Lateral Networking

I looked over and saw two jacked Asian dudes with great posture paying close attention to the speaker, Chris Dixon, then the founder of Hunch and prolific angel investor and blogger. They had the attentiveness of two Chinese schoolchildren preparing for the gao kao, with the rhomboids to keep their backs straight for hours.

I would later learn Brian and Dick’s secret—careful study of the science of fitness, a regular workout routine, and boiled beef cubes with ketchup every single day. But at the moment, they were only a curiosity, because I was at Techstars for a Day in New York to hobnob with guys like Gary Vaynerchuck, David Cohen and David Tisch, move on up in the world, and be somebody.

I waited in a line to talk with David Tisch. I’d email him later expanding on that thing we talked about for 30 seconds. I waited in another line to talk with David Cohen. I peeked over a bunch of peoples’ shoulders in the semicircle that’d formed around Chris Dixon. Maybe he saw my face.

Then I got tired, and it was time to head home. Walking out, I looked over, and there were the jacked Asian dudes.

Brian said, “Let’s get a drink.”

“Ehh,” I thought.

“Come on.”

This was before Brian and Dick built Fitocracy into one of the most popular fitness apps in the App Store, before they hit 1 million users, and before they partnered with their idol Arnold Schwarzenegger to pump you up.

No one cared to get to know Brian and Dick. There was no good reason to chat with me. We talked, we hit it off, and we became fast friends.