How Canadians Build a Silicon Valley Network
There are quite a few ways to do this being fresh out of school, but I can only speak on my own experiences, so take it with a grain of salt. Although I decided to stay in Canada via the Venture for Canada Network, I will share some ways I know people get connected to silicon valley, the land of capitalism:
- Degree supplements and replacements like Make School or Draper. There’s a tuition fee to pay and if you have a degree already it may not be necessary. Although, some of my friends have succeeded wildly from these.
- Work for a company in the area
- Network with people who work in companies anywhere from very early to late stage. Issue is - how do you find these?
The last point is what I’ll cover since it’s what most people do and is much more reasonable than the first option in my opinion. The second option is great, but isn’t always as straight forward without building connections. First off, many don’t know what silicon valley is. This explains it pretty well.
They say in the SF Bay Area you’re either selling software or building it. I can speak to the latter since I’m a recent grad in that field.
Know What You Want
My plan was to connect for an early stage startups to gain insider knowledge and to gain a wide variety of experience and work from a high level of abstraction to gain entrepreneurial talent and to be a shaper of company norms, products, and culture. This also helps me understand the innovative and capitalist mentality when it comes to what it takes to run a successful startup if I choose to eventually start investing or building businesses.
Be A Person, Not A Number
I made this mistake. I was on the right track a while ago, but somewhere along the way, instead of emailing CTOs/CEOs of companies who have a similar vision as me, I spammed applications rotated through cover letters and cleaned up resumes and a slew of random websites. It’s great to get a boost on the resume by working at Uber, AirBnB, or any of the huge names then leaving and joining a rocketship startup after a year. Thing is, my primary goal was the startups (which barely post jobs online until they are deep into funding — or post on AngelList which the whole world is on). I have applied to probably 700–800 jobs over the summer. If you’re like me, you’d rather learn how to build businesses than spend a week learning how to code a merge sort in 3 minutes for an interview. I have interviewed at Google, Airbnb, Apple, Palantir (referral), and Mori (Horowitz startup), so I was left behind on the merit of not coding fast enough. It makes sense when people say not to take it personal because the hiring process is highly impersonal, and sometimes, like this or like this. People invest in people, not resumes and numbers. To break in a top market that you haven’t been in before, and cut through noise in a different country you have to be a talented outlier or have a shared vision with a human being in a company (…or have a family member that owns a company there). This means the application process starts years before.
Months or weeks before can even work if you differentiate yourself enough when you’re launching your own businesses in a particular niche or industry so you can build momentum in the same area if you join a company and learn how to be stronger in that area. Much can be said about finding contacts of folks who would share a similar vision with you. For example if your side project or interest is in the industries of health-tech and social good, and you worked with a particular demographic, leverage yourself by learning how you can build a scalable, monetizable product. By you showing this to employers in this industry by either calling them, emailing them or talking to them, this tactic breeds a conversation that whether you are employed or not, you still gain connections and you won’t be competing with anyone depending on how you spin it.
In Canada, I was able to join a network of the most active startups in the nation. The key is in finding which networks control the power in whatever environment you would like to know more about. I’m a big observer of the 80/20 rule or Pareto principle — a principle evident in nature in many manifestations (which I’m writing about in my book). 80 percent of the industry is controlled by 20 percent of it’s networks. Your challenge is to discover which networks of people have this control. Once the door has been opened, the daily challenge can begin.
Compete with as little people as possible anyone when applying for your first startup job, directly contact the high ups and tell them your value and vision so that you both see eye to eye. Consider the GIF below.
The kickoff returner usually stays near the boundary (edge) of the field to avoid the crowd to reduce the complexity of the return and compete with fewer people. Why not do the same?
Set up a meeting, and start working — simple as that. I also suggest using Google Chrome extensions to fill in the gaps in finding emails such as this one.
Go There (and Meet People)
The writer of the Art of War said
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
Now that you know yourself, let’s do realize that lots of research is needed to know what events and meetups are worth going to which is a challenge itself. You should meet (sorted from least to most important):
- Hiring Managers, Staffing Agents and Headhunters (sometimes you meet very helpful people, but often times not)
- Good People at Conferences
- Good People at hackathons
- People who own startups
- Friends and Grads who are already there
- People you’ve arranged meetings with
In one visit, I personally went to the San Francisco angel pitch by People Connect and pitch my side project Hypetroop.com while also attending the Tech Crunch Disrupt SF Hackathon, then winning tickets to the 3 day long conference. A slew of 90 business cards and great convos was my reward. Conferences are a MUST GO.
Following up and keeping a network is what will give you insight. Only thing is hopefully you stay in an Airbnb that isn’t too bad.
What’s even more important than attending great events is making your own ones. After you’ve set up an array of meetings by contacting like minded and influential people by email or phone, meet them in the flesh to see if there’s a fit and potentially get the offer to start working. Doing all of this in one condensed but focus trip is a great way to build a network. I know people from the hackathon, conference, angel investor pitch, as well as getting an important meeting in.
I met Karl Schutz who works at Mulesoft the one who wrote this amazing article (that inspired the one you’re reading). I fortunately built a network in the valley before I even moved there. People who were in the same situations as you often love giving back because they know the struggle.
Don’t Get Snaked
As this great article says by Penny Kim.
“if someone says they hire fast and fire fast, believe them, and walk away.”
Many people simply don’t know how to manage people because of age and experience, while others have malicious intent. Don’t follow the hype of the company finding investors if you aren’t hyped for the company’s product yourself (the world has no shortage of investors). In the land of capitalism, you have to research what you’re going for. Also, there are many scammers who lure people into signing contracts for “training” programs but really it’s a way to get cheap labour. If it’s too good to be true, it usually is. I’ve wrongly assessed startups just because of the “hype” of silicon valley and almost landed in trouble. Think reasonably and don’t rush things.
Think Big and Long Term
Learn about the funding cycles of companies, the traits of successful ones, and how early or late you’re willing to join a company (which translates to how much risk and reward you’re taking). It goes back to knowing what you want. Sometimes a great salary and benefits is great for one person, but the thought of no glass ceiling and more responsibility is great for another person. Again, this is just one perspective but, in the grand scheme of things, sometimes not always about being paid today (trial periods, internships, probationary periods); startups are great because of potential to learn and grow.
Here’s something that will help you out as well:
I’m freely giving out a hefty package of notes from Silicon Valley CEOs, to MBA’s on how to start a startup.
Over 50 Docs of Notes! (How to Market, Pitch and More in 50+documents)
