I had a chance to attend today one of the events in Silicon Valley - the Startup-U SV: Networking for Gold. It was organized by SVASE and featured four speakers - Tim McAdam (General Partner, Trinity Ventures), Mareza Larizadeh (Founder, Doostang) and Chris Pareja (Founder, B2B Power Exchange / Lead Genaires) and Bob Karr (CEO, LinkSV).
Actually, Chris and Bob were running the show. Tim was pretty interesting, but didn't speak too much, and I almost don't remember Mareza. Anyway, Chris and Bob sounded like the most savvy persons in the topic and I think they were a good choice for speakers there.
The topic was mostly nailing down the common sense things, but I really liked to hear some practical advices, but not a theory-buzz. In example, the advice for any intro pitch was pretty reasonable and an easy one - be specific about what are you here and networking for: it could be either new clients, partners, job or anyone who finds your business interesting. But you've got to specify that and better know this before starting to talk.
The other point of networking is that it's only about what you are good at and what is your need. That's it and very easy. This can open you a door to starting new conversations at almost any type of event. Specify your pros, and verbalize your needs.
And at last, but not least you've got to make sure things you're doing are relevant to what you need. Just a good feeling about something could be wrong and can make you broke.
From the questions to speakers, I liked the only one: if something works - do more. Otherwise, just stop and re-think.
Overall, it was nice event to attend during the lunch time, but I don't see myself attending too often. And it was a bit on a pricy side: non-member price of $16.50 even including a sandwhich and coke is a little bit too much for a half an hour talk.
Nonetheless, I'd like to thank you all speakers and organizer for making up this event. If I'm blogging about it, at least I remembered something. :)
