Companies are easy to start, right? People do it all the time. Seeing it through to it becoming a thriving business and/or having a successful exit, well, that’s quite a different story. Stated another way, we had a professor in a fiction writing class in college who started the semester with: “I met a fellow at a party and asked, ‘So, what do you do?’ To which he replied, ‘I write the beginnings of novels.’”

Which, for the record, doesn’t make you a novelist. You’ve got to see it through to that last page. And publish!

Igor Jablokov, who is a founder rather than investor, spoke at one of our investor breakfasts a while back, and it’s amazing what you can learn from someone who has been there, done that – and who has had a successful exit. Igor had a company, and as he was building, he would go to various conferences and expos to network, and to see what he might learn. At one conference, he spoke to a group who had had a very successful exit and he asked how it had happened.

“We didn’t have a lot to spend on exhibiting, so we took a little tabletop display at a small conference not far from our offices (which were not located in any tech hub). Apple stopped by our table.”

Their technology became an integral part of the bones of the iPhone.

As he continued developing his technology, Igor kept this in mind, and when it came time to open the kimono, he noticed that there were three conferences/expos coming up. One was CES in Las Vegas, one was in NYC at the Javits Center, and the third was at a hotel in Florida, with a single room for tabletop displays. He divided his team up and decided that he himself would go to Florida and let the others enjoy Las Vegas and NYC, as a sort of bonus for all of their hard work.

The Florida expo was certainly not nearly as well attended as the other two, but large companies do tend to send their scouts out to smaller conferences and expos, as you just never know what you might find.

That conversation with the small tech company from a few years back and his decision to take a tabletop display in Florida paid off. Bigly. A major company did purchase his technology, which he had named after his older sister and which the major company decided not to change.

The company: Amazon.

The technology: Alexa.

Moral of the story:

You don’t know what you don’t know, until you talk to people, listen and learn. While conferences are not currently taking place, there are still plenty of opportunities online via webinars, Clubhouse and online events to network, get to know people – and some of the finer points of the industry about which you might not otherwise be aware. Taking a page from Igor, do try to avoid large webinars, huge Clubhouse rooms and online events that are strictly talking heads (unless it’s purely instructional – then, fine). Go to smaller rooms and events, where you can participate and ask questions. And ask questions!

Network, follow up (LinkedIn is always the logical go-to, and reference where you had encountered the person to whom you are reaching out. Do not send the boilerplate message. The personal touch makes all the difference), listen – and learn. You might just come across that key bit of information or meet that one person who may well turn out to be your game-changer. And in case you missed it, Global Venture Funding Hits All-Time Record High $125B In Q1 2021. Investors are looking – and listening – and you’ve literally got the entire world at your fingertips.

This is an industry of go big or go home. But as at the large conferences and expos – and packed Clubhouse room – the signal to noise ratio is deafening. It’s not about numbers: it’s about synergies. As novel as it may sound, time to think small.  Onward and forward.