Benjamin Kuo’s Blog

I’ve been pondering lately the reason for a rise in new startups, the wall-to-wall networking and events that are happening, and the overall increase in attention to Southern California’s high tech industry, and think I am seeing (part) of the reason for the surge in activity: a new generation hitting the market, joining local companies, and starting to network and connect with the local community.

I was discussing this with someone who was heavily involved with the last crazy networking/startup period here in the Dot Com era, and we were talking about how people who were around in the 90’s go-go years were all in their 20’s then, didn’t know lots of people, were eager to network, and there was a whole new community of companies being formed. Then, post dot-com bust, there was a significant lull for a number of years in terms of networking and events (with not a few organizations disappearing and cutting back). He told me why things didn’t start up immediately after the economy improved: “we already did our networking, and knew everyone.” Those folks were now more likely than not starting to settle down, probably had families, and knew everyone in town, and had established their network–so really had no reason for starting the networking scene up again.

Now, we’re seeing a new surge, an overwhelming number of both private and public networking events, which seems to be driven by a new influx of a younger generation into the market. I’ve found that these are people who weren’t around during the dot com bust (they were in high school or college), are more comfortable with Facebook than LinkedIn, are more likely than not connected into social sites like Twitter, and are now working at the many, newly funded local startups in the area. They — being young and ambitious — don’t know lots of people, are (usually) very mobile, single, and can handle the hectic social calendar, and are very interested–both professionally and socially–in networking with others, attending events, and connecting into the local startup economy.

One attorney I was talking to lately told me that he’s seeing a new generation of young venture capitalists, young startup founders, young executives and workers, and others who are moving into this market; it’s a new generation looking to establish themselves and create a community around the technology industry.

“Networking” gets lots of lip service, in terms of how useful networking is in moving your business and startup forward. I’ve found that people rarely analyze and understand how to effectively network, and to make connections and go beyond just meeting people at random. A few years ago I met Dr. Elissa Grossman, a researcher who has been studying how entrepreneurs network with other people, and compares those behaviors with business success.

We’ve just posted a great contributed article from Dr. Grossman, now an assistant professor at Baruch College, CUNY on some great tips and information–based on her research–showing what techniques were most effective. Her article, Reflections on Entrepreneurial Networking, was just posted to our startup section.