There’s no shortage of networking events all over the startup space, but one of the most prominent voices doesn’t seem to think particularly highly of them.
Entrepreneur and angel investor Naval Ravikant has said that networking in overrated. Naval is the founder of Angel List and Airchat, and was an early investor in companies including Uber, Twitter and Notion. He is also a bit of a modern guru, with his pithy takes on life and investing often going viral.
Naval, however, isn’t a fan of networking. “I would tell startups, don’t spend time doing (networking) meetings unless you really, really have to,” he said in a fireside chat with Pando Daily. “I really think networking is overrated. There are all these articles that say that you have to network more, and it makes me want to vomit,” he added.
Naval said that it’s not ‘networking’ that helps build a network, but something entirely different. “Go do something great and your network will instantly emerge,” he says. “If you build a good product or if you get a good customer base, I guarantee that your network will instantly emerge,” he said.
Naval seems to be saying that networking for its own sake is a waste of time. Founders would do better to focus on building great products. As they make something useful, all manner of people will automatically reach out to them, including customers, suppliers, and perhaps most importantly, investors. As such, the easiest way to build a strong network isn’t to attend networking events, but to actually build something great.