Being aggressive doesn’t really sound good. After all, who wants to deal with an aggressive person?
Well, when it comes to connections and intros, be as aggressive as you can. One thing I’ve learned in the last two years is that nobody will talk to you unless you talk to them. Nobody will come to you to make you feel better when you stay alone, in the corner. You need to do that on your own.
When you go to events make a list of people you want to meet there and go and get introduced to them. If nobody is there to introduce you then just go to that person and say: Hi, I am, I do an interesting thing with my startup. I want to tell you more about it, is it ok if I send you an email? All of this should take you one minute the most. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to take all that person’s time. Do not pitch that person then and there, since he/she will probably forget almost everything about you in the next 5 minutes. I see so many times people that just forget to leave and let that person breathe or meet other people, I am always amazed at how clueless some are. Don’t be that person.
Also, be aggressive with getting introduced via email. If you want to get to know someone, use your network (physical or on Linkedin) and find out who can introduce you to the person you want. Then ask for an introduction. And so on.
As Cristi says, it’s better to be known as the annoying one than not being known at all.
This article is the third in a series about things learned while raising money, generated by my co-founder’s presentation.
Photo source: Beautiful sport karate kids from Shutterstock
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