Nothing Ever Happens

Wil, the founder of the Go BIG Network (a platform for connecting start-ups and investors) wrote an interesting article about the importance of social capital in the early stage of a company’s development (The Value Of Friend-Raising). He argues that entrepreneurs should focus on creating strong personal relationships in the community in which they will operate instead of courting the gods of venture capital.

“During my last trip to the Bay Area, I visited with FoundRead’s Carleen Hawn. When Carleen asked me what I was up to, I explained that I was buried in back-to-back meetings with folks around town discussing my current project. “Are you fund-raising?” she asked, to which I responded: “No, I’m friend-raising!” I wasn’t kidding. I was on a mission to make as many new friends as possible.”

I would like to make an important point here, quintessential to my way of doing business:
I believe utilitaristic behavior ultimately does not lead to success and happiness. Making friends in order to save biz-dev or PR money, and doing all other things (making yourself interested in art or wine to be more attractive peer in a social group) in order to increase the chances of your success, means ultimately being not you. It’s only a projection of who you think you should be, based on your interpretation of what you believe others think you should be. And that’s not really you. You might become successful, bit you will never be sincerely happy.

I am an addicted friend-raiser, too. However, I try to look to look at this inverse. To me, business is just a path, a journey of self-discovery and personal growth. It means a lot of things, from meeting exciting (like taxi drivers in san francisco), genius, fabulous people (and many assholes) to drinking the best wines (and the crappiest), encountering new cultures (some of which you will never get to understand)..All of these I consider them just consequences, and not means of doing business. It’s only a path of becoming your REAL SELF and not the opposite.

I love it. I love the people I work with, I really love ALL my engineers, advisors and investors, I would have never taken their money if I wouldn’t really love them. And I have learned a lot about myself from them.