I’m pretty amazed as to the growth of businesses during a time of a recession so it’s probably no surprise that I’m reporting on iStrategyLabs and their recent advancements into the west coast.

Run by its CEO, Peter Corbett, iStrategyLabs has done a phenomenal job within its early existence. Having just celebrated its two year anniversary, this digital agency has focused itself on providing quality products and solutions towards a variety of clientele, including large brand names like GEICO, American Eagle and even to government entities like to Washington, DC and the government of Helsinki, Finland. Just this past summer, the company even began its expansion conquest around the country with its second office in New York City where it will help address the needs of its other clients, including NASDAQ and many more.

But will wonders never cease? Apparently not as just a few days ago, iStrategyLabs announced their entry into the Silicon Valley area where this office will be managed by none other than Internet famous consultant and strategist, Chris Heuer – best known as one of the founders of Social Media Club and AdHocnium. After hearing about the opening of a second office in NYC, I’m really not surprised that Corbett would open a third office nor that it was going to be in San Francisco. What shocked me was how fast he moved! But then again, when I saw him in San Francisco around the time of FOOCamp (for “Friends of [Tim] O’Reilly”), I remember him saying that he was thinking about opening up an office – in the metaphorical sense, at the very least.

Well lo’ and behold, the guy did it…and he picked one heck of a guy to run it.

iStrategyLabs couldn’t have picked a better place to set up shop. They definitely have a great location addressing government and non-profit needs in the nation’s capital, financial and other business markets in New York City, and now in San Francisco, they’re going to be intimately in touch with the actual technology being created in the Valley that will give them an advantage in being the digital agency that truly understands how to use social media and emerging technology. What an impressive team that is being built at iStrategyLabs…it’s practically an all-star who’s who that any company would be fortunate enough to work with.

Congrats guys!

Peter Corbett really knows how to throw a party.

Swanky bar, lots of room, free drinks and even twitter feeds streamed on the plasma TVs. Awesome.

The event, Twin Tech III, was the third in what has grown from an interesting gathering of old-school technology providers and hip, new Web 2.0 companies to a can’t miss event. We have covered the Twin Tech events in the past here and here when they had 500 and 1,000 attendees, respectively. But this time it was 1,500 people that led to a tremendous amount of conversation and business card exchanging.

Photo Credit: TechBisnow.com

I have to say that my experience was different and even better this time around. You go to many events and see many of the same people. This time there were many new faces and it was a blast to connect with new people. Also, what I did notice was that there was a serious amount of “speed dating/networking” going on. Maybe it is the economy, but people were quick to find out who you were, what you did, if there was a fit, exchange cards and move on. It was pretty efficient and I liked that. It seemed to be that people knew that there was much ground to cover and that they would all catch up later via email to schedule time to meet one on one.

The event was sponsored by Peter’s company, iStrategyLabs, and NVTC, the leading tech organization in Virginia. This time around, they even had a bus that left from Reston and ran to DC.The bus was sponsored by  London Ink, R2i, Speaker Box Communications, Memory Blue and LeverPoint  and filled with food, beer, and wine. These are times I wish I still lived in Reston.

But I get to hang out with awesome people like our blogger team, Joe Loong and Jill Foster:

Photo Credit: Shashi Bellamkonda

Peter tells me that Twin Tech IV is already in the works for Spring. For those of you that are near the DC area you should definitely make out to this event.

We have covered many events in the past but there is one event here in the DC area that seems to be a gravity well for all things tech. I am talking about the Twin Tech event that has already been held twice and we cover the first one and the second one to much fanfare.

The first event had 600 people and was a blast. The second was even bigger and with an open bar for 1200 people.

A full recap of Twin Tech II can be found here:
http://www.istrategylabs.com/twin-tech-ii-recap-photos-video-and-posts-from-around-the-net/

This time? 2000 people are registered and they are looking for a way to accommodate more people.

Here are the details:
When:
Thursday, January 22th, 2009 from 6:00pm-9pm

Where:
Lux Lounge: 649 New York Ave NW, Washington DC

Parking is available across the street and the Gallery Place and Convention Center Metro stops are blocks away.

According to the event site, “The format remains the same: the brightest minds in the tech/venture space will be on hand to mix and mingle with one another during a happy hour style meet-up. An open bar will be made available through the generosity of our sponsors.”

Since this is Inauguration Week here in Washington, DC many of our readers may be visiting from out of town. If you are interested, the event page is located at http://twintech3.eventbrite.com/.

We will have coverage of the event but we hope to see you out there.