The Butterfly Effect of Networking
How one minor conversation turned into a major turning point in my startup journey
I started going to tech events around the same time I started my first job in the industry as a Community Management Intern at Liveyre. A lot of people didn’t understand why I was willing to commute from Sacramento to San Francisco two days a week for an unpaid internship, but it was crystal clear to me that this gig was my proverbial foot-in-the-door.
While providing me with an important first taste of startup culture, the internship itself didn’t quite quench my thirst, so I decided to start attending as many events as I could.
I started with an open-bar mixer (they had me at “open-bar”) that was being thrown by Mashable; I was even lucky enough to meet Pete Cashmore, Mashable’s founder who’s amazing story I was already familiar with.
Next I went to the Founders Showcase where I met Mint’s Aaron Patzer and listened to his feedback, along with the other judges, for the 10 startups that were pitching. Hearing 4 judges give feedback on 10 startup pitches in a few hours was eye opening and kind of felt like Neo learning Kung Fu in The Matrix.
After going to several events, I started to notice the differences between them and realized I preferred those that lacked structure (and had beer…preferrably free beer). I soon stumbled across what would end up being by far the most important event I went to, the struture-free and incredibly casual Hackers and Founders. What started as a small group of nerds talking shop over beer is now a rather large and widespread meet up (and now co-op incubator) that includes a variety of people interested in technology and startups.
I started going as often as possible, and one day invited my friend to come along. I wasn’t feeling particularly outgoing this time around so I decided to just shoot some pool for a bit before mingling. On my way to get a pool cue I overheard someone saying they were looking for a salesperson for their startup. It didn’t take long before I found an opportunity to talk with the person I had overheard, who showed me his product and exchanged contact information with me to talk about working together. That person was Ilya Semin, founder of Datanyze, and that 5 minute conversation almost two years ago eventually led to me leaving Redbeacon and recently joining his company full-time.
It only takes one moment, one person, one conversation to drastically change your course for the better.
My outlook for going to these events was always that if I learned one thing or met one person, it was worth the time, and sometimes even the money, to go. You never know what you might learn or who you might meet; you never know if you’re going to chat with a person that will end up playing a major role in your life.
And while one important thing I’ve learned in startups is that you have to be inredibly careful about where you spend your time, I still recommend taking the time to go to events and other networking opportunities like I did — you might end up meeting your next boss.
