Wavelengths
A tale of two meetings
In the last couple of weeks I had coffee with two people, one after another, who were introduced by the same friend.
The first was terrific — our conversation left me feeling enthused, lighter, smarter, more determined and energised. We both felt this way, said so at the time and in follow up emails since. The perfect result. This person is one I’d happily spend much more time with and someone I want to help and contribute to even if (or rather with the explicit expectation that) nothing comes back to me (but if it does then even better).
The other meeting was 45 minutes I'll never get back. I took the meeting because the other person was keen to connect but, and I know I made up half of the people there, the time was filled with them name-dropping and sharing not-so-subtle hints about money that were meant to make me think this was a major player. The thing is, many of the things they said just didn’t add up. The late, great, Murray Walker came to mind. When asked about his own motor racing career he said, “Those who can, do, those who can’t talk about it”.
I sort of knew
I’m all for meeting random people, and I still want to. After all, I’ve become good in-real-life friends with people I’ve met on Twitter, invested in friends-of-friends and recently met someone in-real-life whom I’d first connected with in a Web3/Crypto Discord channel (it was rather amusing waiting in King’s Cross and suddenly realising I didn’t know if this person I was about to meet was male/female/other, I didn’t even know their real name).
The other thing about that wasted meeting was that I sort of knew — I had a feeling the person was a ‘taker’, there for what they could get rather than give. Should I have shortened the meeting, come up with an excuse and called it to an end early because it wasn’t going anywhere? This might have appeared rude so I didn’t, but in the days after the meeting there’s been no follow up at all so perhaps I could have done something.
Any suggestions gratefully received.
In other news
Contribute, Learn & Invest. I’ve mentioned before that when I invest in a startup I syndicate the deal with others. Well, I’m gearing up for what I hope will be my next investment so if you’re interested in learning more about my syndicate hit reply to this email and I can share the details.
In brief, here’s the deal:
The syndicate is £1k to join (a one-off, lifetime membership fee — no ongoing fees).
If you decide to invest in a deal then the minimum investment into each opportunity is £10k per person (we’ve had between £10k and £200k per person).
As syndicate lead I get 10% ‘carry’ on any gains if there’s an exit.
Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk