Silicon Valley's edge is its density of tech companies and culture of paying it forward. Skip transactional thinking. Do favors, share insights, make introductions without expecting returns. Build trust circles that surface hidden opportunities and connections with influential people.
You've built very solid relationships in Silicon Valley. Is there been any advice to like a young college kids who are trying to break in and do that? Do you have any advice to them?
There's a reason Silicon Valley is a special place. Just if you think about how special between Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Airbnb, OpenAI, all are in the 30-mile radius. There is a culture there of paying it forward without being transactional, just doing favors for people, giving insights, making intros that are valuable without asking for anything in return immediately, playing the long game, sharing knowledge. And that builds a trust circle. That's the long game. And it's not, it's not human nature. You're like, well, if I'm doing this, what do I get? You want to build solid relationships with people who matter, who could help bring you opportunities that other people aren't seeing, you gotta play long game.
