October 26, 2023
Noah
If you build cool shit, you will get to meet whoever you want. I think most of the time “networking” is overblown. Of course it’s good to build your network through conferences, events, and an outgoing attitude. But a hobby or product that people think is cool or useful gets you access the majority cannot receive.
Even better, what happens when you build a clothing line, a tech product, or a podcast, is that the person you want to meet will not think of you as a fan, they will think of you as a peer! When athletes I’ve admired pick my brain on investment opportunities in tech, it’s not because I met them somewhere and shook their hand really firmly (although this has happened). It’s because I am familiar with the ecosystem and while still small, I have built a content library of their athlete peers teaching business topics which include tech investing. They find this useful! So they view me as a peer in this light. I would have never imagined such a scenario as a player who could never get off the bench in college. The best part is that this anecdote isn’t special; it’s parallel to what you are working on.
Now there are more superstars out there I would like to meet. I think I am going to naturally meet them if I keep growing the following and business of Athletes & Assets™, versus predicting which party or conference they will attend. This is the mindset I wish more people embraced versus conference hopping or social climbing.
The message here is all athletes are not treated the same. That’s life. Alums, the donors, celebrities, want to meet the high scorer, the quarterback, the best player. Cool, so be it. If you were not the star how do you get the same interest and attention from people in power? A great option is to build something cool that can give them value or they find interesting.
