Building a network of contacts is one of the most important things you can do. My friend Jusitn Beck did a great post about this here.  I agree with pretty much everything he said.  As for me, almost every job I have worked was a directly result of networking.  The only job that I got without “knowing someone” was my first job - cashier at Best Buy.

This post was inspired by what happened to me yesterday.  I went to a clean tech presentation given by the former CEO of Virent and the Current CEO of ZBB batteries, Eric Apfelbach. After the talk, I met an angel investor from Milwaukee and we talked about business, entrepreneurship, and GeoHuddle for almost 3 hours.  I don’t know if he will invest in GeoHuddle anytime soon, but he is a great contact to have and I am sure well be talking again soon.  It would have been so easy to leave when the presentation was over, or not to go at all. Bottom line: Talk to EVERYONE.  You never know who might be standing right next to you.