I will just have to make time!

John

Ok, firstly great idea. Heres my 2 pence,

Im pretty big on the filtering thing – owing specifically to an incident at a “networking” event some years ago where I was talking to a someone who described himself as a only as a VC… great.. I gave him the low down.. only to be told later that his idea of what VC meant was “Venture Catalyst” .. the bloke was a consultant…

So, Im as busy as the next guy & some days Im just as lazy as anyone else. I often endorse these ideas and then realise an hour before the event that I really cant be bothered. Like most people who go to any such event, my attendance is going to be driven purely by what it does for me personally.

I believe & I hope you’ll agree that businesses run in phases:

A. Idea development: i have an idea, im studying its feasibility, im assembling the core team & working on a prototype. I want to meet entrepreneur types looking for something to work on.

B. Funding: Ive taken the idea as far as it can go & I need to get funded. So I will pitch anyone willing to listen. I want to meet VC’s, angels, etc…

C. Post-Funding: I need to expand the team, get operations going, I also want feedback, its all about execution at this stage.. I want to solve usability issues, push out problems Im having with particular modules of the business and hopefully get some “free” solutions or introductions to people who can help. I want to meet corporate FD types (no one has a FD to start off… or do they?), uber developers, web 20 designers, product managers, other founders in a similar stage etc..

D. Expansion/Option evaluation: Its been running for some time. The idea has worked, its making money.. its become less about “breaking new ground” and more about making sure the “trains run on time”. I want to raise a big round B and do the US, France, Germany & rest of EU.. OR.. I want someone to tell me how I can cash out from this thing. I want to meet my competitors, M & A, Corp dev types and also some people whove been there and done that.. so to speak.

What Im saying in so many words is that the sorts of people I want to meet depend entirely on the phase of business I am at. 4 stages, 4 weeks a month… Id love to attend if I thought that I wasnt going to get some guy in phase B (i.e. me a month ago) pitching the hell out of me in the false hope that I can help. I realise that I might be entirely disregarding the possibility that I might learn something from someone in phase A & by not having them attend, I lose out.. something I have be willing to live with.

I believe that having a running theme will help keep the numbers down so you dont end up with only standing room at the Starbucks while also making sure that you have a very engaged and driven set of people at the same place, at the same time. That for me reduces the frequency of the meetings I will attend, but makes the event a “must attend”..

WDYR?

The only piece I would take issue with is when you say, “now what I don’t want to see is…a bunch of PR execs, recruiters & headhunters”.

My experience, and especially recently is that a savvy PR, recruiter or headhunter can be incredibly smart at cross-pollinating an industry like this. Their day-job is to filter and rate talent. Some of the smartest tip-offs I have had this year have been from PRs and headhunters, so I’d like to see them in the mix…

I suppose like anything, it’s about quality and maybe one or two negative exeperiences can put you off?

Let discuss over…coffee It’s an exciting time to be in London!

If you’re looking for advice on how to set up on your own, this is absolutely perfect for you – all that free advice in one room over a coffee, oh, and possibly someone to give you a few quid if you’re not insane (like me) :-/

See you next week on Thurs 10-12