{"id":29281,"date":"2017-09-11T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T11:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=29281"},"modified":"2017-09-10T22:21:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T04:21:52","slug":"why-networking-over-coffee-isnt-prerequisite-for-startup-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/why-networking-over-coffee-isnt-prerequisite-for-startup-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Networking Over Coffee Isn\u2019t a Prerequisite for a Startup Job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Two or three times a day,<\/strong> I get a note that is some iteration of the below:<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Hi Ross,<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>My name is Connor Sullivan, and I wanted to reach out to see if I could pick your brain about Village Capital. I\u2019m really interested in entrepreneurship, and I\u2019d be interested in transitioning into an investment role, too. Are you free in the next week to catch up for a coffee?<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Best,<br \/>\nConnor<\/em><\/div>\n<p>On the one hand, I love these notes. I\u2019m incredibly excited when people find value in what our startups do, or what we do, and want to join. Our companies need all the great people they can get, and so does <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vilcap.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Village Capital<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"right\"><p>Buying someone coffee is not a prerequisite for getting a job, a sale, or a successful fundraise.<span id=\"tweetquote\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=http:\/\/bit.ly\/1NxUxa4&amp;via=unreasonable&amp;text=&quot;Buying someone coffee is not a prereq for getting a job, sale or successful fundraise&quot; @rossbaird\"><i class=\"fa fa-twitter\"><\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On the other hand, these notes break my heart because given competing demands in my daily work, I can\u2019t possibly delegate enough time to do these conversations justice. And I\u2019m not alone\u2014nearly everyone I know in the startup world has too much to do, and not enough time, so \u201cnetworking coffees\u201d are almost always the lowest priority.<\/p>\n<p>I understand that when you\u2019re trying to make your way professionally, you want to meet all the people you can. Yet taking someone out to coffee is not a prerequisite for getting a job\u2014or, for that matter, a sale, or a successful fundraise. Every interaction you have should be an exchange of value. If people have time for coffee and advice, that\u2019s great. But, usually they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>If, however, you\u2019re not even getting responses to an email, I suggest you try what I like to call GVAP (hat tip to Matt Williamson, CEO of Windsor Circle, one of the best salespeople I\u2019ve ever met).<\/p>\n<p>The formula goes like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>GOAL:<\/strong> What\u2019s the goal of the meeting?<\/li>\n<li><strong>VALUE:<\/strong> What\u2019s the value of the meeting to the other person?<\/li>\n<li><strong>AGENDA:<\/strong> What would you like to talk about?<\/li>\n<li><strong>PERMISSION TO PROCEED:<\/strong> Here, you ask the other person for permission to move forward\u2014in the way that\u2019s comfortable for them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, if I\u2019m Connor, here\u2019s how I should think about the email. Remember, the goal of the e-mail is two-sided: 1) For Connor, he wants to explore job opportunities; 2) For me, I want to know if he is a fit for the job.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Ross,<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I have read up on Village Capital, and I noticed that you\u2019re investing in startups in financial services, education, health, energy, and agriculture. I\u2019m inspired by your work, and I\u2019d like to get in touch to see if I could add value to your firm\u2014or see if you have thoughts on where I might be able to add value in your industry.<\/em><\/div>\n<p><strong>GOAL:<\/strong> Note that Connor outlines the goal for both of us in the conversation.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>I\u2019ve been a consultant for Accenture in regulated industries, and while I don\u2019t have investment experience yet, I did notice that you invest in health, education, financial services, energy, agriculture\u2014all regulated industries. If you\u2019re looking for someone with a great work ethic who understands how to help businesses navigate government regulation, I think I could add value.<\/em><\/div>\n<p><strong>VALUE:<\/strong> Note that Connor outlines the value of the conversation to me at Village Capital\u2014not to himself. (It\u2019s already implicit that the value to him is that he\u2019s looking for a job.)<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>If you\u2019re open to a conversation, I\u2019d love your thoughts on a few things:<br \/>\n1. What are the biggest problems that you, and people like you, are facing that you\u2019re looking for new team members to solve?<br \/>\n2. What kinds of roles would you be looking for in the startup world if you were me, based on my background (attached).<br \/>\n3. Is there any potential for me to work with Village Capital? If so, what\u2019s the best way to proceed with a conversation?<br \/>\n4. Is there anyone else I should be speaking with?<\/em><\/div>\n<p><strong>AGENDA:<\/strong> Note that Connor outlines the agenda. He has specific requests that can be answered shorthand over email, if necessary; they also would set an agenda for an in-person meeting.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>If you\u2019d find value in the conversation, I\u2019d love the opportunity to speak in person, over the phone, or simply go back and forth over email with my questions. If you\u2019re swamped, totally understand; I hope we can connect another time. Let me know how you\u2019d like to explore a relationship.<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Best,<br \/>\nConnor<\/em><\/div>\n<p><strong>PERMISSION TO PROCEED:<\/strong> Note that Connor gives me a few different ways that we could proceed, recognizing that (a) of course he wants answers in his job search; (b) there are a few different ways that we can follow up; (c) he gives me an out in case I don\u2019t have time.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m writing this blog in part because the GVAP style for any email is something that applies anytime you\u2019re asking someone for their time\u2014whether it\u2019s advice, sales, or fundraising.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"left\"><p>Every interaction you have should be an exchange of value.<span id=\"tweetquote\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=http:\/\/bit.ly\/1NxUxa4&amp;via=unreasonable&amp;text=&quot;Every interaction you have should be an exchange of value&quot; @rossbaird\"><i class=\"fa fa-twitter\"><\/i> Tweet This Quote<\/a><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m also writing this because I want to be able to be helpful to as many people as possible, and I plan to link this blog post to the \u201casking for coffee\u201d emails I get in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I\u2019ll pledge that if you\u2019re interested in working in the startup world, you read this post, and you send a GVAP styled email back to me at ross@vilcap.com, I\u2019ll definitely be able to respond and hopefully get you what you need.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>A version of this post originally appeared on <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/village-capital\/why-networking-over-coffee-isn-t-a-prerequisite-for-a-job-in-the-startup-world-bba6a0a42940#.o6j34nixg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medium<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone in startup world has too much to do, and not enough time. \u201cNetworking coffees\u201d are almost always the lowest priority. But here&#8217;s how to handle it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":29301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[476,1543,2089,1514],"tags":[2937,2019,1830,1717,2939,2938,192,2817,1399,2305,1607],"class_list":["post-29281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-communication","category-employment","category-relationships","tag-coffee","tag-conversation","tag-email","tag-hiring","tag-job","tag-meeting","tag-networking","tag-relationship","tag-ross_baird","tag-value","tag-village-capital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Networking Over Coffee Isn\u2019t a Prerequisite for a Startup Job<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Everyone in startup world has too much to do, and not enough time. \u201cNetworking coffees\u201d are almost always the lowest priority. 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