

Ask HN: Avoiding entrepreneurial development events ok? - yesreally

I have a few friends that go to all of the meetups and seminars with entrepreneurial development organizations and related groups and try to get me to go, but I'm just not interested. I've been to enough to know that I'm not into networking in-person just for the purpose of networking. I can be outgoing, but I just don't tend to be. Why go waste your time meeting with people before you even have a viable product or service to be trying to drum up interest about, or if you just aren't "ready"? I understand that there is a lot to be gained from having relationships with various important people in the industry, but isn't there a lot to be lost also if you get the reputation for going to these things and having nothing to say to anyone? Isn't it ok to not waste your time with people and events that you just aren't interested in?
======
mkeblx
Obviously before these type of meetups entrepreneurs were successful in
creating companies so it's not a requirement. But there is a lot of value in
getting out there and interacting with people, it's only networking for
networking sake if that's how you approach it. A great time to talk about what
you're doing is exactly before you have an actual viable product. Personally
if I would have waited until everything was 'ready' I would have missed some
critical connections. The risks are zero (well the reputation thing could be
real, so have something to say), the potential reward is actually high.

~~~
yesreally
What is "something to say"? It sounds like it doesn't make sense to go unless
you have an idea or have something in the oven. Thanks for the input!

