We Need to Get Over Ourselves

http://www.russwallace.com/post/70346477169/we-need-to-get-over-ourselves

by wallacrw • 13 years ago

14 7 13 years ago

acgourley• 13 years ago

I object to his suggestion you should always take blind intros for coffee, and it's not because i'm full of myself, it's because I'm pragmatic.

zaqokm• 13 years ago

I object to his suggestion you should always take blind intros for coffee, and it's not because i'm full of myself, it's because I'm pragmatic.

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".

wallacrw2• 13 years ago

That's funny, I guess this really is an issue for people. I just don't see why folks have such a hard time managing their time and/or focus.

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."

virtue3• 13 years ago

I like how he made a post about not wanting to read silly tech blogs... in his silly tech blog.

wetmore• 13 years ago

I think you've missed the point. He's saying that you cannot assume everyone reads the same tech blogs you do, and act like the things they talk about are common knowledge. His point was not "I don't want to read silly tech blogs," but rather "stop taking these tech blogs as gospel".

wallacrw2• 13 years ago

Definitely a fair point...I considered making light of that in the post, but I couldn't do it concisely.

trustfundbaby• 13 years ago

I really really want to agree with the poster, but I have to say that I can't.

- 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

We Need to Get Over Ourselves

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