This week I discovered the true story of Pejman Nozad, a ‘rugs to riches’ story of an Iranian immigrant rug dealer who became Silicon Valley’s hottest Venture Capitalist with a net worth of $50million. More on that in a moment.
How has your November kicked off? For Chris and I, we’ve been busy with both strategic and operational things, for example:
- firming up the scope of works and furniture order lists for some new SA units that will be coming online in the next couple of weeks
- progressing our recruitment conversations for an Operations Manager
- reviewing and finalising commercial lease documents
- resolving 2 guest lock out issues
- exploring conversations with some prospective new clients
What about on the learning side this week, what new learns stand out for you? If you don’t know the story I started referring to at the beginning of the post, it’s simply fascinating and I encourage you to read into it, meanwhile here’s the shortened version.
Pejman Nozad moved to California in 1992 with limited grasp of the English language and $700 to his name. He secured a job in a Silicon valley rug shop and began selling rugs in the area. A lot of these customers were venture capitalists and entrepreneurs and over time he began building a valuable network. He began connecting founding entrepreneurs with local VCs by inviting them to the rug gallery and generally being helpful to founders. He gradually started investing in his client’s companies and eventually convinced his boss to start a “tech venture fund” (with his savings and his boss’ investment).
Their fund became the first investors in Dropbox, Lending Club, SoundHound, Danger, Zoosk and others. Pejman Nozad is one of Silicon Valley’s greatest connectors, yet he doesn’t have the staple calling card of Silicon Valley. No M.B.A. No Ph.D. No “technical background whatsoever” (his words). Nozad’s path to Silicon Valley power broker — and VC investor with a net worth in the ballpark of $50 million — was a far simpler one: He sold carpets….and became an expert networker!
Here are Pejman Nozad’s six secrets for networking success, that helped him build a net worth of $50million:
#1 GIVE
Always be willing and eager to help others with an introduction or your time, and do not expect anything in return. Give first and don’t keep score.
#2 BE REAL
Be proud of where you came from and share your story with others. Be completely human and authentic. Zig Ziglar wisely said that, “If people like you they will listen to you but if they trust you they will do business from you.”
#3 COMPLIMENT
Compliment the achievements of those around you and do it with a genuine sentiment, and tie it to who they are deep down. People yearn for validation and recognition, and you can build great bonds by looking for those things that people feel proud of and pointing it out.
#4 DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND FIND COMMON GROUND
In conversations search for common ground. Even better, be prepared – take the time and interest to learn about the person you are meeting. When you do this finding common ground and making a connection is easy.
#5 USE YOUR NETWORK SPARINGLY
Use your network wisely and only at the right time, for the right person and for the right cause. Be careful , purposeful and intentional when making withdrawals from your relationship bank account. There is a time for requests and withdrawals but make it count.
#6 BE AUTHENTICALLY YOU, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE AND WITH EVERYONE
Don’t create walls between your personal and professional lives – it is one big network of people. We don’t need to exhaust ourselves being slightly different personalities between work, social and family. Be just as personally helpful and at ease with a work colleague as you would with a family member.
In closing we have a quote from Robert Kiyosaki – “The richest people in the world look for and build networks, everybody else looks for work.”
I hope this post proves helpful to you. Please share any of your networking success strategies for others to learn from here.
P.S. If you want to find out more about Pejman Nozad, here’s a couple of links:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriabarret/2012/03/21/silicon-valleys-hottest-vc-is-a-rug-dealer/#766094b231d5
https://medium.com/@pejmannozad/tech-s-most-unlikely-venture-capitalist-bb002488f297