Social Capital Cloaked as a Favor
100 Words A Day (265)
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From 2015 - 2019, I kept up a series called 100 words a day. I wrote over 250 posts, 100 words each. I stopped this for a while, but I would like to bring this back…starting today.
Let’s say Fred introduces you to his VC friend, Susan. The context is hiring you as an associate. By introducing you, Susan is both evaluating your talent and aptitude, and Fred for his signal spotting abilities. If Susan likes you, Fred’s cred goes up. If Susan doesn’t, Fred’s cred goes down. In reality, you could be a pawn in Fred’s quest for social capital. There’s nothing wrong with this, as this is how much of the world works. But it makes you think maybe paying for an introduction service that removes social capital completely is just what the doctor ordered.
Read #264 here.
"Knowing the right people" is exactly why the world, including the startup business one is tilted towards the old boys network. These days we need to be more inclusive and allow more people a chance to connect. I went to a terrible school (here in the UK) that gave me zero connections and made it harder over the last 25 years of creating my tech startups. Which is why I now give back with a paid-for service to connect founders and investors. Paying for connections cuts out any ambiguity and ensures "all" founders have a chance, without getting tied into the politics of the social capital game.