meeting entrepreneurs

Filed in archive Entrepreneurship on July 8, 2004

Dispatches features good thoughts how important meetings between entrepreneurs really are:

"As my recent interview of Inc. 500 entrepreneur Andrew Field underscored, entrepreneurs' search for sources of expertise - in the form of an individual advisor or a peer group - is often driven by the perceived need to solve immediate problems. The logistical constraints and diverse makeup of Master Mind groups mean that peer feedback is typically more valuable for longer-term strategic issues than for shorter-term tactical problems. I think this is why "lack of time" is given as the primary reason for not participating in a Master Mind group. Entrepreneurs are so busy solving today's problem, it is difficult for them to value a forum for thinking more broadly about tomorrow's problems and opportunities."

"Second, even for those who do participate in Master Mind forums, the value of such forums waxes and wanes over time as a function of the experienced rate of change. In periods of little change, peer groups serve largely a social function. That's not to say that's unimportant, as evidenced by the study's conclusions above. However, entrepreneurs often have more than one purely social outlet that can substitute for the Master Mind groiup. When the pace of change picks up, however, the value of vicarious learning increases, as does the value of the Master Mind group. (As Field puts it, the ability to learn from others' bruises increases.)"

While I'm not a "meeting guy" and I try to discipline myself in meeting necessary to attend, I nearly always enjoy meeting other entrepreneurs and share ideas and try to make predictions which business models could take off and which not. It can look like a waste of time initially but during such a conversation in nearly all the time it paid off.