One of the things entrepreneurs always ask me is how to gain access to high value people and keep them engaged. If you’re smart and knowledgable you can usually network your way into a meeting with anyone in the startup world. While these activities shouldn’t involve a telephoto lens, you do need to perfect the art of almost stalking.

1. No answer means try harder: If you want to meet somebody, then a lot of other people probably want to as well. I’ve hear entrepreneurs say countless times, “I emailed him but he didn’t respond.” 

So?

 If somebody doesn’t respond, email them again…And again. People who receive a high volume of email might not respond on the first try. Until you’ve received a no, you haven’t received a no. Mark Suster wrote an amazing post on how to connect with high volume people that you should read.

2. People who broadcast their location and plans: If an investor puts on Plancast that they’re going to an event, they shouldn’t be surprised about getting pitched. If you want to meet someone, monitor their Twitter and Plancast accounts and show up. If they’re speaking at an event, you should go. It’s easy to ignore an email.  but it’s much harder to ignore somebody in person. 

After having a great meeting, a person who later became a member of Standard Start’s advisory board didn’t return a few of my emails requesting a second meeting. After seeing him tweet that he was going to the Public Enemy show at Summer Stage. I hauled ass over there, found him in line, set up the meeting and left him alone. That Friday he joined the advisory board. 

3. Find them on the interwebs: A great way to engage influentials is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, or wherever else they spend time online. Comment on their blogs, respond to their Tweets, talk to them in an authentic way that is more than just about business. If they Tweet about football or music, that’s the topic of conversation. 

It might seem disingenuous, but if you actually share these areas of interest it’s merely another means of forming a bond. Become engaged in their conversations and you become part of their community. It’s a lot easier to gain access from the inside.

4. Seek out their network: It’s hard to get high volume VC’s like Fred Wilson or Mark Suster to respond to pitch emails, let alone take a meaningful interest. Many investors and high value individuals tell you they only take intros from members of their network. This means you might need to get to know someone else to move on to the main prize.

Figure out your target works with and who they talk to online. Try and seek out people who are less prominent than or junior to your target but still close with them. If you form a bond with them, they will usually be happy to provide a warm introduction.  Finding founders from an investors portfolio is an especially good way to get a meaningful intros. 

This guide does not encourage actual stalking and/or harassment. You MUST be mindful of when you’re being annoying and fake. Remember that being respectful is incredibly important as you are trying to connect with people. 

Google Buzz is basically friend feed, but with a bigger installed user base via Gmail. Google Buzz is a good real-time conversation tool, it just happens to be copied pretty directly from Facebook and Friendfeed. One problem I am having with Buzz is the inability to hide/minimize conversation threads. These threads can get pretty long, so a minimize feature would be handing in sifting through updates. There’s also no Facebook integration, which neglects a vital element of the social graph. Buzz is Google’s third attempt at social networking but, while I think it will be more successful than Orkut or Wave, I don’t think Twitter or Facebook will be threatened by Buzz. Google should just buy Twitter and stop trying to develop something in-house.

As the new year is upon us, I figured I’d try to take a guess at the new year’s resolutions from some companies in the tech community. These resolutions are completely fictional and for your entertainment.

1. AT&T says, “We will stop dropping calls.” I returned my iPhone because calls were constantly getting dropped and I couldn’t get 3G service downtown. No voice or data coverage makes it an iPod Touch guys.
2. Boxee says, “We will get HBO, Showtime, and the NFL package on Boxee.” Boxee is awesome and makes me want to drop my cable package, but I love Californication, Entourage, and NFL Football. If I can buy premium services a la carte from Boxee, I will ditch my set top cable box. Content providers, please give Boxee a hand. (that means you too Hulu!)
3. Apple says, “We will improve transparency and stop taking so long to approve apps.” As I speak to many entrepreneurs, their biggest complaint is with the app approval process. The lack of transparency makes launching a product difficult. You can’t orchestrate proper press coverage because you don’t know when the app will be pushed to the app store. It also means that if there’s a bug in the app, even a mere three lines of bad code, developers have to wait for several weeks to push an update.
4. Facebook says, “We will improve the Android app so it’s as good or better than the iPhone app.” I use Facebook less and less, one of the main reasons being the Android app doesn’t include a number of features like events that I would use on my Droid. The mobile website isn’t the same, even with touch screen support.
5. Spotify says, “We will launch in the U.S.” I want on-demand music, and Spotify users abroad have been buzzing about the service. Pandora and Last.fm are good, but Spotify is the promised land for music lovers. Spotify is worth the premium subscription, especially if they figure out some magic to make it work in the Subway.
6. Netflix says, “We will bring ‘Watch Instantly’ to your mobile phone.” Netflix has recently been emphasizing the ‘Watch Instantly’ option, which I now use more regularly than cable to watch movies. I would love to use Netflix to kill time between meetings, in the airport, or in a taxi. I’d pay for that app.
7. Palm says, “We will get acquired by Microsoft.” Web OS is awesome, but Palm is losing money and doesn’t have the muscle to make a big dent in the market. Windows Mobile is awful, Microsoft has a ton of cash, and integrating Web OS with Bing the way Google did with Android would help them become a bigger player in both mobile and search.
8. Twitter says, “We will monetize big time through our API.” I rarely travel to Twitter’s homepage, instead using Tweetdeck on my Macbook and Seesmic on my Droid. Twitter has already become profitable through search deals with Microsoft and Google, but adding an official sponsored tweet option integrated into the API would allow Twitter, as well as its user and developer communities, to easily profit off the Twitter ecosystem.
9. Foursquare says, “We will get Ashton Kutcher and Oprah to start using Foursquare.” As celebrities like Ashton and Oprah began their Twitter promotions in April, Twitter added 7 million new US users. The promotional power of celebrity users is enormous, something that could help Foursquare expand quickly beyond its current user base of 170k bleeding edge users. Imagine if Lady Gaga started started tweeting out her checkins, how many of her 2 million plus fans would join?
10. Adobe says, “We will bring Flash to YOUR smartphone.” So many websites use flash, most smartphones don’t. Adobe has announced plans to bring Flash to most platforms in the first half of 2010, but notably absent in the list is the iPhone. Microsoft has introduced Silverlight support for the iPhone, so Adobe is already playing catchup. Either Adobe will work out their mobile web issues or web developers will abandon Flash.

Leave any comments or resolution suggestions in the Disqus comments below. I’ll be doing my own resolutions for the startup community tomorrow.  Thanks guys, Happy Holidays!

Note: ‘The Integration of the Day’ is where I take two or more web services and create a HYPOTHETICAL integration. This is not an announcement or breaking news, just the thoughts of a fellow entrepreneur. I’d like to thank Charlie O’Donnell (check out his blog) for the idea.

Today’s “Integration of the Day” is a pairing of business oriented social network LinkedIn with daily deal site Groupon. With over 45 million users, LinkedIn is a large community of affluent professionals with considerable buying power. While profitable, LinkedIn only monetizes its members through display advertising and premium subscription fees. Groupon’s daily deal scheme requires a minimum number of purchases before the discount is available. Groupon users share the deals on Twitter and Facebook. The time and volume restrictions have been incredibly successful monetizing users personal networks, with Groupon projecting $100 million in revenue for the year 2010. Imagine if they could create deals to harness LinkedIn users’ professional networks.

User Experience: I install the Groupon application on my LinkedIn profile, checking for new deals everyday. I would find deals from LinkedIn users offering discounts on local enterprise services, for instance an IT consulting or accounting firm would give a 50% discount on a 20 hour package.  I’d check out the provider’s LinkedIn profile before making my purchase, reviewing recommendations and getting feedback on their work through mutual connections. If I decide to buy, I can then promote it through my network, sending out messages to individual LinkedIn contacts as well as tweeting out the offer. My purchase would also appear in my activity stream and in my profile.

Montetization: Groupon has previously worked to draw users to local consumer businesses, but expanding to enterprise sales could prove difficult on the local level.  A LinkedIn integration would allow Groupon to penetrate the enterprise market, opening up a potentially lucrative new revenue stream. Consultants and service providers could leverage their LinkedIn networks as a business development tool, using a Groupon sale to more efficiently lure in first time clients. Providers’ LinkedIn recommendations and connections would allow potential clients to vet them through the LinkedIn network, reducing the time it takes to find qualified consultants. LinkedIn would open up another revenue stream while increasing user engagement as service providers augment their profiles to  utilize the network for business development purposes.

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Note: ‘The Integration of the Day’ is where I take two or more web services and create a HYPOTHETICAL integration. This is not an announcement or breaking news, just the thoughts of a fellow entrepreneur. I’d like to thank Charlie O’Donnell for the idea.

Today I’m proposing an integration of Foursquare with Fandango. Foursquare is a mobile application that allows users to “check in” at venues, streaming their whereabouts on Foursquare as well as on Facebook and Twitter (for more of an explanation check out this NY Times article). Foursquare has become a great customer rewards and viral marketing tool for nightlife venues, allowing me to see what my friends are doing and check out their recommendations. While Foursquare is a great social recommendation platform for venues, it is less helpful for movie suggestions. I can see when friends check in at, rate, and promote movies. Foursquare’s Facebook and Twitter  a movie theater, but not what movie they’ve seen or their thoughts on the film. An integration with Fandango would make the process of choosing a movie much easier.

User Experience: When I check in on Foursquare at a movie theater, I am given a list of movies and showtimes from Fandango to pick from. After the movie I can go to Foursquare, rate the movie and give a brief review. As I check in to films and rate them, I’d earn different badges. Frequent movie goers would receive film lover badges, while reviewers would get film critic badges. With these badges I would receive discounts on movie tickets, concessions and other related items. Friends can browse my movie list, and if they are interested can follow a link to a Fandango page where they can find nearby show times and buy tickets. My brother in California sees I checked in to see “Precious” last Friday, reads my positive review after the film, then follows the Fandango link to buy tickets.

Monetization: Social marketing is essential part of movie promotions, as individuals rely less on professional reviews and more on personal recomendations. A Foursquare/Fandango integration would allow Foursquare users to drive traffic to theaters in real-time. Foursquare’s gaming system will incentivize users to check-in at, rate, and promote films in order to earn the associated badges and discounts. Foursquare users broadcasting to their networks on the app as well as on Twitter and Facebook would be an excellent tool to drive traffic to Fandango. Discounts, gift certificates, and exclusive screenings passes could be awarded to power users to reward them for their viral marketing efforts. Fandango would see increased ticket sales as well as being rewarded with an abundance of valuable user data which they could use to more effectively market films. Foursquare would receive a fee from Fandango for every ticket purchase, as well as expanding its appeal amongst an older demographic who might not go barhopping on a Saturday night but regularly attends movies.

Thanks for reading. I’d love to hear your comments, so please do so below using Disqus. Send me integration suggestions at integrationoftheday@gmail.com.

Note: ‘The Integration of the Day’ is where I take two or more web services and create a HYPOTHETICAL integration. This is not an announcement or breaking news, just the thoughts of a fellow entrepreneur. I’d like to thank Charlie O’Donnell for the idea.

I wanted to start ‘The Integration of the Day’ off with New York startup Hot Potato. Hot Potato is a mobile application that allows users to post comments about and photos from an event. As an event-based conversation platform that integrates with Facebook and Twitter, Hot Potato is a great place for musicians to reach engaged fans whether they’re at a concert or following it at home. While displaying fan messages on the stage is fun and increases engagement, how can you monetize that engagement? That’s where Amazon comes in.

User Experience: I’m at a concert posting and following the conversation on Hot Potato. At the top of the screen is the name of the artist and the song that they’re playing with a link to purchase and download in the Amazon Music Store. I can even buy tracks recorded at the concert, downloading once its mixed. I can browse tracks and artist merchandise through an Amazon concert storefront, sharing my purchases on Twitter and Facebook.

Monetization: The monetization here is simple. Hot Potato, Amazon, and the artist all take a cut of each sale. By making it easy for fans to buy music they’re listening to at that moment will increase impulse purchases. Impulse purchases of other merchandise will also increase if fans can skip the lines and enjoy the concert. Hot Potato enables bands to monetize concert audio by selling it to people following from home.  The integration also allows artists to leverage the networks of Hot Potato users.  As people see the purchases of their friends on Facebook and Twitter, they can follow an easy link to the Amazon storefront.

I hope you all enjoyed my first ‘Integration of the Day’. If you have any ideas for integrations, send me an email at integrationoftheday@gmail.com.