Secrets to Entrepreneur Networking at Web 2.0 Expo

Larry Chiang gets invited to speak at schools that he could NEVER get into. His instructionally humorous posts will have you street smart by Tuesday. Harvard Business School’s paper, Harbus, featured him in a cover story that shares the same title as his NY Times bestseller,  “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“. If you liked, “How to Work a Room”, “What a Supermodel Can Teach a Stanford MBA” and “How to Man-Charm a Room“, you will love this deliciously naughy article, “Secrets to Entrepreneur Networking at Web 2.0 Expo“.
By Larry Chiang

New York NY– Nov 17th —
Start spreading the news because I am kicking ass today.

This blog is about addressing what they don’t teach or don’t stress enough at B-school. You know what they “don’t teach” because you’ve been faithfully reading my stuff.

Here is what they don’t stress:  working an Internet conference as a sales minded founder.

Web 2.0 Expo is here and lets take that Web 2.0 conference badge and turn it into

a) money made from sales,
b) money saved from launch parties and promotions,
c) money made from inking deals and
d) money saved from guerilla conference promos.

How? Read on my entrepreneurial friend. Read on.

Here are 7 points you need to memorize, recite, execute and recite. In Chinese they call it “mueh shie” which means memorizing and recopying long passages. Discover your inner Asian and “mueh shie” these seven.

-1- Jerry Maguire It.

Any conference worth attending is worth attending for money. Maguire walks an 8 year veteran Rod Tidwell through the NFL expo floor the night before the draft. He does this to sell Tidwell to sponsors like Cole Haan, Nike and PF Chang’s.

-2- Birds of a Feather.

Sure birds of a feather flock together, but people in bed together stay if the money is right. Think about it.

-3- Sulley Knows Mentors Are Everywhere

Sulley the Monster had mentors in his movie Monsters Incorporated. Can YOU recall even one? I can name five.

You don’t go from scarer to top scarer to CEO without a lot of help from mentors. Sulley’s superstar mentor (Waternoose), cohort mentor (Mike Wisowski, Eli and Jen Tilly), junior mentors (maintenance crew), competitor mentor (Randall) and baby mentor (Boo) got him to the top with a new business model to boot (the change from scaring to laughing).

Go back and effen see the movie.

-3b- Captain Sulley to the Rescue.

Sulley the hero captain that landed a plane in the Hudson River had mentors too. Before he safely ditched his US Airways plane into a river and saved 142 people, Sulley learned from mentors.

At Web 2.0 Expo, mentors are everywhere so cowboy up and man-charm one.

-4- Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook the Speakers

Combine pre-conference homework AND crashing the green room and you’ll be a huge hitter like me in no-time.

Before GaryVee’s keynote, I got four minutes of one-on-one time in a video interview in the SXSW green room (no they weren’t checking badges ;-). Once the madness starts, access to stars and celebs grinds to a halt.

NOTE: I did have a badge because I was on a panel.
NOTE: I wasn’t just on a panel, I was moderating one.
NOTE: if you’re not crashing a party that you’re hosting, you’re not a tier one celeb rising. Noodle on that. Crashing your own party where YOU are HOSTING is the absolute most genius thing you can do.

-4b- Crash Stuff Even if You’re a Dual HBS GSB Admit

Never give me a legit pass because I’ll obliterate/decimate the field that legitimately attends.

Future case studies:
Lower US House of Congress. Year 2022.
HLS. Harvard Law School. Class of 2015

-5- Report All Conference Donkeys

A conference donkey is a person who is mean, viscoious or rude at a conference.

If you see it, report it. I’ll make them famous.

-6- Tap Asse9.

Asse9 is ‘Austin Secret Society of Entrepreneurs’. It is a secret society and all you need to know right now is it is about mentorship and fun parties. #asse9 on your iPhone’s Summize app if you’re curious. No, you can’t find us on Google and we do NOT have a webpage.

#larryChiang is some go no-where Twitter Craze popular in pockets of Palo Alto and Austin. Tapping Asse9 is fun and profitable. YES, we are meeting up in NYC at the Westin on Nov 17 at 7:00pm and also at 8:15

-7- Be My Plus One.

I am notorious for being allowed a ‘plus one’ or +6. Its not because I’m a celebrity. Its because my “+1s” are better than me.

I’ve a stellar track record and have wrangled in tier one celebrities. Be part of my entourage by telling me why you wanna attend Web 2.0 Expo in an email to larry@larryChiang dot com or in the comments below.

-7B- Free Real World Advertising.

At my afterparties I promote start-ups. It is where we launch a bunch of companies guerilla style. We are charging companies a deposit of $150. If you company shows up, you get your $150 back.

My Official Web 2.0 AfterParty http://www.duck9.com/16

Web 2.0 Expo will be awesome so come by and “learn how to work a room” with me or just “man-charm” my crew.
*****
Good luck working it and crash my Sundance AfterParty on January 23rd.

If you liked this, you may also check: Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983.

I wrote this in 40 minutes. If I missed something, email me… larry @larrychiang dot com and include your cell in the subject line.


I started the credit company that changed an industry. Before credit card companies used to screw college students. Now, it still does…, but just a little less.

Yes, I plan on doing this college marketing job until 2069 (I’ll be 90 then 🙂 Text or call me during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes on my cell: 650-283-8008.