Vinnie Lauria (who — ladies — is new in town and hot as hell) of social IM service Meetro
Andrew Martinez-Fonts (thanks for the ride, Andrew) of p2p-loan site Prosper
Adam Siegel of Inkling Markets (the wisdom of the bookies)
Scott Johnson of Ookles — I wasn't listening by this point. Sorry, Ookles.

The main event was the three-hour laid-back schmooze session. Beer was $4.50, and hard liquor could be had for three bucks. This, the 6-to-9 timing, and the lack of free food meant a roomful of drunk dot-commers.

Meanwhile, on the deck out back, a club of young VCs ("Future Partners" of something or other — young bucks freshly post- or pre-business school) held a session out back — with food! — that was quickly invaded by startups hungry for kebabs and Round A funding.

Photo: The Stirrers [Philosophy Geek on Flickr]

Saturday
¬ National Idea-to-Product Competition: College teams face off for a $15,000 prize at the SJSU College of Business. Sounds pretty sober; I recommend a follow-up drink at San Francisco's St. Stupid's Day Parade After-Afterparty.

Tuesday
¬ SV Bloggers First Tuesday: It's not the boss's old think-tank, it's a twice-monthly meetup of Silicon Valley bloggers. (I hear there are a few of them around.)

Wednesday
¬ John Perry Barlow: Is Cyberspace Still Anti-sovereign?: Was it ever? Berkeley School of Information, 4 PM.
¬ Stirr mixer: Speakers include Sean Savage, coiner of the term "flash mob." He'll be presenting his company, PlaceSite. Also represented: Meetro, Prosper, Inkling Markets, and Ookles.

Thursday
¬ The Evolution and Future of Micropayments: Execs from Visa, PayPal, and Bitpass (the little payment site that could) explain where micropayments are going (other than "to webcomic artists").

Have a fun event? Have a boring one to make fun of? Send it to tips@valleywag.com.