Learning from others in meetings

In the past few years, I had spoken with 100s of founders, engineers, product leaders, marketers, and investors. I am excited about the variety of people I speak with. Each one brings unique perspective and depth from their area. There is a lot to learn from them.

There are two distinct groups that I have come to organize the people into. Some of the people are direct and voluminous in sharing their wisdom. Active listening with limited interruptions is good with this group. Others speak to the point answering questions that one may ask. With this group, I have to prepare and ask questions. Sometimes this may require multiple sessions. The goal for first session has to always focus on building rapport on the way to earning trust.

Two weeks back, I spoke with a founder. She had a mile long list of accomplishments from her corporate work and recently started a company. I was introduced to her by a friend. In my conversation, I had to ask her questions to learn more. For whatever reason we did not hit the stride in sharing our knowledge quickly and easily. Perhaps that was not a great day for the meeting. I walked away with little knowledge and satisfaction from the meeting.

In contrast, on Monday this week, I spoke with another founder. He is on the second year of his new venture after a 5 year corporate stint. He is bubbling with energy. He started out discussing the problems he saw in his area of operations – optimizing transport of goods. He gave a quick summary of the solution he is focused on. He is raising funds for his venture after bootstrapping for a year. His enthusiasm was contagious. His analysis of problems was great; at least it opens up the listener to learn more quickly. He was open to answering questions. We agreed to reconnect and check notes again. I walked away with enthusiasm and energy.

In all these, it is important to consider myself and my disposition too. I am always curious and interested in details. I also had learned to balance the curiosity with thinking about customers and market opportunities. I gravitate to people who can bring more energy and hence enable me to share energy as well. I look forward to connecting with more such people.