Starting a Start-up as the ultimate networking tool?

If you read ‘Never Eat Alone‘ by Keith Ferrazzi you know that good networking is key to leading a successful life. At the office we are all proud of the people we know and the network we have build around us. The way we go about networking is not by trying to be interesting but by trying to be interested.

But when you are working at a start-up, with a secret product, you become interesting. This means that networking is even easier because now we are interested in people who are interested in us too.

In the last 3 months we have emailed, spoken to and had lunch with a whole bunch of people who we didn’t think we would ever meet before we started. Mind you; they didn’t all like what we pitched to them or agreed with what we are planning to do so this isn’t a list of supporters. The reason I list these names is, well, to brag a little and thank them for their support, or constructive criticism.

In December we spoke with the master of Social Networking: Reid Hoffman
We didn’t even realize until 10 minutes into the meeting that he is the founder of LinkedIn. The conversation didn’t go that well until we started asking questions about LinkedIn and started being interested instead of interesting. He cheered up, told us a bit about his experiences and then gave us a few great tips for our own business.

Scott Rafer has been very supportive since we first told him about our ideas back when it wasn’t much more than an idea. It is just great to speak with people like Scott who bring so much energy to a meeting. One hour with him is the equivalent to 10 espresso and 5 cans of coke. I only wish we could speak with him more often.

There are also a few VCs which emailed me after the ‘10 tips for a perfect pitch‘ post with compliments or suggestions. I kept emailing with a few of them for extra information and we are now connected. I think this is a very good way to get in contact with a VC, don’t mail them your businessplan: write a blog that they like and let them contact you!

I wouldn’t suggest to anyone that to expand your network you might as well start a company but we do see it as a nice side effect.