Managing inbound requests to meet up and help out fellow entrepreneurs is always an internal struggle for me. I want to help, but I’ve also found that the majority of the first-time meetings aren’t a good use of time. Personal referrals from trusted friends are always the best, especially when a Simplified One Page Strategic Plan is required prior to meeting (or paying it forward). Last week I heard a new idea: we can meet when you have two other people come with you that are committed to the startup.
Here are a few thoughts on requiring an entrepreneur bring two other committed team members as part of meeting:
- Convincing other people to join the startup requires leadership and passion — two critical traits of successful entrepreneurs
- Many meeting requests are an effort to validate the quality of the idea (which is bad to do), so having two other team members on board means that many potential employees/co-founders were already pitched, thus increasing the chance of a refined idea
- Involving two other people creates a greater level of seriousness and effort when compared to just kicking around an idea, thereby reducing some of the noise
The next time an entrepreneur asks to meet, tell them you’ll meet once they have two other people committed to the startup that will also attend the meeting — you might be surprised how many can’t meet this requirement.
What else? What are some more thoughts on the idea of requiring two additional team members come with an entrepreneur requesting to meet?
David Cummings on Startups 
This is actually pretty genius and simple. +1!
Thanks, I’m glad you liked it.
Also, I would encourage them to bring one of their top future stars so they are helping to mentor them in the process.
Great call. Mentoring future stars is critical.
Broadly speaking, I believe this is a very poor strategy and could harm early stage companies. While I respect good use of time, it’s critical that other team members be focused on their jobs, not group networking. Assuming the CEO and/or a founder has requested the meeting she might expect her committed team members be doing their job, just as she is doing in hers (investment, business dev, talent hunting, etc.). Again, across the board, I think this is a terrible use of time.
Reblogged this on Innovafrica.