if your industry of interest is technical, one way I've found to get good insights and connections is to write the authors of papers you find interesting and as

if your industry of interest is technical, one way I've found to get good insights and connections is to write the authors of papers you find interesting and ask to learn more. showing appreciation and respect for their work, as well as letting your genuine interest show through, helps, as does starting a dialogue by providing some info that might be of interest to the author. influential researchers are often networking "hubs" and can often connect you with all sorts of other people in the industry on the other side of the industry spectrum, my girlfriend made candles as a hobby for a time, and we did market research by walking into random stores and talking to the managers. Was a fun way to spend an afternoon. Interestingly, we found that smoke shop owners were among the most interested customers