We walked into Buck's Restaurant yesterday and felt like we entered a set in a movie about Silicon Valley deal makers. Everyone in the Valley has eaten at Buck's in Woodside, California at some point.
In fact, the only local hot shot entrepreneur who never stepped foot in here was Steve Jobs, said Jamis MacNiven, the owner of Buck's.
MacNiven told us why: He used to be Jobs' builder. Jobs wanted a level of quality that MacNiven was never able to deliver, so the relationship didn't last.
MacNiven got tired of the grind of working in construction, so he decided to build his own restaurant. He now has five restaurants, scattered throughout Silicon Valley. But none have the history of Buck's.
To the untrained eye, the decorations can look a bit random and the place can feel like a tourist attraction. The walls contain collections of MacNiven's travels around the world to far-flung places like Russia, Scandinavia, and Fuji. But not Mexico: "I like to go places where the food and water aren't poisonous," MacNiven said.
MacNiven gave us a tour of the deals that went down here, table by table.
Don't judge a book by its cover. This place is more than meets the eye.
This is the main room.
Famed VC Bill Draper told us how he met Jerry Yang here at Buck's. Draper was introducing Yang to his son, Tim Draper. Tim pursued the investment, but Yahoo picked Sequoia for a $1 million round, making it a deal that got away from the Draper clan.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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