The book
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell influenced my thinking a lot. I read the book as soon as it came off the press, I listen to it all the time when I am running and I had read most of Malcolm Gladwell's other books. An important point that Malcolm Gladwell makes in the book Tipping Point is the categorization of three
groups of people and the role they play in making an idea into a social epidemic. The three groups are Connectors, Mavens and
Sales(person). The definition of a
Connector is very simple, these are the people who know everyone and can make the introduction and connection. The Mavens are the experts in a specific domain and Sales(person) are the people who really have the chemistry to convince people to buy or sell or change their mind about things. I was reading
this article about
Ron Conway, the
Silicon Valley Super
Angel investor. He is the quintessential Connector and a Sales(person) put together. What I find interesting while I have been studying the
Venture Investor world is that most successful VCs and
Angel Investors are prolific networkers and they build fantastic connections. I believe that is the root cause of successfully building an investment. I think the principle here is that our
social graphs more or less influence how well connected we are. I also am a follower of Malcolm Gladwell's blog, where he asked the question "
Are you a connector?" and had a hypothesis and experiment to test the hypothesis. Check out the link and see where you stand. After reading the article about Ron Conway, I am asking myself how can I build my network that connects to him? If you are an entrepreneur, you should be
asking the question do I have someone like Ron Conway in my advisors list or in my board? if you don't think about how to get them on your board. It is probably the most important decision you make. If you cannot advisors to that role, look at your team and see if you can build the Connectors, Mavens and Sales(person) who can make your business idea spread like an epidemic this is one of the secrets to increasing your odds of success in your business.
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