6 years, 11 months ago-
@pietromarenco, very challenging questions, I’ll try to answer the best I can.
What is networking?
Literally, networking is “to cultivate people who can be helpful to one professionally, especially in finding employment or moving to a higher position” (Business definition) or “an association of individuals having a common interest, formed to provide mutual assistance and/or helpful information” (both definitions, the first a more business related one, the second a more generic one, are taken from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/networking).
For me, networking is a natural behavior: everyone is potentially a person of personal and/or work interest, and when you get to know people by talking and doing things with them you are doing networking. If there’s something that 12 years in the scout movement taught me is the sense of being part of a community: in the beginning you are in a group of children that are just there to play, but as you grow up with these people you learn to know yourself and them and you learn to help each other to reach determinate objectives that otherwise, as a single person, you couldn’t reach. This can easily be transposed to the concept of networking: you create relationships with people to reach a goal and to help people that are part of your network to do the same, helping them with your skills.
When do we do networking?
Always: every human interaction we do online and offline is a way to do networking. I think that networking can be divided in two moments, both equally important:
– when we know someone new (which is necessary to broaden the network).
– when we deepen the relationships with people that is already in our network (which makes the network stronger).
How do you do networking?
I usually do networking the “offline” way: I know people and I try to know them better if i think they are interesting, they introduce me new people that are part of their network and so on, the network expands by itself, and this increments the possibilites that anyone in my network has something interesting to offer and to do.
However, partecipating to this forum was the first time I used an online approach to do networking as I intended it before: as a way to reach a goal that you couldn’t reach by yourself. I came here, found many people that shared the same university and many interests with me (VERY important aspect to have possibilities from people of your network) and, above all, are here with the same purpose: to partecipate to the SVST. This is just an example of how having a common will to reach a goal with someone is the best way to do networking, and the relationships that you create to succeed are way stronger than many others.
What is important in the process of doing networking?
Before doing networking you have to ask yourself some questions:
– who am I?
– What can I offer to others?
When you have the answers, you’re done: the important thing is being sure of yourself and convincing about who you are, what you can do and why you enjoy doing it: people appreciate sincerity and propositivity, and you will be almost 100% sure that they will be part of your network.
Are there strategies that work better than other?
I think that any successful strategy is worth the other, I personally use the “carpe diem” one: if I have the possibility to meet and know someone that is potentially interesting and/or the possibility to go to an event of my interest (and of course there are high possibilites that I’ll meet people with the same interest), then I’ll most probably do it.
I hope I answered to everything!
Except the formal definitions i used answering the first questions, I preferred using a more personal approach writing this post because that’s what I would want to read from the others: I think personal examples make much more impact on who reads than formal defitions found on the web or anywhere else.
Launch done, on Italian Startup Scene
Hey all, Federico Somaschini CEO in Utrecht of the start up, is interested to a Tech Scout 2017 for his company ( they are in seed stage).
They are open to a Business developer (good if event ticketing exp) to scout possible SV links or an AI tech fond to engage more permanently in the company ( now based NL and Italy).
A Good first link for the Scout in the Valley will be Marco Palladino – Mashape Cofounder, good friend of Federico since teenage.
Duration: from the minimum SVST time (1500 Euro coverage) up to more, tbd with the candidate. Federico will be in San Francisco on September 11 for TechCrunch Disrupt
They wait from me the CV’s interested in, than possible Skype call. Confirm yr interest, if applicable to you
@paolomarenco Thanks for the advices. I find myself interested in AI. You already have my CV but if you’d like to send it to Skydreamer, please attach also my paper (you can find it here http://bit.ly/2o8fYwE) on AI and neural networks for robotic navigation.
@pietromarenco Hi Pietro, I always had a hard time defining what Networking is and means, anyways, here is what I think of it.
Q1: Networking is in general the activity related to connecting different points. In this particular case, each point in the net is a person and each link is a relationship. In the context of jobs and work, a relationship is not necessarily associated with friendship, but surely involves amounts of emotional intelligence. Two steps are fundamental: 1) getting to know other people and environments; 2) let other people know you better.
Q2: Being a working student employed in centers with a huge number of interns, I usually network during 1) lunchtime in the canteens, 2) conferences and talks held in different auditoriums, 3) university-related events (e.g. hackatons). I also use LinkedIn, but for networking I prefer a face-to-face approach, as the emotional intelligence component is completely left out on social media. This is a step I want to underline, since I happened to meet a lot of people with awesome CV’s completely lacking of a friendly side being left behind because of their approach.
The end goal of networking is to improve the current (working, mostly) situation of an individual. An improvement is not necessarily related to revenues but also to the environment and the human realization in the job itself. It is hard to pursue an enhancement in one’s condition when he/she is not able to make feel comfortable everyone around them.Q3: Often it is just a matter of starting a conversation: from there one can find common topics of interest and start building a relationship. In general, I would say that every skill associated with public speaking and self-confidence is key when networking, as by definition you will be talking with strangers. Attending conferences is, in particular, a good way to do so, as other people attending will be interested in the same topic as yours. Moreover, many times buffet/aperitifs are offered before/after talks, which help encouraging a laid back environment.
Hey all, to start to go in the SV atmosphere join https://www.meetup.com/it-IT/Access-Silicon-Valley-Milan/events/238097898/?eventId=238097898
many webinar free, this is the next today.
@paulomarenco, I am also interested in AI, so you can send them my curriculum… At least I hope to have as many contacts with any of the companies that are interested to understand better how tech scouting works and what do companies expect from us…
I also have seen on techscoutsv.com that there are some companies that supports the tech scout project. Does that means that they are also interested in looking for scouts or are they just supporters for the project itself?
@Carlos do you have already competences on AI? they look for some a bit expert.
In techscoutsv.com you find all the companies that supported in the past.
We have to enlarge the demand…as we did with Facebook ISS post..But you can promote also by yourselves with CF Campaign as Andrea Porcello and Francesco Traversa teams did in the past from Torino, also with our support
@paolomarenco unfortunately I don’t… It’s the field of computer science that I’m interested in studying, but for now I don’t have any experience…
Can we already start our crowdfunding campaign as we are all eligible or do we need to wait for your response after receiving all of our curriculums?
@all and Carlos
Selection. On Saturday 1st after the CV deadline you ‘ ll receive here the eligibility list for Svst. From April 2 you could start your funding Search. I’ll be with you with tailored actions ( like the ISS post)
Hey all, here is the eligibility list for SVST 20171 Filippo Galli (PoliTO)2 Carlos Martinez
3 Riccardo Ferrero Regis
4 Federico Landorno
5 Gabriel Gatu
6 Lorenzo Bersano
7 Leonardo Falcioni
8 Enrico Mosca
9 Fabio Ceresa
10 Majstorovic Nemanja
11 Lorenzo TabassoThis means that you can start search for funding ( CF, tech scout…, family and friends).A few tips:1- passport to be done at soonest ( far from summertime…) http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/10902 -the flight cost is less if you buy far before the Tour. The cheapest last year was American Airlines from Venezia ( 8 Euro Flix Bus from Torino)…around 600 Euro AR3- Foreigners ( Not italian passport ) among u verify immediately how it works the touristic VISA from yr country to USA.4- The inscription fee to La Storia bnel Futuro – invoice 1500 Euro (plus IVA if to a IVA subject) – is due within July 31, 2017any other question Welcome!Here start the …cool story! 🙂[JOB REQUESTS – @LeadsBridge]
Hi guys, I’m sorry if I’m posting here a job request but Paolo said to me that here I can find only smart people 🙂
LeadsBridge (www.leadsbridge.com), the startup that I’m collaborating with since 1 and a half year, is searching for 1 Front-end and 1 Marketing figures to integrate into our fantastic team! We are a startup composed by 17 super smart people (bots are not considered ahah).
We are working remotely so time and organization are up to you: we simply give a goal to complete with a deadline decided together.
The startup is growing fast so we need you right now! 🙂 Don’t be shy and complete this form, we would like to meet you 😉Ah, I almost forgot: soon we’ll be moving our headquarter in SV, so someone could do the bis 😛
The form for the candidature is at the bottom.
Thank you very much for your attention!
For any questions, pls e-mailed me on muscogiuri.gabriele@gmail.com
Gabbo with love ❤️[Fron-end form]
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdTQU0m_YWAU4tXLx_yu3ozp941u41e6yFszquqOTlZCOdE1w/viewform[Marketing account form]
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjcN3L34ynxKKLSVnt9l4EkZ_oUJ3nEV_Y3kAPdflWeAv7Pg/viewformGood Gabbo!
for sure you will help the selected for yr team to attend the SVST 2017?? 😉
to produce other Gabbosss
@paolomarenco brilliant!
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