It's an extroverts world. What are the best channels for introverts? How many potential start ups have never been funded because the founder(s) didn't have the networking skills that are natural to extroverts?
It's not just a channels/strategies for introverts. It has to be a channel that works for you personally.
Personally, I'm not a person who can be successful doing "cold networking" or "never have lunch alone" strategies. Some people consider cycling to be the new great way to network, and many introverts seem to use it well. Probably not going to work for me either.
Lean on your strengths, interests, and natural inclinations rather than force yourself to be someone who you are not and play in a field unfit for you.
Also, don't frame it as a "networking" effort, as that mindset imo will make you transactional, and it will show. Instead focus on building relationships that truly resonate with you. Don't meet a person with the desire to get something from them. Be genuinely interested in who they are, not what they do or what they have.
Lean towards quality rather than quantity of relationships if you don't enjoy meeting and keeping in touch with a hundred people.
>How many potential start ups have never been funded because the founder(s) didn't have the networking skills that are natural to extroverts?
Probably a lot. But the number of would-have-been-extremely-successful startups that didn't get funded because of a lack of networking skills when they started? Probably very very few, because if they didn't have the determination to figure out a skill they sucked at but was essential to the success of their venture, then at some point in the future they would have hit another difficult wall and have given up.
I don't think there are equivalent channels for introverts. Rather than fitting square pegs into round holes, introverts would to better to play to their strengths.
Introverts aren’t as successful as extroverts in a CEO position that requires raising external capital and networking for customers. However introverts are often more successful in other roles (such as CTO), other types of companies (such as bootstrapped, low touch products), and other career types (eg mathematician).
Introverts can make good large company CEOs. Built to Last describes how the CEOs of companies who outperform the market over longer terms are more steady (hedgehogs) than flashy (foxes).
Yeah. Some people seem to assume "being an introvert" means being sentenced to social ineptitude. Most people can learn to overcome discomfort with certain experiences or activities. And with some effort, it's possible to even become good at such activities. Certainly, YMMV and not every introvert wants to, needs to or necessarily can pull it off.
If you're going to be CEO, either of a startup or a large co, you're probably broadly competent or hyper-competent in a handful of areas. Seems reasonable that at that level your ex/introvert tendencies are far from determinant.
"If you're going to be CEO, either of a startup or a large co, you're probably broadly competent or hyper-competent in a handful of areas."
Any particular reasoning behind this? Why would this particular specialty (abstract people management and capital allocation) be more likely to attract competent people than any other job specialty?
Agree with this. But having said that, an introvert can learn to be much more extroverted and finally become CEO material.
However, with a high-touch product (as mentioned above), you really need to have a lifetime of extroverted experiences which leads you to all the other extroverted (sales people) that will close those deals.
In the book 'Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking', the author gives several examples of how introverts can make good CEO (Bill Gates is one of the more famous example).
Personally, I'm not a person who can be successful doing "cold networking" or "never have lunch alone" strategies. Some people consider cycling to be the new great way to network, and many introverts seem to use it well. Probably not going to work for me either.
Lean on your strengths, interests, and natural inclinations rather than force yourself to be someone who you are not and play in a field unfit for you.
Also, don't frame it as a "networking" effort, as that mindset imo will make you transactional, and it will show. Instead focus on building relationships that truly resonate with you. Don't meet a person with the desire to get something from them. Be genuinely interested in who they are, not what they do or what they have.
Lean towards quality rather than quantity of relationships if you don't enjoy meeting and keeping in touch with a hundred people.
>How many potential start ups have never been funded because the founder(s) didn't have the networking skills that are natural to extroverts?
Probably a lot. But the number of would-have-been-extremely-successful startups that didn't get funded because of a lack of networking skills when they started? Probably very very few, because if they didn't have the determination to figure out a skill they sucked at but was essential to the success of their venture, then at some point in the future they would have hit another difficult wall and have given up.