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.

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’ combines schedule-sharing tool Plancast with CRM platform Salesforce. Plancast is like a Twitter for schedules, allowing users to broadcast their plans and subscribe to the feeds of other users. Plancast currently is dominated by tech events, providing great business development opportunities for people in the sector. A Plancast integration with Salesforce’s CRM platform would allow Salesforce users to find events that valuable contacts are attending.

User Experience: I would sign in to Salesforce, buy the Plancast app from the appexchange. Salesforce would automatically import my current Plancast subscriptions, after which I would set up a list of companies and individuals that I wanted to do follow. Salesforce would use Plancast data to create a schedule of events based on my list. Salesforce could tell me of possible connections with individuals in organizations by matching our Plancast accounts. I could set up custom alerts to notify me of ‘hot events’ where a high volume of targets will be attending, or I could track where my competitors were going to make sure I had a presence at those events.

Monetization: A Plancast app developed on the Force.com platform would be a valuable premium feature for biz-dev and sales professionals in the tech/new media space. Plancast could sell it in Salesforce’s appexchange to monetize the service. Plancast would remain free, but aggregating the data and combining it with Salesforce’s robust CRM would be extremely valuable to biz dev, and sales departments.

Thanks for reading. To hear what I have to say in bite size chunks, follow me on Twitter. If you have any integration suggestions, leave them in the comments below or email me.

As I go to events and visit startups, I’m amazed at the innovation and insight emanating from New York based entrepreneurs. With the decade coming to a close, I have a few resolutions NYC startups should follow to continue building the infrastructure for a successful startup ecosystem.

The NYC Startup Community:

1. “…will create products that appeal to more than just geeks.” Too many tech companies create products by geeks for geeks, limiting their potential userbase  and chances for survival. The beauty of a company like Etsy is that it built a tech company with a vibrant developer community around a marketplace for handmade items. According to CTO Chad Dickerson, Etsy developers are mostly boyfriends and husbands of Etsy sellers, increasing sales of low-tech handmade products by creating hi-tech but easy to use tools (one example is the Colormatch app by Olive Street). Many people turned their hobbies into small businesses using Etsy, a prime example of creating technology products for non-techie users. Lets hope we see more Etsy’s sprouting up this year.
2. “…will continue to treat our users as partners.” When Foursquare started allowing its most dedicated users to merge duplicate venues, CEO Dennis Crowley claimed, “it took less than 2 hours for users to go thru 90% of our merge queue.” Foursquare has been growing at such a prodigious rate because its users feel like their a part of a community. Why else would they spend so much time interacting with the service? While badges and mayorships offer small payoffs for their users. there is a big payoff in terms of user engagement. I anticipate we’ll see more and more successful businesses built on the blood, sweat and tears of their users
3. “…will create and expand open platforms.” Union Square Ventures managing partner Fred Wilson has said numerous times, “3rd party devs will show you the way.” By creating open platforms with read/write APIs, companies can continue innovating while focusing on their core products. Twitter has shown that small development teams can create dynamic products with compelling features. Many of these features, my favorite being Twitter lists, have been integrated into the core service. Boxee is another example of a strong 3rd party developer community, giving content providers from MLB.TV to Suicide Girls the capability to develop their specific applications while Boxee focuses on the platform. I can’t wait to see what the development community comes up with next.
4. “…will nurture fledgling members of the community.” One of the things I’ve noticed about the New York scene is how approachable and helpful its members are (Sam Rosen wrote a good blog post on this subject). The same way we need open platforms to spur innovation, we also need an open culture to nurture fledgling entrepreneurs and companies. The NYC Startup community communicates and works together, promoting each other’s offerings and providing excellent feedback. A bootstrapping entrepreneur with an pre-alpha product can approach the CEO of a $50 million company and solicit advice without feeling like they’re imposing. I’d like to personally thank Fred Wilson, Charlie O’Donnell, Dennis Crowley, Justin Shaffer & the guys at Hot Potato, Spencer Richardson, and all the other members of the New York startup community who have taken the time to speak with me this year.

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.