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I'm not looking to found a startup, but I have spent some time thinking about how to network effectively. I agree with others here that there are no shortcuts, but I've had success with some of these tactics: 1. Do put yourself out there. Go to a lot of events, accept invitations, make it known that you're interested in meeting more people (encourage friends to make introductions). 2. Don't let social events fatigue you: get in, get what you want, get out. However, once somebody opens up to you, i.e. invites you for dinner or drinks after an event, you need to switch modes: put in the time, treat them well, even if it compromises other parts of your life. If you're not giving something up, you're not giving anything. 3. Make friends in different cities or countries, then travel and stay with them. They will introduce you to their friends, who may then introduce you to their friends, etc. (Best, of course, if you're invited.) 4. You must actually be worth meeting, so be sure you've already put in the work and thought out a narrative that ties your past accomplishments into a story building toward future success. 5. Be interesting. Read, think, write, have a point of view. 6. Be interested. If you talk too much, you reveal that nobody wants to listen to you. If you show authentic interest in other people, doors magically open. 7. The best "hack" I can think of is to make use of the Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn social graphs. Pay attention to the suggested friends / follow feeds. For people you particularly like, go through who they follow and identify potential friends, allies, collaborators, social gateways, etc. After you have a list of people you might like to meet, you can start to be strategic about framing yourself and putting yourself in the right places to meet (and interest) them. 8. Remember that meeting one person is an opportunity to meet their friends and anyone they think you should know. After you've gotten to know somebody a little bit, it's ok to ask if they know anyone you should meet. Or you may not have to ask: if you get an invite to an event, always accept it – you never know who you might meet. 9. Think in terms of building a social graph. Read a bit about the study of social networks including "social capital", the roles of different nodes in the network, strong ties vs. weak ties, etc. 10. There's no excuse for bad social skills. Learn good manners and be prepared to adapt to new cultural expectations. Again, as others have emphasized, there's no easy way. High value people are already overwhelmed by demand. As a friend once advised me in regard to dating, "be the flower to the bee." |