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The most common way the best entrepreneurs find their way into their networks is by succeeding without their help. The old VC strategy of just waiting around to pick off the winners won't work so well these days.

The idea that the best entrepreneurs are good at things like personal networking, or ladder climbing, is clearly false.

One example: Elon Musk didn't have the "hustle" to talk to anyone in the Netscape lobby, when he marched in there to get a job. He nervously stood around for a while and then went home in quiet shame. That's Elon Musk before you knew him.



Your anecdote mostly proves my point: Elon Musk marched into the lobby; everyone else stayed at home.


He's got more hustle than me --- I would have had the panic attack before I went out the door of my home to go the lobby.




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