Konamoxt, Inc.

I have a confession to make… I’m an introvert. This may come as a surprise to anyone who’s worked with me or met me, because as they will tell you, I am one talkative guy. Oh boy, when I get going… watch out. But the truth is, when the phone rings, I’d much rather let it go to voicemail.

Being a technologist, I’ll admit to being more comfortable sitting in my office writing code, designing a database schema, or planning a new cloud computing infrastructure rollout. But as an entrepreneur, you have to get out there. It’s really simple actually, and most people would say it’s obvious.

Customers- they’re outside the walls of your office. Investors- they’re outside the walls of your office. Partners- they’re outside the walls of your office.

If you allow yourself (and your team) to be isolated, you are destined to fail.

But, how do you know when to take the meeting? How do you know it will be a good use of your time? Is that a vendor calling you? Is that investor really going to be interested in your business? Why meet with that business leader if you don’t have something to sell them. How do you decide. Well, it’s actually quite simple…

The secret: Always take the meeting.

I’m reminded of this fact after a couple of completely unexpected meetings this week. Yesterday I met with Kevin Merritt, CEO of Blist, a local startup in Seattle focused on building a revolutionary kind of database that makes it easy for anyone to “Easily share and publish data and lists on the web.”

Kevin and I met through local entrepreneur resources like the Seattle Tech Startups mailing list, and eventually connected on Twitter, but we’ve never met in person. He suggested we meet in person and grab a cup of coffee. I’m not sure if he had an agenda going in to the meeting, but I know I didn’t. Beyond just getting a free cup of Joe (Thanks Kevin! I’ve got the next round!), I got to meet a smart entrepreneur and extend my network. I’m not sure what will come out of it, but after meeting Kevin, I’m sure we’ll be able to be a resource to each other in the future.

It reminds me of a meeting I had last year with a local venture capitalist. I wasn’t really in the market for VC money, and I wouldn’t have considered our venture to be appropriate for his fund’s strategy, but I got an introduction through an entrepreneur friend of mine, and said, hey, I have to take the meeting. Although the meeting didn’t result in an investment, I did get to meet a new business leader, and I must have left him with a positive impression: a couple weeks later, out of the blue, I get an email introduction from this VC to the CEO of Brooks Sports.

Not a bad connection! Good thing I took that meeting.

Ironically, at the time, we didn’t have a product to sell to someone like a Brooks, but again, I took the meeting… who knows where it could go. Our first meeting was just a friendly conversation about Social Media and the Fitness Industry, there was no sale to be had, as we had no product to sell. But the connection was made and eventually a couple months later that connection turned into a great partnership.

The lesson is simple: When the phone rings, answer!

Filed by Brad Hefta-Gaub at 8:04 am under Entrepreneurship
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