

Connections don't build things - intenex
http://benyu.org/connections-dont-build-things

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dlss
This is a peculiar essay. I think if you're going to debunk an old saying, you
first have to have an appreciation for why existed in the first place. What
was running through the mind of the person that originally came up with it.

So, before I reply to the essay, I'd like to share what I think "it's not what
you know, it's who you know" is trying to say. I think similar to the old IBM
quote, "nothing happens until a sale is made" – maybe something like "it's
pretty hard to do something meaningful on your own."

Now, I agree the strongest form of these statement is no longer valid. Before
the Internet, someone stranded in the middle of nowhere who knew a lot of math
would have no way of knowing about the great areas she could apply her skill.
These days that is less true, although I do think that being surrounded by
other bright people facing similar problems (as the author is in the case of
Harvard and the Theil fellowship) is probably better than just having an
Internet connection.

For a more personal example, I be willing to bet that the vast majority of
people reading this found their current profession via word-of-mouth. A
friend, family member, or teacher showed you programming long before you were
making connections via open application. (This is almost surely true in for
OPs case).

Even in the case of open applications, who you know is still very important.
Something like 80% of all hires come from networking.

So I think the point the author is trying to make is a very limited one: in
markets that are dying for talent, talent can sometimes trump connections.

(Though with the big caveat that if you have very few connections you would
almost certainly earn far more, and do far more good, if you spent some time
making connections)

On second thought, maybe all the author is trying to say is that once you have
connections, it feels like connections don't matter.

~~~
fyi80
Indeed, Chesterton's Fence fallacy:

Don't ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up. G. K.
Chesterton English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936)

<http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/32943.html>

------
azov
Wow, look at all the criticism! I think the OP is making a valid point, and
I'd like to throw my $0.02 in support.

Look, there are two crowds in Silicon Valley. First are the people who seem to
collect connections almost as if it was some sort of competetive sport. They
know everyone, they join every social network and have thousands of friends,
they go through a full box of business cards in three days, attend every
networking event imaginable, entrepreneurship seminars, startup parties,
meetups, hackathons, you name it... I admire their social skills, but I'm
barely aware of what they actually do outside of growing their networks - all
they talk about are the events they've been to and people they've met.

The second crowd actually builds things. They are of course doing some
networking, but they seem to stick to the essential minimum and don't play the
"who's got the fattest rolodex" game. They also seem to somehow know each
other, but not the people from the first group :)

Of course connections are valuable. But not so much if the only thing you
build is your network!

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freework
Being someone who has a lot of technical skills, and not a lot of networking
skills, I like what this guy is saying. Unfortunately, the reality is if you
have lots of technical skills, but you don't know anyone, you get nowhere. If
you have no technical skills but have lots of connections, you will still have
a successful life in this industry. I can't tell you how many people I've
worked with over the years who completely had no idea how to build stuff,
despite their 15+ year career in the Enterprise.

Personally, if I could trade in all of my technical skills for "hustling"
skills, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
It sort of flies in the face of all of common wisdom. The fact that this
person advertises as a Thiel Fellow makes the argument a little more hilarious
to me.

Why is that the common wisdom is to be in the Bay Area for startups? Is it
because paying obscene taxes, obscene living expenses, etc, etc is actually
beneficial to your business? No, so what is it then .... Oh. Exactly.

------
dmor
You miss the point. It isn't what you know, it's what you do with what you
know.

Lot's of people knew how to build Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook.

Trying to divide knowledge and hustle is a waste of time, you need both to
create value.

~~~
orangethirty
I disagree with the point that lots of people knew how to build Facebook. They
knew how to build social networks (as defined back then). No one knew how to
build it. Not even Zuckerberg. He knew he was onto something when it started
growing. Note that had he not been connected, Facebook would not exist as we
know.

------
krakensden
Connections are like a million other things that aren't shipping- useful,
good, but possibly a way to delude yourself into thinking you're being
productive when you're ignoring the hard things you should be doing.

~~~
mindcrime
What if "what you should be doing" is, or involves, business development,
prospecting for leads, selling, soliciting feedback from potential customers,
and/or raising funds?

Neglecting the importance of connections is silly... just as silly as
neglecting the importance of building a solid product. And that's really my
point here: this article seems to be hinting at a little bit of a false
dichotomy through quoting the old saw "it's not what you know, it's who you
know". Guess what, in the real world, it takes _both_.

I'm a software developer / hacker by trade, and my nature was such that I
rejected this thinking for a long time. I though that my knowledge, skills and
talent ought to be sufficient, without any need for "the old boys club". Now,
at the ripe old age of 39, I've realized that while you may not need to be an
"old boys club" insider to succeed, you almost certainly will need other
people on your side at some point... and that involves connections and
relationships.

Let me illustrate with an example... at Fogbeam Labs, we're building some
stuff that I think is pretty damn cool - an Open Source "Facebook for the
Enterprise" type package that you could think of as a competitor to Sharepoint
or Jive Software among others. Now this is an enterprise, B2B play, and sales
in this world is high-touch, and very human driven. So I drove down to
Charlotte two weeks ago to an NCTA meeting, to mingle and network with CIOs,
CTOs, VPs, and other decision maker types. There, I met a gentleman who runs a
firm here in the Triangle region, who has paying customers already (we're
still looking for our first "earlyvangelist" customer) who took an immediate
interest in what we're doing. After 10 minutes of talking, he's already
thinking of several of his customers that he can introduce us into. So we met
again this week so I could demo the stuff for him, and after an hour or so,
he's offering to introduce me to a number of potentially valuable connections,
introduce us into some of his existing customers, and even chewing on some
possible partnership scenarios between his company and ours.

I have to tell ya, if even one of these leads turns into something, it could
be a game-changer for us and really help us turn the corner.

So, had we not spent the past 2 years or so building our product, this would
all be moot. But if we build a product and never find anybody to buy it, the
whole thing is moot. So the point is, connections are absolutely valuable and
fostering those connections _is_ a high-value task that you should commit some
effort to. But it's not sufficient in and of itself. But neither is just
building a product either.

------
ziyadb
The OP is missing the point here, the entire saying rests on the presumption
that you have the necessary skill. As another saying goes, "luck favors the
prepared mind". Skill and ability are considered prerequisites to creation--
mixed with a little serendipity, and you'd be onto something.

[1] - the role of luck in scientific discoveries, applicable.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_of_chance_in_scientific_di...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role_of_chance_in_scientific_discoveries)

------
orangethirty
Connections do build things. They build trust when you are seeking investment.
They build customer bases when you are new to the game. They build cashflow
when you manage to sell to your network. Sure, they don't build the product,
but more often than not they define, buy, sell, and invest on it. A business
does not hinge on your ability to write code, but on your ability to sell it
(or find people to sell it for you (connections)).

------
swombat
Putting this better and more correctly:

It's not what you know _or_ who you know. It's what you know _and_ who you
know.

You can use one to boost the other, too, but both together are best.

------
dinkumthinkum
I think the examples here are pretty ironic. Facebook hinged on the technical
prowess of Mark Zuckerberg? I'm not sure I agree with that; this is not to
take anything away of course but I think the ability to build, especially the
early version of The Facebook, was fairly minimal and what mattered more was
the non-technical side.

Why even bother trying to "debunk" a simple piece of folk wisdom? In fact,
it's sort of a myopic debunking. No one that accepts the viewpoint expressed
by "it's not what you know, it's who you know" seriously thinks knowledge is
completely worthless. I just find this hard to take seriously.

It seems like a very sophomoric analysis of a folk "truism" that actually does
make a lot of sense despite the contradictory refutation here.

Now, is it also true that simply building up a lot of connections and not ever
doing anything is not going to get you anywhere? Sure, but that is a
caricature.

Next, we're going to see a big refutation of "Show me who you're friends are
and I'll tell you who you are." I'm on pins and needles. :)

~~~
nnq
Indeed, Facebook is probably the worst example ever for illustrating his
point! I'm not denying the technical skills of MZ, but really, it was 99%
about the right time, the right place, the need for it being already there,
people being already primed and wormed for the whole social networking
concept, the US college environment being good enough for spreading the
meme... any "a little bit better than myspace" execution would have been
enough to attract people, then the large enough user base would have been
enough to attract funding.

Actually I think Facebook was neither about who knew who (serendipity), nor
about the skills of the people involved (preparation) - I consider it like the
fuel being already piled up and all that was needed was the right temperature
and a spark _...or more like life appearing on a planet with the right
chemicals and conditions: it just fucking happens by simple laws of
probability governing chemical reactions (to develop this analogy further,
giving MZ credit for Facebook is just like inventing the concept of god and
giving him credit for life appearing on Earth!)_

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sherjilozair
This is offtopic. I've noticed several websites with this theme. Is there a
standard template available somewhere? I'm referring to the kudos widget, the
static left sidebar.

~~~
wylie
This is a blog on the Svbtle network: <https://svbtle.com>

------
vacri
The phrase isn't meant to be taken as a literal declaration, but that
connections keep the wheels of progress well-greased.

------
benched
This thesis is the kind that I might wish was true. And in select cases,
survivor bias has and will make it seem to be true for a lucky few. For most
of us, even finely honed skills built over decades will have very little
consequence unless somebody with a specific need for those skills meets us and
hires us. I'm out of stock on clever or inspiring ideas for apps, websites, or
revolutions. What I have are keen programming, debugging, and testing skills.
In a vacuum, without a job, that's a lot like _not_ having those skills. I
wish I had a lot more warm connections than I do, because going through the
interview process with new folks over and over is really a slog.

