Leveling Up: Advice From The Ecosystem

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Over the next week, Medium will once again be flooded with posts summing up 2017 and making predictions for 2018. I’ve never been a huge fan of these posts, so I’m hoping to take a different path and share some of the advice given to me this year by a supportive network of VCs, startup founders, and tech employees.

On building a network from scratch…

Earlier this year, I was chatting with Jonathon Triest about building a network. There were a few reasons that I wanted advice on this. It was at a time when I finally felt I could add value to startups and as a bonus expand my (then, nonexistent) dealflow pipeline.

Jonathon shared his insights on how he views network building.

1. Be genuine: The goal of building a network is to foster real relationships. If your motivation is for short term gain, your network will be disposable and won’t be helpful to you in the long run.
2. Be genuine: When sending cold emails, many people write them as if they suddenly became the most formal person ever. When reaching out, be yourself. If that means sending a GIF of a cat jumping through a fiery hoop, then so it be it! Tell them that you love what they do and that you want to hear more about it. If you show people that you’re genuinely interested and not trying to sell them on something, you’ll get more responses than you think.
3. Be genuine: Give ideas and get involved. True friends help each other through thick and thin. Reach out with ideas of how you can help them. No one dislikes when others try to make their lives easier. Be a real friend and add value…. especially when its unexpected.

On joining the conversation…

Twitter has opened countless doors for me. By joining the conversation, I’ve made dozens of relationships that have resulted in amazing friendships. While I was at Ludlow Ventures chatting with Jonathon, I caught up with Blake Robbins, a seriously impressive VC that puts most 24-year olds that I know to shame.

During the conversation, Blake mentioned how he built relationships on Twitter. “If you ever feel like you have no business being in a conversation, that’s exactly the conversation you have to jump in to.” Although it can be daunting, you have nothing to be afraid of. People want others to engage and share thoughts. Rip off the band-aid… it’ll be worth it.

In late April, I noticed that someone with a similar position at a VC in Boston followed me on Twitter. I reached out, thanked her for the follow, and told her that I’d love to chat sometime about the work she’s doing and if I can bounce a few ideas off her. Today, I call Ginny Mineo a friend that I can count on to always give me honest feedback on ideas that I’m working on. This all resulted from jumping into a conversation I didn’t really belong in.

On fostering relationships…

One of the most impactful posts I’ve ever read is Mark Suster’s “Invest In Lines, Not Dots”. In this post, Mark outlines the strategy of fostering any long-term relationship through a series of communications. I won’t try to sum it up. All I can say is everyone should read this post. It changed my entire outlook on networks and relationships.

On hustle, hustle, hustle…

Working in Israel is a unique experience. Most of my teammates have served in the military and have a different outlook on life than a kid from Long Island. When others see obstacles, they see opportunities. When people put up walls, they knock them down. The attitude here is to speak up for what’s right, share ideas, and move forward no matter what people throw your way.

My team has a simple mission: to support our founders by whatever means necessary. Many times that means pushing the boundaries, getting our networks involved, rolling up our sleeves, and joining them in the trenches. A good friend on our team, Eldad Postan, has a saying “push, push, push, אש אש ,אש”. To loosely translate into English, it means light it up and hustle like it’s nobody’s business. Sometimes you have to navigate the minefield to come out victorious on the other side. The harder the obstacle is to overcome, the more growth you’ll gain from the experience.

On operational experience…

Whether you’re looking to break into VC or you’re already in the club, it’s crucial to develop skills that will add value to your portfolio companies. Make a list of the top 5–7 skills you’d like to work on this year. Customer acquisition, product management, strategic planning, growth hacking… the ball is in your court. If you’re a junior VC, set up rotations to learn and pitch in at your portfolio companies. If you’re looking to get started, reach out to founders with ideas and key areas you can help them with today.

On becoming a resource…

A good friend of mine, David Stark, is one of those people that thinks differently from the rest of the world. Throw an idea at him and he’ll give you ten out of the box ways to execute without breaking a sweat. One of the best pieces of advice David gave me this year was on being a resource to the ecosystem. If you’re a junior/aspiring VC, find an industry that you’re passionate about and develop a thesis about it. Find the top startups in that industry and write investment memos on why you think those companies are winners. Start a newsletter aggregating the top news and thought-pieces in the space and build an audience. There are dozens of ways to become a resource to the ecosystem. You just have to start.

On adding value…

Everyone has value to add. Whether you’re great at marketing, sales, strategic thinking, or an wild idea machine, you can help make a meaningful impact on anyone’s workload or startup. Find what you’re good at and let people know that you’re interested in helping. This is known as the Canvas Strategy, which Tim Ferris talks about here.

Over the past few months, I’ve taken the approach with people that I work with daily and people I haven’t met yet. This can be taking on a project to help a friend at work who’s spread thin or a stranger with a cool idea that you’d like to help with. The bottom line is that everyone has value to add. You just need to find out what that is and give it to the world.

On atomic giving…

To end off with a thought from one of the best connections I made in 2017, here’s a tweet from Micah Baldwin, a true role model who is a genuinely helpful person that leads by example.

If there’s one thing that has helped me “level up” in 2017, it was the “giving” of all the people that continue to give me advice, guidance, and a supportive ear to bounce ideas off of. The power of a 15 minute conversation can change the course of a person forever. Don’t forget that.

On that note, if anyone would like to continue the conversation, tweet me and we’ll find a time.

Here’s to an awesome 2017 and an even better 2018!

Hi! I’m Jordan, and I work in VC in Israel. There’s a lot happening in the VC/startup scene and I figured I’d post my observations here. All opinions are my own. Feel free to follow on Twitter: @jordanodinsky.