Becoming a successful entrepreneur takes more than simply having a great idea or a well-designed business plan. While it’s essential to believe in the power of your idea and your unique vision for it, turning that idea into reality requires a set of strong relationships. It requires networking, which is a crucial skill for a budding entrepreneur.
People often overlook the power of networking in their preparation to be successful entrepreneurs. Building and nurturing connections both within your industry and with entrepreneurs and investors across all fields of business allows entrepreneurs to glean opportunities, gain insights, access resources, and find avenues for fundraising.
Reza Satchu, the Founding Chairman of NEXT Canada, an incubator for Canadian entrepreneurs, knows the vital role networking plays in building any business. His own achievements as an entrepreneur have resulted from his adoption of what he calls a “Founder Mindset”. As a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and in his role with NEXT Canada, he imparts the tenets of this Mindset to the next generation of business leaders.
One of the central principles of the Founder Mindset is the power of commitment to your business idea. Satchu believes that without this commitment, entrepreneurs will typically fail to form the kinds of relationships they’ll need to succeed. He explains how entrepreneurs can find the strength to truly commit in an interview with Exeleon Magazine:
“The most important component is how to develop judgment. A founder has to make decisions, and you’re just hoping there are more good ones than bad ones. The key is, how do you, as a founder, improve your judgment over time? Judgment is like any other muscle, and you have to practice it. You must put yourself in situations where you’re making consequential decisions that you’re accountable for. Ultimately, you’ll need to count on your judgment to commit. Committing with uncertainty is not easy. But you must commit, and that takes belief in both yourself and the idea. You simply can’t compete with someone who is committed because that’s where the magic happens. When you’re feeling that sense of drowning, barely surviving as a founder, and you’re able to demonstrate that ambition and tenacity, that fear ultimately, but when you show that kind of commitment, you get people to believe in you. They see it in your eyes, and then when you get your first investor, that’s the magic. You’re that much closer to making the impact that you want.”
An entrepreneur’s commitment to their business idea gives potential connections the confidence to trust in the vision and to believe that it will come to fruition. This is important not just for investors, but for partners in your business from different disciplines. Entrepreneurs usually require professional services like technology systems or marketing strategies. Legal advice is also important. By meeting the right people, entrepreneurs can connect with the service providers that will suit their personalities and their ambitions. Connections thus offer essential resources for business growth.
Connections can also lead to seed money, venture funds, or angel backing. The best way to access these sources of funds is through your network. Events, conferences, and industry competitions provide great opportunities to meet investors who are actively searching for new businesses to support. Entrepreneurs who actively pursue connections with potential investors at these kinds of events usually increase their chances of success.
Entrepreneurs can never do everything by themselves. Networking builds partnerships and collaborations that will smooth the bumpy road to creating a business. Sometimes, entrepreneurs join forces for new or hybrid ventures. Other times, they team up with larger groups to find ways to expand their offerings. These collaborations can open up new markets and generate more revenue for all involved.
For Satchu, the ability to authentically commit, to ultimately believe in yourself and your ability to make an idea happen, is the secret to building the network that will be needed to succeed.
“You’re never going to have perfect information. Any idiot can make a decision with perfect information. People always want more info before they leap. They can never have enough. You have to accept that there is risk associated with being a founder. You have to calibrate that risk appropriately, and in doing so think about how you can start to navigate it, to get moving, without just collecting more options. Most people never commit because they think the next option will be better. It’s a tragedy that they don’t see what they’re capable of. What’s the downside? It doesn’t work, and you learn a tremendous amount. The upside is something meaningful happens. The Founder Mindset is all about choosing ‘tried and failed’ over ‘never tried at all.”
