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Know rich people? They'll help you get rich too. What you may not realize is that everyone is knowable if you put enough effort into it. If you have no drive a

Know rich people? They'll help you get rich too. What you may not realize is that everyone is knowable if you put enough effort into it. If you have no drive and no talent, rich people won't be able to help you. There aren't that many driven and talented people out there, so if you're one of them, and you make an effort to meet rich people, they'll help you too.

axod 17y ago
I think the problem is that some people (Me included) would rather spend all energy making stuff people want, rather than schmoozing people who might buy you. But I do see your point.
- coffeemug 17y ago
  I think it's better to approach this from a different perspective. "Engineering relationships" doesn't work in general - if you approach people because you want something from them, they'll sense it very easily and push back. It's much better to approach people because you genuinely like them and want to learn from them. Many rich people have a ton of knowledge and experience that most of us don't, and it's genuinely interesting to learn from them. It's no good to expect anything, it's much better to try and learn from them just like from anyone else. If you approach it this way, it becomes an activity with very positive connotations, as opposed to schmoozing.
- nostrademons 17y ago
  If you spend all your energy making stuff people want, rich people will find you too. The problem is that making stuff people want is really hard, and usually involves going out and finding people that want stuff. If you have real traction - as in people are already buying from you, without you going out and selling them hard - rich people will be knocking at your door trying to get a piece of the action. But then, if people were already buying from you, why would you need rich people?
marshallp 17y ago
"There aren't that many driven and talented people out there" I beg to differ, if you assume that there are an equal distribution of talented/driven people, then how come there are more millionaires (talented people) in silicon valley than the rest of america, and america more than europe, and europe more than the rest of the world. More likely is that rich people are cliquey and luckier/lazier/less talented at spotting opportunity/investing than they give themselves credit for (otherwise you'd see a more equal distribution of investment to where the talent is).
- andreyf 17y ago
  Driven people go to SV because it's easier to find other driven people to work with there. PG says this explicitly quite often.

axod 17y ago

I think the problem is that some people (Me included) would rather spend all energy making stuff people want, rather than schmoozing people who might buy you. But I do see your point.

coffeemug 17y ago
I think it's better to approach this from a different perspective. "Engineering relationships" doesn't work in general - if you approach people because you want something from them, they'll sense it very easily and push back. It's much better to approach people because you genuinely like them and want to learn from them. Many rich people have a ton of knowledge and experience that most of us don't, and it's genuinely interesting to learn from them. It's no good to expect anything, it's much better to try and learn from them just like from anyone else. If you approach it this way, it becomes an activity with very positive connotations, as opposed to schmoozing.
nostrademons 17y ago
If you spend all your energy making stuff people want, rich people will find you too. The problem is that making stuff people want is really hard, and usually involves going out and finding people that want stuff. If you have real traction - as in people are already buying from you, without you going out and selling them hard - rich people will be knocking at your door trying to get a piece of the action. But then, if people were already buying from you, why would you need rich people?

marshallp 17y ago

"There aren't that many driven and talented people out there" I beg to differ, if you assume that there are an equal distribution of talented/driven people, then how come there are more millionaires (talented people) in silicon valley than the rest of america, and america more than europe, and europe more than the rest of the world. More likely is that rich people are cliquey and luckier/lazier/less talented at spotting opportunity/investing than they give themselves credit for (otherwise you'd see a more equal distribution of investment to where the talent is).

andreyf 17y ago
Driven people go to SV because it's easier to find other driven people to work with there. PG says this explicitly quite often.