5 Steps to Becoming a Networking Superstar – The Peter Pham Interview
on Sep 24, 2008 - 6:00 AM PSTThe full program
This is an audio program. Listen and/or download it here:
A few lessons from this program
If you want to know the value of having a good network, take a look at what it’s done for Peter Pham’s new company, BillShrink:
- Networking helped him find a co-founder who is a former venture capitalist.
- Networking helped him land a top creative director without having to pay a recruiting fee.
- Networking helped him get an adviser who successfully sold a startup in the industry Peter wants to dominate.
- Networking helped him get his business funded.
Here are 5 of the steps he took to become a networking superstar. (Listen to the full interview for more.)
Go where they are – To get hooked into the web startup community, Peter went to tech events. He met his co-founder at the very first event he went to, the TechCrunch party in Michael Arrington’s house.
Once isn’t enough – Even the shiest networker can start building contacts by consistenly going to similar events. People start to recognize you and relationships naturally develop.
Everyone knows the host – After going as a guest to a few events, Peter switched roles and started hosting his own dinners. When you’re a guest, you get to meet a few people at an event, but the host gets to know everyone.
Tap their lists – To broaden his guest list, he co-hosted his dinners with two other connections: Mike Jones, CEO of userplane and Keith Richman, CEO of Break.com
Watch it grow – Word started to spread about his small dinners and people started asking for invitations. So Peter and his co-hosts created bigger events. The most recent one had over 150 guests. There’s even a web site, now betasouth.org. It’s a “.org” because the goal to make connections, not profits.
What are your networking tip? Add them to the comments.
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November 5th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
[...] H also said that he considers the personality and reputation of the entrepreneur behind the company. Will s/he crumble in a crisis? Do people think s/he is a jerk? Is s/he someone Ryan would want to work with? (Peter Pham has more on that.) [...]
December 9th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
[...] for your company. Once you have that list, Adeo says get to know them BEFORE you want their money. (Download this interview with Peter Pham to hear a smart way to do [...]
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[...] Peter Pham told us how he built relationships with entrepreneurs and those entrepreneurs helped him think through his idea for BillShrink. [...]
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