Getting high on my own supply

Getting high on my own supply

One of my biggest lessons after leaving American Express to start CB Insights was that a lot of external folks who were nice to me while I was at American Express fell off the map.

Folks who I thought were part of my "network" and who'd obviously help make this new venture successful.

Nada.

It retrospect, it made total sense tbh. I was being naive.

The reality was that what they valued about me at American Express was the the logo on my business card.

It was a hard (and good) lesson then that it’s easy to drink your own Kool-Aid, get high on your supply, etc (pick the euphemism that fits).

To think you're a bigger deal than you actually are.

BTW, this phenomena probably never goes away.

On this point, we used to ask people for their data when we started CB Insights many moons ago, and it was crickets.

Nobody responded because who the hell was CB Insights.

Once the newsletter and industry landscapes / market maps and rankings took off (especially our ranking of VCs with The New York Times (1), folks started asking how to give us data (2), (3).

Then things changed.

The reality is that CB Insights now has a tiny amount of influence in a small corner of the world via our research, the media attention our data gets, and our newsletter (522,000+ subscribers as of today) and so some people are nice/responsive to me again but this is temporary too.

And there is nothing wrong with this.

Enlightened self-interest is what makes the world go around.


Notes:

  1. Nothing gets VCs motivated like rankings :)
  2. You can submit your startup / investor data to us via the CB Insights Editor
  3. This is what folks refer to as data network effects. This has given us a huge advantage as far as proprietary data unavailable elsewhere.



Subhanjan Sarkar

Founder - Pitch.Link, Entrepreneur, Podcast Host, Author, Speaker

6 年

On a slightly different tangent, I believed this all along. There is a lot of talk about building trust and relationship in sales ( I am building a Buyer Seller Engagement Platform )? and I always maintained that buyers trust your brand not you. They are not looking to make friends (relationship) and have beer with you over the weekend. They want to solve their problems. Do you have the solution? Thanks for sharing Anand.

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Praas Chaudhuri

ArcInsight Partners, Strategy Advisory [ Industrial Autonomy | Intelligent Cities ] | Investor Emerging-Tech

6 年

A precious lesson. A lot of people mistake the halo of their jobs to be their personal? power. Hard lessons lie ahead when they lose their jobs or switch careers.

Ishaan 0x

Protocols @ EigenLayer

6 年

The power of brand names is an unfortunate reality in modern business; the best solution is to carve a niche and attract a cult-like following. CB Insight's newsletter (and social media presence) has certainly excelled in both of these areas.?

I'd prefer to Applause this vs thumbing-it-up -- or maybe Standing Ovation it. It's a hint of entitlement in us -- "I'm doing something great, we're building something great, so everyone will cheer us on, love us, and throw their whole support behind it" .... Nope. That has to be earned. And re-earned. And RE-earned. Bring value. Prove your worth. And then do it all over again. And THEN, maybe you'll get that pursued attention currency. (And even then, it's easy to deplete it so the cycle of providing value, establishing brand authority and garnering respect continues on and on).?

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