The Power of the Network

The most valuable asset you can build is your network. It’s an extension of your knowledge. The most successful people I have worked for and with have some of the most extensive & rich networks.

Maybe it’s help finding your next job or helping someone close to you get a job. Or get a meeting. Or deal flow for new investments or new investors. At Social Leverage we are always talking to our founders and investors about leveraging our social network and the power of our networks. I learned early in my career working at WorldQuant how powerful a network can be. I saw this first hand when working on the venture investment side with Steve Lau at WorldQuant and how he had built his career on Wall Street and with it an extensive network of people we could talk to when doing diligence on deals and for investment deal flow. My work at WorldQuant was mainly focused on building our brand and networking across the world as one of the most sophisticated data-driven investment firms. We traveled the world meeting data vendors to find unique data assets for our investment strategies. This ultimately led to me meeting my now partner at Social Leverage, Howard Lindzon. Howard was CEO & founder of Stocktwits at the time and I ultimately became an LP in Social Leverage for their Fund III. Howard further showed me how important networks were as we got to know each other over the last 10+ years. From there I worked at Third Point where Dan Loeb further instilled in me and others how valuable relationships and your network are. I also saw just how much money is spent by the top investment firms on Expert Network services like GLG, Tegus, GuidePoint, which made me realize if you have a really good network, you can save a boatload of cash.