Networking in Silicon Valley

July 2nd, 2007 Sean Murphy

The best advice on networking I have read comes from Ford Harding’s book “Rain Making” in particular pages 44-59 have some very good “Rules of Thumb” for networking:

• Networking is helping people
• You must learn to recognize a lead for someone else when you hear it
• Networking is a sincere effort rather than keeping score
• Networking is a sense of urgency and obligation
• Networking is showing gratitude
• Networking is maintaining trust
• Networking requires you to spend some of your time selling other firm’s products and services.
• You must selective in who you partner with as these are a serious investment of time.
• Motivation is critical ingredient in effective networking.

For a profile of a very effective networker see “Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg” by Malcolm Gladwell.

One of the secrets to navigating Silicon Valley, is that it’s actually a very small place with many connections, some take a while to discover are nonetheless quite potent. That being said the single most important thing to avoid is wasting people’s time. Time is more scarce than capital, technology, or knowledge.

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