> However, I don't know anyone at T-Mobile or similar, so I've been carrying the idea around for a long time.
You could always try and get a job at one of these business for a year, with the primary goal of building connections.
You could always try and get a job at one of these business for a year, with the primary goal of building connections.
Of course, this relies on being able to afford tickets to, and likely travel/accommodation around, whatever event(s) will attract the sort of people you're interested in. And putting yourself out there, time after time, hour after hour, each time projecting the confidence that "hey even though we've just met and I don't know what your working hours consist of I'm confident enough in what I want to discuss that it's not a waste of either of our time", is easier suggested than done for many people.
[0] The upside to iglio's suggestion of working at a company to network is that you can build relationships slowly and organically rather than having to impress very quickly to get even an hour meeting, then kick ass in that hour to get a next one, etc. Plus, you gain a reputation for actually contributing to the industry rather than potentially appearing as an outsider going "With no experience I still know better than you" (shouldn't be too hard to avoid giving off that vibe though).
Often people sink a lot of money into attendance and then get there with improvised messaging - today is super easy to delegate everything and boost one chances
People might be familiar with Google analytics and ab testing and whatnot and then forget everything about it in different verticals just because they don't do the connection.
I have done that in a recent search for a rental apartment, I went from the initial one answer/week into two scheduled appointments/day just by tuning first contact messaging and was top of the pick in the unit I eventually rented thanks to reaching out with a professional. Total cost was 350€ which I'll get back into a few month as I could land a highly sought aftar apartment which was under budget for the zone/quality.
It's the same basic stuff we do on the job - branch out, measure outcome, refine, repeat. No need to be good at selling oneself, it just need time and delegation.