In this interview Courtney Pulitzer outlines the three core components of her venture: a newsletter that reports on internet‑industry events from a social angle, worldwide "Cocktails with Courtney" networking parties, and the online show Cyber Scene TV that profiles the people behind the technology. She stresses that networking is the lifeblood of the fast‑moving internet sector, arguing that local connections can quickly scale to global impact and that staying "on the pulse" requires daily face‑to‑face interaction. Courtney describes the industry’s rapid evolution—new companies emerge hourly—making traditional media too slow, so personal networking becomes essential. She also shares her personal networking schedule, concentrating her outreach on Tuesdays through Thursdays while reserving Fridays and weekends for rest and recovery.
Chapters
Well, my business has 3 different components to it. One is a newsletter where we write about the internet industry from a social perspective. So we go to a cocktail party or conferences or internet internet-related networking events and we'll write about them, who was there, what companies they work for, who is talking with whom. It has a very social aspect to it. The second part are our cocktail parties called Cocktails with Courtney where we invite people who are in the internet industry to get together and network and those are worldwide. We have cocktail parties all over the world. And then the third element that we're really starting to try and focus on is our Cyber Scene TV show which is an online TV show. It's on the web and it's all about the people in the internet industry. Again, it's from the social from a commercial perspective, but we're focusing on the people behind the technology, the people behind the companies that are driving the internet industry forward.
How important networking is in this industry?
Well, it's interesting for me because I have obviously never been in any other industry other than this one, but I have found this to be one industry, the internet industry, where so many people network. This is— it almost is driven by networking, The people in this, in the new media, the dot-com, the internet industry, new technologies, all of that, it's vital for them to get out and meet other people because that's a way for you to get to know other people. And I believe as much as it's a global network, start locally and it has global repercussions. You can really expand a global business and develop a global business started with local networking, getting your name out there. So networking is a really, really big part of this industry.
I mean, networking is so important for any business, but it's so important because of the fast pace or competitiveness, or why is that?
Can you rephrase it?
Sure.
I think that the internet industry, it's so fast-paced and it is so— it's constantly changing. The internet industry is constantly changing. It's so fast-paced that you always have to be out and sort of have your finger on the pulse of what's going on. And the best way to do that is to really get out and meet people and see what's going on sort of firsthand. And again, it is one industry where everything is evolving constantly, daily, hourly, and you can't wait for the trade magazines to report on new companies and get ahead. You have to be out every day because tonight you could probably learn about 5 or 10 more new companies. But in other industries, it doesn't evolve that rapidly. People don't leave their jobs within a day or 2 weeks or 6 weeks and start another.
It's a much— it's so quick.
That things are so, you know, fastly evolving that to get out and really meet people, and again, it's all about sort of like 6 degrees of separation, learning about who knows who and who can help you tonight or tomorrow or next week or 6 months from now. It really helps foster the industry growth again.
So how your schedule, if it's Monday to Sunday thing, I mean, how often you do go out and networking on a daily basis?
Well, I pretty much, uh, I restrict my networking to pretty much Tuesdays through Thursdays. Friday nights I usually, you know, try and calm down, quiet, have a nice quiet evening at home. And the weekends I recuperate because the weeks are so busy. I mean, it's just from— there's breakfast series and things that are going on from 8 AM until 11 PM. So you really need to recharge your batteries on the weekends. There's things going on Monday nights too, but pretty much Tuesdays through Thursdays there's so many networking working events that are going on, that, that's when a lot of the Antimta activity goes on.
