I guess now that I am in the bay area, Networking is a whole different beast. Everyone is doing something, so its more about something in detail and with an agenda, than it is about just finding people in general.
great points, i need to consider that more.
sometimes those deliverables are true, and sometimes i do it more casually than maybe i should. in milwaukee its about real relationships, in the valley i would think more people understand simple networking.
That may be true, but are you really lacking in opportunity if you're in a decent startup?
>i can invite someone to lunch for a networking opportunity
Is this "networking" for the startup, you, or is it a euphemism for a social life?
Let me suggest a test. Networking involves enough pre-meeting prep to enable a non-trivial agenda. Post-networking, there will be a debriefing to evaluate whether you achieved your goals and possibly what to do about it. You may not achieve said agenda every time, but if you do, that will often result in work that you have to do for the startup. If it rarely does, then either you're not very good at networking or you're not networking for the startup.
So, let's hear more about the value of this networking to the startup.