Mike’s posterous

A couple of weeks ago I went on a mini rant about how no one likes "the smartest guy in the room." It proved to be a good topic for that day's episode of NomX3 where I explained that being the smartest guy in the room often means you fail test number two, likability, of my five fundamentals of networking.

Real quick, the five fundamentals are:

1. Know You
2. Like You
3. Trust You
4. Think You're Competent
5. Think You're Relevant

I ran up against the relevancy challenge this morning. I attended an OpenCoffee event which is billed as "Fellow web entrepreneurs and VCs gather once a week in Cambridge, MA to grab some coffee, free WiFi, and chat about what's new."

All the more reason I was surprised to find myself talking to people who were job hunting. I have no problem with people looking for a job at networking events, I think it's smart. I have no problem with the job hunters I met this morning, most were delightful. Heck, I may be in desperate need of a job soon myself if I don't scare up some investment capital for Tweetworks. And that brings me to the problem.

These job seekers were not only at a completely irrelevant event for their needs, they were actually impeding me in my quest to get my needs met. I attended the event to meet other entrepreneurs and hopefully investors to raise capital for my business. Instead, a great deal of my morning was spent talking with people who, while nice to meet, were taking up my time inappropriately.

Here's the thing, if I'm talking to a job seeker at OpenCoffee guess who I'm not talking to? That's right, investors or other entrepreneurs.

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