Oy b'emet! Tell her that the person is a good match! Seriously. Bougie could mean "great connection with great markets" or it could be "trust fund baby who got it into her head that doing a food thing might be fun", and a total waste of time. Just because someone has $$$ it doesn't mean they're a good business match and just because someone is good in finance it doesn't follow that they are good at business. If your contact's hustling is like my hustling, she's likely working 60-70 hours / week, at least. She doesn't have time to blow on airheads. If the match is good, respect her time and tell her "listen I think this is worthwhile because X".
I'm frequently asked to speak to people who want to move into consulting /outsource CFO work for startups. From one guy I know who's *VERY* into networking, I get a lot of intros to "I met this guy at this Provisors meeting and you MUST meet him. A large proportion of these are total dead time. In the first category, most are folks who have no idea what way is up, but think it would be cool to be an outsource CFO for an Israeli startup. In the second category, a few do have connections to Israel but most just really want an in into the Israeli startup scene and think I can provide it. (I mean, I could, but if I haven't worked with you and no one I know locally has worked with you, how can I recommend you? Because you paid the membership fee for Provisors? Really???) Both of these types of calls eat up time I could be spending on actually useful stuff, like running my damn business or having productive calls with good contacts.
In short, yes, draw the map. I make a ton of intros (that's my networking currency) and I always do. Works well and folks appreciate it. It shows I respect them and their time.
I don't make intros lightly - I never waste time. in fact, I'm probably too far in the other direction! Trying to learn to increase other people's networks- Likeable Badass is helping a lot!
Great read thank you for sharing the simple questions to ask yourself. Great reminder!
Oy b'emet! Tell her that the person is a good match! Seriously. Bougie could mean "great connection with great markets" or it could be "trust fund baby who got it into her head that doing a food thing might be fun", and a total waste of time. Just because someone has $$$ it doesn't mean they're a good business match and just because someone is good in finance it doesn't follow that they are good at business. If your contact's hustling is like my hustling, she's likely working 60-70 hours / week, at least. She doesn't have time to blow on airheads. If the match is good, respect her time and tell her "listen I think this is worthwhile because X".
I'm frequently asked to speak to people who want to move into consulting /outsource CFO work for startups. From one guy I know who's *VERY* into networking, I get a lot of intros to "I met this guy at this Provisors meeting and you MUST meet him. A large proportion of these are total dead time. In the first category, most are folks who have no idea what way is up, but think it would be cool to be an outsource CFO for an Israeli startup. In the second category, a few do have connections to Israel but most just really want an in into the Israeli startup scene and think I can provide it. (I mean, I could, but if I haven't worked with you and no one I know locally has worked with you, how can I recommend you? Because you paid the membership fee for Provisors? Really???) Both of these types of calls eat up time I could be spending on actually useful stuff, like running my damn business or having productive calls with good contacts.
In short, yes, draw the map. I make a ton of intros (that's my networking currency) and I always do. Works well and folks appreciate it. It shows I respect them and their time.
I don't make intros lightly - I never waste time. in fact, I'm probably too far in the other direction! Trying to learn to increase other people's networks- Likeable Badass is helping a lot!