|
For those outside the services world, here’s what a “networking” Zoom often sounds like: Them:
“Hi, nice to meet you. What do you do? Cool. Anyway, I provide [insert product/service]. You should tell all your clients about me. If anyone signs, I’ll pay you 10%.”
Me:
“I don’t do paid referrals. And unless a client specifically asks for what you do and I know you’re good, I’m not going to send you business. We just met.”
Them: 🤯
This happens to your customers too. When people “pitch slap” instead of building trust, they push prospects away. I’m no salesperson, but as a human who sells and is sold things, this is my playbook- When you’re tempted to pitch, remember:
Most importantly: Respect boundaries. Because if you can’t network with basic social awareness… Why would anyone trust you with their business? Your Daily CFO, Lauren |
CEO-turned-CFO & finance instructor, Lauren Pearl, drops a daily tip that helps startup founders grow their businesses and control their destinies. Learn why this growing list with a 60% open rate led to LP being named top 25 Finance Thought Leader and host of the #3 CFO podcast for 2025
Recently, I read a comment from a startup advisor peer about the lack of women in VC-funded startup leadership. Essentially: "Maybe this is just a product of preference. Maybe women are just more risk-averse. And maybe men are simply dumb enough to try." While framed as flattery, it disguises something ugly- It’s a tidy explanation for the funding gap That promotes a dangerous narrative Which is also - blatantly - wrong. Women do start venture-backed companies - many of them. About 1 in 5...
AI is supposedly making us faster. In conversations with founders and engineers, I’m hearing the same story: Prototypes that once took weeks now take days. Code that required whole teams now gets drafted in an afternoon. Experiments are cheaper, iteration is faster, and the barrier to entry for creating new products has never been lower. But speed in one part of the system often exposes constraints elsewhere. Recently, I’ve been reading Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s new book on...
The junior employee who says: “Managers are a complete waste of money - they just sit around doing nothing while others work.” The first-time founder who says: “Big-firm lawyers are a total rip-off. I’m paying $700/hour for a contract that should just be a free template.” The nursing student who says: “Ugh, doctors don’t know ANYTHING.” The independent consultant who says: “Those jerks at McKinsey are a scam. People pay them millions and all they do is create a PowerPoint and walk away.”...