This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Photo-sharing apps may be hot, but what's even sexier are startups that bring home the bacon. That's the basic premise behind 500 Startups' unSEXY, a 1-day conference, which covers verticals such as financial services, communications, email, data, infrastructure and more. It's all about tech startups and companies who are actually doing something incredibly sexy--they’re building scalable, sustainable businesses. So if you're in the Bay Area next week, definitely go check it out!

Speaking of the Bay Area, there are a ton of interesting events coming up there, including TechCrunch's Annual Crunchup, StartupGrind, Teens in Tech Conference, TwilioCon, GigaOm's Mobilize and more. Gary's Guide has an extensive list of upcoming events.

Rumor also has it that there may be a crazy, fun party happening later this week on my b'day on August 5. Stay tuned for more details ;)

And now let's see what shenanigans are happening in the Alley this week...

Inside BizDev: How Ad Agencies Can Make Big Brands Love You
With Christine Cook (advertising partnerships, Flipboard), Trevor Guthrie, (director, Ignition Factory East, OMD) and Shiv Singh (global head of digital, PepsiCo Beverages). Moderated by Anand Chopra-McGowan (General Assembly).
Monday (July 30), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 902 Broadway, 4th Floor

Social Curation Summit
Speakers include Scott Belsky (CEO, Behance), Sim Blaustein (principal, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments), Sean Flynn (partner, Shasta Ventures), David Honig (founder, Vision Ventures), Elias Roman (CEO, Songza), Steve Rosenbaum (CEO, Magnify) and others.
Tuesday (July 31), 8:30 a.m. @ New Yorker Hotel, 481 Eighth Avenue

Entrepreneurs Roundtable 49
With Jeanne Sullivan, General Partner at Starvest Partners.
Tuesday (July 31), 6 p.m. @ NYU Stern, 44 West 4th Street, Rm 2-60

Future of Fashion–Emerging Startup Series
Presenting companies include Bazaart, Stylyt, Cloth and Swaag. Panelists include Steven Alan (fashion designer), Philippe von Borries, (cofounder, Refinery 29) and Keegan Vance Forte (chief of staff, AOL Ventures).
Tuesday (July 31), 7 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Floor

Digital Cocktails-Crowdfunding: New Opportunities, New Risk
Panelists include Slava Rubin (cofounder and CEO, IndieGoGo), Karen Freer Owner (creator, Free Bread), Brian Meece (cofounder, RocketHub), Jerry Spiegel Partner (Frankfurt Kurnit) and Sang Lee (founder, Return on Change and executive board member, National Crowdfunding Association).
Wednesday (Aug. 1), 6 p.m. @ Wix Lounge, 10 West 18th Street

August NY FinTech Startups Meetup feat. Second Market
FinTech founder story and Q&A with Jeff Stewart (Lenddo) and domain expert presentation by Adam Oliveri (Second Market).
Wednesday (Aug. 1), 6:30 p.m. @ Day Pitney Law Offices, 7 Times Sq, #20

BlogHer 2012
Rockstar speaker list including Katie Couric, Martha Stewart, Soledad O'Brien and others.
Thursday (Aug. 2), 8 a.m. @ Hilton, 1335 Avenue of the Americas

IDEA JAM for Developers/Designers
Investor panel includes Erik Nordlander (partner, Google Ventures), Hilary Gosher (partner, Insight Venture Partners) and Lawrence Lenihan (partner, FirstMark Capital).
Thursday (Aug. 2), 6:30 p.m. @ Venue TBD

eCommerce Hack Day 2012
Organized by Dwolla. In parnership with Etsy. With Gumroad, Kiip, Temboo, Terapeak, Twilio, Shopify and others.
Saturday (Aug. 4), 9 a.m. @ Alley NYC, 500 7th Avenue, 17th Fl.

Lowline Fundraiser at Water Mill
Come get the lowdown on the Lowline, the world's first underground park.
Saturday (Aug 4), 6 p.m. @ 675 Flying Point Rd, Water Mill

More events on the horizon...
Investor Feedback Forum on Aug. 9 @ Microsoft
August NY Enterprise Technology Meetup (ft keynote by Jive cofounder Bill Lynch) on Aug. 14 @ Cooley
Startup tours for Developers: Conductor & GetGlue on Aug. 16 @ Conductor
NY Games Conference on Sept. 5 @ Museum of Jewish Heritage
Comedy Hack Day on Sept. 8 @ Pivotal Labs NYC
FinovateFall 2012 on Sept. 12 @ Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
Design for Manufacturing Summit on Sept. 20 @ Dumbo Spot

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)