Since joining WhiteHat Security late last spring, I’ve been living and working in the heart of Silicon Valley. It certainly is an exciting place to live except maybe the traffic and gas prices, which (un)fortunately for me is nothing to terribly new coming from New York.

There is a certain vibe in the air during lunch breaks and happy hours when all sorts of people are meeting and talking about what they are passionate about, and since there are so many tech companies around these conversations can sometimes hit an 11 on the geek scale. Besides all the World of Warcraft talk there is an abundance of energy regarding new ideas, the next big thing, exciting opportunities, etc.

The startup community is certainly finding a way to boom in these tough economic times, and I’d venture so far as to say that they are booming because of the tough times. In a period of hard times the people who will thrive are those who choose to innovate and rise above the rest. Whether it be starting the next social networking phenomenon which awards you ribbons when you tag a body part with a landmark (Hey look its my finger at the Grand Canyon!) ™ or it’s paving the way for your company to receive huge bags of money from yet another tech giant on the prowl, smart people are rising up. We are in a unique age of acquisitions where the buy out is king.

I’ve only just begun paying attention to the startup community but it certainly is an interesting place to keep my eye. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some of the brilliant people behind the curtains with their big ideas. The price of a beer is definitely worth its weight in gold if it buys me some conversation time. I’ve added a ton of reading to my morning RSS ritual which I thought I’d aggregate here for you to start keeping an eye along with me.

• Under30CEO
• Young Entrepreneur
• Mixergy
• Silicon Alley Insider

These are my most recent blog roll entries that I’ve been following the past few weeks and very much enjoying.

-Matt

P.S. – Don’t be surprised if more startup like posts start showing up here.