Venture Capital and Networking- two peas in a pod or each other's worst enemies?

I hate the word networking. For starters, half of the word is composed of another word which I despise even more - “working”. When someone tells me, “you should go to this event, it will be a good networking opportunity”, I get a small knot in my stomach like a signal that I am required to do some task where there is no fun involved. Secondly, after socializing all day in work meetings the last thing I want is more similar work socialization.

In my opinion, the word “networking” takes away any fun and joy of meeting and connecting with people and thus robbing the experience of any genuineness necessary to form meaningful human connections. Yes, I do work in venture capital. Yes, this is a key requirement of being in that field. However, what I mean when I say that I hate the word networking is that I hate the negative aspect that I associate with it. I do love meeting new people who I feel like I can connect to genuinely, and not through some requirement as part of a job.

At the end of the day, a network only works for you if 1) They are incentivized to do so (you have something that they want) 2) They like you. Usually, a person will not help you out with a request if they don’t have both of these requirements met. But, if they like you and did connect to you on some level they might help you out even if they do not have an immediate incentive to do so.

If I am already coming into a networking event with the mindset that it is work I might come off as less genuine and will have a harder time connecting authentically which will disparage half of the connections I made. In my experience, the best value I create for people is when the connection I have with them is authentic because I better understand what they are interested in and how I could help them solve problems.

Cultivating more authentic interactions will lead to more value. I want to create value for people, whether that be by providing them with a useful piece of information, or through making introductions that could turn fruitful. In turn of being authentic the chance of those I’m talking to to put their walls down is greater and more useful information can be revealed.

Obviously, nothing that is worthwhile will not come without putting in the effort and time. Especially a person who is in the beginning of their path needs to put themselves out there which might not always be easy. Nevertheless, I do think the notion of networking is overdone and needs to shift to an idea that is less capitalistic sounding and feeling because nobody is trying to do more work than they already have to.

The greatest fulfillment I get from working in venture capital is leveraging the connections I make to provide value for other people. However, this fulfillment is exponentially greater when those connections are genuine and meaningful- a byproduct usually not produced from the direct intention of networking.