Setting Goals and Networking | Andrew Whelan

All right.

So, here's what I think first off. If you haven't started writing down your goals, and we're going to go through specific things today, you need to write down your goals. Because it's one thing to say, I've got an idea. But if you don't write down your stuff and put it into action, it's hard to achieve that. It's hard for you to say, okay, now I know what I want. This is what I'm going to do to get it. Now you have actionable steps. Because otherwise, you live in that world of procrastination. Procrastination. How many people here are afraid of what their dream is right now? Part of it is like, I'm a little afraid, that's why I'm coming here. That's why I'm going to do this. You're all overachievers and you're all going, I better do a little bit extra work because I'm worried I might not get that. Pretty common. It's a great way to be because if you don't take an action, that fear turns into procrastination and then it's like, well, after I get my degree, I'll start. Or after I get this. Or after I do this, I'll start building my dream. And the truth is, Build it every day. If you work on time management and you work on what you're doing, you can do both. It shouldn't be an either/or, and I think a lot of times what happens because we work so much, right? I work at a startup. So everybody's always like, bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth, and I'm the oldest person at the company. And I'm pretty old compared to most of the people that are there, so it's hilarious. Because I walk in and they're all like, on their computer, and then the minute we talk about something like, let's talk about growth and let's talk about big picture, they're all like, No bandwidth, right? So I want you to start to think about it in terms of if you can balance that a bit, you'll give yourselves the chance to grow the stuff you really want. How many of you end up working on projects or get stuck in stuff that you're like, oh, I wish I wasn't doing this. I want to do my fun stuff. You should be able to do both and prioritize. So we'll talk a little bit about that today. So the first thing I want to talk about is networking. How many people here are comfortable talking to strangers on the street? How many people here are not comfortable talking to strangers on the street? Amy? Not so comfortable talking on the street. Okay. So, we're going to talk about networking and why it's so critical. And we're going to talk a little bit about some things you can do now. How many people here are seriously looking to get funding for an idea they have right now or start to build it out? Okay. So, we're going to start talking a little bit about that. Then we're also going to start talking about networking for your field. If you're in a specific field of study at school or here or whatever you're doing, you need to build your community. Most people that I know who lend money or build business or start companies, what they're interested in are people who are ready now and are people who have something to add to the conversation. So, in networking, 2 things will happen. One is you'll start to practice that and be like, am I really ready to have these conversations? And the other is you'll start to build a little bit of who you are, and that's really important. So we're going to talk about that. I recommend these as a step to start, right?

Mm-hmm.

First off, when we talk about our dream, what is your idea first off? And what are you willing to compromise on? And how much time are you willing to invest? If you go through and you start to write these down and you ask these questions, first off, you'll start to have your goal in place. But more important, when you have interviews with people, when you network with people, They're going to ask you that. So you go to— maybe you go to a VC networking event. I'm going to show you a couple today. You meet with somebody. Maybe you meet with Tim afterwards like you just talked to him. And the questions that will come up are like, well, what are you going to do after this? What are you working on right now? What are you willing to do to get there? What does that idea mean for you? These are all things that you should know. If you practice them beforehand, you'll have more successful networking. I see this all the time. I go to a lot of networking events. I speak a lot. And so, when you ask people questions, and I also consult on interviews, and even at a high level, like a senior VP level, it's really interesting to see people who have not practiced literally saying the words out loud. Because when you ask a question in an interview, it's really amazing to watch someone answer it and not have practiced it at all. Because you see them start to say the answer and then look at the words like, oh my God, I wish I could have those words back because it's not what I wanted to say. Versus the people who literally practice and let those words come out of their mouth with people they know and on their own. So start practicing and putting your list together of things that you think are important. 'Cause the worst part of a networking event where you feel uncomfortable is when someone asks you a question and you haven't practiced it. And you haven't heard those words. 'Cause then all of a sudden you start going, well, because I'm a really hard worker and I really like this, I like apps, I build apps, right? And all of a sudden you become a generalization of what's out there as opposed to a specific person who says, this is who I am, This is what I do, and this is why you should get to know me. And that's what we're going to talk about today. First thing is you've got to know your business. I know that you learned this here, and I know that you're all working on it in school, but you've got to know your business beyond just, I've got that degree, or I've got that certificate, or I am self-taught and I know a bunch about this field. If you're building a community, you don't just have one area of people with you. So if you want to get into product and you have a bunch of people who are product managers around you, You need to start working with data scientists and developers and engineers and designers. You need to really expand. You should know people who work in Agile and are certified in Agile just to bounce ideas off of them. If you become that thought leader and you have a little bit of information, as you grow through your field and as you grow through your business, you actually will be someone who now all of a sudden at the events people want to talk to you. How many people here go to networking events regularly? Tell me what that experience is like for you.

Well, it's a little nerve-wracking.

Tell me why.

Well, it's, you're putting yourself out there and you want to, usually the people that I'm talking to are older than me and more successful than me, so you want to feel like you're contributing something to the conversation. Yep.

So do you end up trying to like feel your way in and be like, I'm going to listen, listen, listen and hopefully find that natural moment to kind of, or if someone Points a question directly at you, right? And at that moment, you might have one shot at letting them know that you belong in that conversation. On top of the fact that it's already nerve-wracking and you walk in with least confidence because you don't have that success yet, right? What you don't know is you have more power than most of those people in the room because they're there to find you. They need you because they need you to come up with that next great idea. They need you to be the solution to where their money goes next. They need you to bring this industry to the next level, right? But we always look at it in that status idea of like, well, yes, young man, what do you have to offer to this conversation? And we're gonna talk about that a little bit too. But you have to have something to offer, whether it's your idea or your experience or just the joy of being there. We often forget enthusiasm is really important. I will tell you the number one feedback I get from hiring managers right now Is they just didn't seem that enthused about the job. Most of that comes from being nervous and feeling like we have to be super mature when we go into interview. It's not the industry, not in Northern California anyway, right? Other areas have specific traditions. I'm working with someone right now who is interviewing in Taiwan and it's a much more formal interview process. But here it's not. So you have to be able to allow yourself this opportunity to network and be informal and enthusiastic. Because people are like, I just want you to want to be here. I don't want to be a pit stop to what your real dream is. I want you to want to be around me, and that's really, really important. So we're going to talk about that. I'm going to throw some resources out to you and talk a little bit about them, and then we're going to talk about networking in general, and we'll do an exercise. So these are just some areas that I would tell you start utilizing, right? So if you're looking for business and you want to know— I love TechCrunch. Does everybody use TechCrunch?

Yeah.

Yeah, I like it because I can look at competitors, but I can also look at the people who are currently running organizations. I look at what articles have recently been written, because if I go to that networking event and I know those people are going to be there, I can be like, oh hey, I love the Medium blog that was written about you last week, or I love what you wrote, or I see you guys are doing this now. That tiny little bit of information lets someone know you've done your homework and you've got something to offer in the conversation. So I really like that. These are just some examples of other areas you can start to reach out to. There are many, many of them. There are newsletters that will keep coming and you're like, then we get into this weird like, now I feel like a bad person because I keep deleting newsletters that come my way or weekly information. Choose a couple that you will use regularly. Choose the ones that give you the information you like the most and the ones that are most effective. I put AIGA and AIGA San Francisco on here as an example of organizations. Does anyone know what AIGA is?

No.

It's the Association of International Graphic Artists. It's an international association based in New York, but there are city-by-city different groups. AIGA, if you were interested in design, or you will eventually as you build product, if you have digital products, will need a design team, user experience, information architecture, interactive, visual, graphic for your company, right? Your marketing team, everybody. So if you know that, then you know you now have a way to start to meet designers. They have events. They run and host Design Week every year in San Francisco. They do it in other cities as well. So if you do that, now I'm at a hiring event or I'm at a networking event and someone says, oh, you want to be an entrepreneur? And you go, yeah, I'm a member of blah, blah, blah. Or as a member of certain things, it's cheaper to go to a lot of events. You get invited to events. And it shows you're interested in the community.