We Need to Get Over Ourselves
russwallace.com
russwallace.com
- Blind introductions feel like poor etiquette in any industry. Not doing the legwork of making sure that it will be a decent fit before doing the intro, puts the person you're asking in the uncomfortable situation of turning down the person you've introduced or wasting their time on a meeting that they know will be pointless. It makes you feel good, because it looks like you're helping, but I feel its a bit lazy.
- startups are an industry onto themselves, if we're using the word "startup" properly. A startup isn't just a fledgling business, its a fledgling business that is positioning for extra-ordinary growth at some point in the near future. If you take money to build a "startup" and only manage to build a sustainable business (steady 30% growth for example), you'll probably wind up "failing" because your investors wanted 5/10 times their investment back in a shorter period of time than you can manage.
- "wantrapreneurs" are real. I've run into them. They either have money burning a hole in their pocket and want to do a startup without knowing the first thing about it and without the humility to admit it or ask for help, or worse, they have an "idea" and no money and the arrogance to believe that just that will be enough.
I do think its a good article to reflect upon regardless, because the truth is that in the startup space, there is a tendency to be really full of ourselves to an obnoxious degree
In business, this is how a lot of business is done aka "I know a guy who you might want to connect with". I gather most BDs will have experience in this during their career, after all BDs are their to entertain and develop new business.
However from what I am reading, the problem was with the persons response, e.g. the email response with a link to a tech blog, what happened to the old "Sorry I am not interested" response or "Ok I will give them a call".
I've been most impressed when people, no matter how busy/famous/rich/etc they are, still manage to stay calm and take responsibility for their workload. At the end of the day, the burden to handle their focus rests with them, not others.
Saying to people who might want to help you, "hey, check in with me before you help me" basically asks those people to be your secretary. It's not really my business to know how busy other people are or whether they have the time to take a meeting.
My thinking in sending an intro wasn't "how burdensome will this be for him?" but rather "this is going to be really helpful for him." Maybe you'd argue I should have been thinking the former, but I trust that grown adults can handle themselves, and their schedules, well enough to not need my patronizing concern about whether they can manage meeting someone new. Particularly if their title is "Head of BD."