Professional Networks Change the Course of Careers

It’s a simple truth I see in practice every day as Primary’s Director of Talent. So two months ago, I created career-oriented communities for AEs and Chiefs of Staff in New York City. And you can still apply in time for this month’s programming.

I woke up the day after we launched the Mastermind Networks to a plethora of LinkedIn notifications to congratulate dozens of my connections about their new role as Founding Member, Mastermind Network at Primary Venture Partners — that was the beginning of knowing we are starting to build something very special. Since then, I’ve been over the moon to see members use the Sales and Chiefs of Staff Mastermind Networks to find their next opportunity, connect 1:1 with peers to share learnings and build meaningful connections, lean into the programming with functional experts and build those relationships, gain career advice from Cassie Young in her office hours, and see the members organically host their own gatherings for the network on topics that are relevant to them.

It’s now been two months since I launched these two networks. My thesis was that even if you are at the top of your game in an individual seller role or in business operations, there is a real human desire to connect with peers and grow professionally. At Primary, we are constantly focused on how we build meaningful relationships, add real value, and remain at the core of the NYC tech ecosystem. I saw both of these functions as a place where we could have a real impact and leverage our networks for the professional development path.

I’ve seen with my own eyes (many times over) the power of networks and the impact it has on people’s careers.

So our forum, programming, and peer-to-peer career development builds a new NYC network. The roundtables are confidential and not recorded, meaning we’ve had sales leaders and former Chiefs of Staff facilitate discussions where members can be completely honest and ask questions about navigating their own careers, soaking up tactical approaches and life lessons through inspiring operators. The peer-to-peer matching has been a huge hit, with 100NPS score on the events. We are thrilled with the engagement and reception from the community so far and the caliber of members from some of the top NYC based startups — including Catalyst, Clyde, Covera Health, Datadog, Monday.com, MongoDB, Morning Brew, mParticle, Ro, Redesign Health, Outreach, Rent the Runway, Sailthru, Simon Data, theSkimm, Welcome Software, and Zeus Health.

Members of the community enjoy access to:

• Intimate access to functional leaders in monthly roundtable discussions on a wide range of topics and mentorship opportunities with execs through office hours
• 1:1 opt-in networking opportunities with peers and experts in the industry on a monthly basis
• Monthly happy hours and reading club to share insights on articles, books, and podcasts
• First looks at fresh job opportunities within the Primary portfolio and broader network
• A forum to share and learn from each other through content, open floor discussions, vendor and resource reccs etc.
• Built-in relationship with a top VC firm and the Primary portfolio throughout their careers

We’ve built this network primarily through referrals of our broader network, and it’s been exciting to see the inbound interest and the continued engagement and growth of this community to see that it is resonating. We want to continue to support the careers of the top NYC professionals — if you’re interested in joining one of these networks apply here — and we will be in touch.