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.

I've always been a big fan of Dave McClure, and that's even more true after reading his recent blog post, a wonderfully honest, inspiring, straight-from-the-heart outpouring of his experiences and the ups and downs of life in Silicon Valley. Definitely a must-read.

Speaking of Dave, he and the folks from 500 Startups will be in town later this month for their Demo Day, a private, invite-only showcase of their fourth accelerator batch. They will also be organizing The Smash Summit, which will be all about the ‘new skool’ of online customer acquisition, in-depth case studies & “hack-tics” using platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, & more. Don't miss it!

And now let’s see what’s going down in the Alley this week...

DreamIt Speaker Series: Ben Lerer
With Ben Lerer, cofounder of Lerer Ventures and Thrillist, who will be speaking about his experiences in the startup world, both as an investor and as a successful entrepreneur.
Tuesday (July 10), 6 p.m. @ DreamIt Ventures NYC, 330 W. 38th Street, Suite 300

July Creative Mixer (NY Creative Interns)
Keynoting will be Ashley Parrish (Editor-in-Chief, DailyCandy; previously Content Director for Women and Teen Networks, Hearst Digital Media).
Tuesday (July 10), 7 p.m. @ kbs+p, 160 Varick Street

July 2012 NY Tech Meetup
You know the drill: Five-min demos. A bunch of amazing new startups. Hopefully, you've managed to snag one of those elusive tickets.
Tuesday (July 10), 7 p.m. @ NYU Skirball Center For The Performing Arts, 566 Laguardia Place

Howard Bloom Speaks on Space Commercialization
A chat about space commercialization with the author of several provocative books on the nature of human development, scientific progress, capitalism and the secrets of the universe including Global Brain, The Genius of the Beast and the upcoming The God Problem.
Tuesday (July 10), 7 p.m. @ Pacific Standard Bar, 82 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn

Prince Building Tech Talks: Machine Learning with Large Networks of People and Places
With 1.5 billion checkins by 15 million people in 30 million places, Foursquare has a lot of data. In this talk, learn about the various machine learning and big data techniques Foursquare users to better understand its networks of people and places.
Wednesday (July 11), 7 p.m. @ Foursquare HQ, 568 Broadway, 10th Floor

Ultra Light Startup - Investor Feedback Forum and Pitch Showdown
Investor panelists include Owen Davis (NYC Seed), Daniel Klaus (K2 Media Labs), David Rose (CEO, Gust; Founder, NY Angels) and Mark Wachen (Managing Partner, DreamIt Ventures). Startup pitches by Feargall Kenny (Hiresignals), Kristaps Mors (GetGamers), Max Belenitsky (Text A Cab), Norman Aynbinder (Excursionist), Roy Prieb (Focuslab.io), Naush Malik (TAPP Networks), Jeremy Galen (Mirth), Conall Arora (Seer).
Thursday (July 12), 6:30 p.m. @ Microsoft Center, 1290 6th Ave

Startup Exits: Deal-Making in Social Commerce
With Carrington Williams (Director of Strategic Finance, Etsy), Ben Lerer (CEO, Thrillist; VC, Lerer Ventures), Ashley John Heather (CEO of dotbox, acquired by MDC) and John Caplan (CEO, OpenSky). Moderated by Nathan Beckord (Principal, VentureArchetypes Startup Advisors)
Thursday (July 12), 7 p.m. @ General Assembly, 10 E 21st St

Women 2.0 Founder Friday
Hosting this month is Campbell McKellar, CEO & cofounder, Loosecubes
Friday (July 13), 6 p.m. @ Makovsky + Company, 16 E 34th St

The Summer of Start-Ups: Tech Start-Up Demo Day
Ten tech startups will be presenting their product at this demo day event.
Sunday (July 15), 1 p.m. @ NYU Gardner Commons, Washington Square Campus, 44 West 4th Street

More events on the horizon…
Four Founders, Four Ways to A Million on July 16 @ Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz
An Insiders Guide to Angel Fundraising on July 19 @ General Assembly
Yale Entrepreneurial Institute NYC Demo Day on July 19 @ General Assembly
Hack4NY Hackathon on July 20 @ The Hatchery
Startup Tours for Developers: Foursquare, 10gen & Thrillist on July 25 @ 10gen
Prowl app launch party! on July 25 @ White Rabbit
SMASH Summit with 500 Startups, Fred Wilson, & More on July 26 @ Crowne Plaza Hotel
UWS Startup Breakfast on July 31 @ Aroma Espresso Bar
August NY FinTech Startups Meetup feat. Second Market on August 01 @ Day Pitney Law Offices

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