It is no secret that people are using Facebook for business networking and I wanted to share my own success stories and exactly what I did. I joined Facebook in June 2007 and to date I have managed to accomplish the following:
-Introduced to a venture capital firm
-Received an introduction to an angel investor who is now an advisor
- Invited to moderate a young entrepreneur group
- Interviewed for a book by an Inc. Magazine Contributing Editor about Gen-Y entrepreneurs
- Interviewed about effectively using Facebook to network
- Paid speaking engagement at Boston College to present to the Entrepreneur Society
- A feature on CollegeMogul.com
- Present a professional image
- Find relevant groups e.g. Young Entrepreneurs
- Introduce myself, my business and participate - ask questions, answer questions, share knowledge
-Promote our story
This came about from my participation in the Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs group. A guy in Miami, Jason Baptiste, contacted me and invited me to his monthly networking event, NextMiami, that allows entrepreneurs and investors mingle. We attended the event and were introduced to the person responsbile for the technology and web investments at the VC Firm. We spoke for 45 minutes and asked to follow-up and take a look at our executive summary because they had recently invested US$3 million in a site similar to ours but focused on the Hispanic demographic.
The VC we had sent our executive summary to and had a conference call with said we were a little early-stage but he wanted us to meet an angel investor that could help get us to the next level. He sent the executive summary and an introduction via email, the angel investor replied 8 minutes later to arrange a meeting in person. We now meet every month and have gotten amazing advice to help grow our venture.
One of the groups I joined was the Young Entrepreneurs Network group and I became very active. The group membership comes from a diverse set of countries but many are from the USA. Based on my questions, answers and level of activity, the administrator asked me to become an official moderator and contributor to the group. Visibility among mainstream US entrepreneurs was important for me and so I accepted.
The admin of the Young Entrepreneurs Network group contacted me to say that she had recommended me for an interview for a book about Gen-Y entrepreneurs being written by a contributing editor of Inc. Magazine. The writer then got in touch with me and we arranged an interview time. The interview went even better than I expected because she and her husband are big Reggae fans. The book is slated for publication in 2009 and I hope our story gets in there (not guaranteed).
This interview came about thanks to an introduction to Mari Smith through Scott Bradley, the President of the Boston College Entrepreneurship Society. I had connected with him a month earlier on Facebook through the Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs group and after I saw that she had interviewed him, I reached out to her with an outline of what I had accomplished through Facebook to date. Check out the interview here.
We have presented at a few universities but none have been paid. I connected with Scott Bradley in July and he was so impressed with our story, especially our mistakes, that asked us to come to Boston College to present that Fall semester. The Entrepreneurship Society covered our expenses (travel and accomodations) as well as provided an appearance fee. The event went very well and we posted the videos on the web. Check out resulting article in the school paper here and the videos here.
CollegeMogul is “a blog and online resource for college entrepreneurship” that also reviews “new and existing companies led by students and young entrepreneurs.” They were recently added to Guy Kawasaki’s latest venture, Alltop.com, as a source for “Startup” news.
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sounds like facebook has done wonders for you. people i talk to it is either hit or miss. i am reluctant to start the facebook networking. all i have used thus far, which is somewhat successful, is a local networking site. http://www.mycityfaces.com/?utm_source=city&utm_medium=media&utm_campaign=blogging
it has worked for me in my area, it’d be nice to see the same level success as facebook.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Yes it has “done wonders” and I think that you could follow some of the steps I did and have some success so go ahead and try the Facebook networking, never hurts to try.
The most important thing is to craft a compelling story of course, otherwise there would be little interest no matter how hard you work.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Excellent article David! I can attest to the success of business networking on Face book and readily encourage all to give it a go using David’s tips. It was via Face book that I saw your ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ event in Sept08 that featured Mike Michalowicz, author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur (TPE). The very gentleman who I remember watching on CNBC’s ‘The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch!’
It is thanks to you that I was able to meet and forge relationships with like-minded business people (now die-hard TPE’s). Most of all, exactly 7mths later, your baton has been passed on to me to host Mike on his 2nd Jamaican visit. I feel compelled to say kudos to you for facilitating the opportunity to follow the ’star’ of David - Mike Michalowicz! Many thanks. I look forward to seeing everyone turn out to listen Michalowicz at 5:30p.m on Tues. 28/Apr at University of Technology, Jamaica.
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:06 am