Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Outside of a startup accelerator, how does one network with other startups?

One of the features of startup accelerators such as Y Combinator is that they allow you to connect your startup with other startups. These generally fall into what I think of as three “types”:

  1. Big - these are startups that have become well known in their particular fields and have widespread usage.
    • Examples:
    • Dropbox
    • Hipmunk
    • Stripe
  2. Upcoming - fairly known in some circles, usage is growing, as is interest.
    • Examples:
    • Algolia
    • Pushbullet
    • RethinkDB
  3. Beginning - not really known well, but have a ready MVP and are still getting their first few customers. No examples, since if I knew of some, they would be Upcoming by definition.

Now, outside of accelerators like this, how does one connect with startups in each of these categories?

This is how I see it with each of these:

  1. Big
    • Difficult to even get into contact with heads
    • What do they get from forming a relationship with you?
    • Approached by many, so if they haven’t heard of you, the signal-to-noise ration is very low
  2. Upcoming
    • Fairly easy to get into contact with heads
    • Yet again, however, what do they get out of it?
  3. Beginning
    • How do you even find them?
    • How do you figure out which ones are worth forming a relationship with?
    • If you’re not a customer, what are they getting from you?

Do correct me if I’m going about this the wrong way, but given these circumstances, how does one connect with other startups in each of these three categories?

Answer 1433

Have you tried a site like meetup.com? You can browse/join any number of groups that are hosting meetings related to any number of topics in a given geographic area. For example, I have found a growth hackers meetup in Palo Alto and have gone to a couple of their events which are great and attended by a hundred + entrepreneurs. If you can't find the perfect group, you should be able to make your own! Cheers.

Answer 1566

  1. Big

The only way this happened to me is someone introducing you to them. After the intro I like to schedule 30-60min mentoring sessions from these people, so I can learn from their experiences. Almost all of them accept this, go with your questions ready and take notes. If the next time you meet, you solved the problems you asked in your meeting, they will be happy to recommend you to investors/startups etc..

If you go to a networking event you have 20 people in line trying to meet them, so no luck. When they are "Big" they are kind of past the accelerator part, so no luck meeting them there. (Except Quora in YC case)

  1. Upcoming

I advise trending part in AngelList

Learn query searching in linkedin. Chances are someone in your network knows these startups and you can get introduced to them, you just have to know how to look for the ones you are interested in.
How to search on linkedin page
How to search on linkedin slideshare

  1. Beginning

Erik's answer, meetup.com . Entrepreneurs are usually filled with beginning startups with some upcoming that you can get in touch with. I would definetly recommend using them

All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.