Attending a start-up Event is always fun, you get to meet a lot of people and have some memories you can cherish. Have you been to a start-up event recently? I am sure you must have encountered few characters who made your day!. How you dealt with them? I have curated a list based on my experience, hope you add more!
- The Billion dollar Idea guy –They are working on a big idea which will surely change the world, but they don’t want to disclose it. You are eager to know more about the idea! Come on, you will hear about it soon in prime-time news, if you press for more information they will say its something similar to Whatsapp. Meet them again in 6 months, chances are they are still working on a Billion dollar idea, but its different this time. What happened to your previous start-up (Idea)? Larry Page saw it in his dream and has stolen it, now its already in the market, so no point reinventing the wheel. After all, Failing fast is new Mantra, right? You don’t need a strategy to deal with them, just ask them more about the previous failures and they will start avoiding you.
- The Guy in stealth mode- Yes, They are working on an idea (Of course, Billion dollar), they are here on a mission i.e. Looking for a CTO, Investor who can put few millions, or to hire great coders. They want you to ask more about their idea, they will hide more than what they disclose, just like Bikini Babe on a beach. Avoid them politely if you can.
- Omnipresent guy- They are at every event which ends with a cocktail dinner or lunch. They either managed their entry free of cost or are sponsored by their company. They are there for different reasons, and waiting for the beer serving to start. They are simply not bothered about you and you don’t need to worry about them unless you are hosting the event.
- Know everyone types- They have connections in all pockets, investors in left, good developers and engineers in right, the accelerators and mentors in the front. You want to be connected to Mark zuckerberg or bloom ventures, drop them a note with request.They have a great first impression, and you will be surely lured into writing a mail for the first time, wait endlessly or keep following up for “the connection” as they are busy.
- The hunter- Yes, they are on a hunting mission. They need to meet everyone. They are the easiest to handle. Just shake hand, listen to their introduction, take their card politely and they will move on.
- The valley returned- Its written on their face, their accent is quite hard to decode unless you watch a lot of Hollywood movies. Speak to them if you can hide your sarcastic smile! Everything good happens in a valley, its a coincident that they are born here. They prefer a group of 4-5 audience when they are sharing their story about how they met Whatsapp founder when he was looking for a job!
This post was originally posted on Linkedin and reproduced here.