Building a local reputation is kinda important…

I’ve been thinking about what it means to build social capital within one’s community.  For entrepreneurs, investors and service providers in any location, big or small, one’s reputation can mean the difference between getting funded or not, hearing about that next big deal or not, getting introduced to a prospective client… or not.

We all talk and we all talk about each other – it’s the way the world works in spite of our parents’ best efforts to prevent us from gossiping, spreading rumors, talking behind others’ backs.  To make things worse, efficiency in communication compels us to categorize people and benchmark them against an index of more widely known folks.  So what does this mean for individuals making their way through a clique-y (sp?) local ecosystem?  I don’t have all the answers, but a few classifications come to mind that you want to try to avoid being placed in.  Those include:

• That entrepreneur who seems to be onto some other deal every 6 months or so – but, oh man, this is the one, this is the one!
• That VC who tweets that a top tier VC firm just invested in one of his companies and that instantly means they will be the next Google
• That lawyer who takes advantage of the doe-eyed entrepreneur by selling them on a cadre of services they don’t need
• That entrepreneur who is awesome at raising capital, but lousy at building a business
• That VC who can’t say no so he wastes your time with words like “we’re still evaluating your deal”
• That entrepreneur who applies the scorched earth theory on their way out of the VC’s office – “you guys are idiots and you don’t get it.  We’re the next Microsoft!”
• That VC who doesn’t realize that building a start-up is a team sport
• That VC, entrepreneur, lawyer who’s a taker

And here are a few classifications you want to be a part of…

• That entrepreneur guy who seems to always get the best folks on his/her team
• That VC who rolls up his sleeves and works for his portfolio companies as if he was part of the mgt team
• That lawyer who works late to review a term sheet, attends your board meetings at no charge, who seems to be connected to pretty much everyone
• That entrepreneur who seems to handle every conversation with a potential investor with grace – so much so that investors who’ve said no kinda regret doing so when they see the entrepreneur’s reaction
• That VC who doesn’t brag about the last cool deal they did, but brags about the folks at the company who are making it happen
• That entrepreneur who has that right combination of courage, anxiety and patience
• That VC, entrepreneur, lawyer who’s a giver

This is a tiny subset of Goofus and Gallant classifications – feel free to add to, edit, or debate!

Stay tuned…