As a first-time entrepreneur, I have been drinking from a firehose for two years now.  I still have a tremendous amount to learn, but I was thinking the other day about one thing that I have done since the beginning that has served me very well so far.  Since I know that there are many aspiring entrepreneurs thinking about heading down the same path, I figured I’d pass it along in case it is helpful to anyone.

It is a surprisingly simple piece of advice —- reach out to anyone and everyone that could be helpful to you.  I know this sounds like common sense, but I think the distinction is that it doesn’t matter if you know that person or not.   It doesn’t matter if you get a warm introduction or not.  And it doesn’t matter if they are a junior marketing person or the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. 

If you are passionate about what you are doing (and of course you are if you are starting a company around it), go out and let people know!  In our case, this could be the head of a major marathon; a partner at a tier one venture capital firm; an anchor on a major news network; the CEO of a major running shoe company; or the best software engineer in town.  If there is someone we want to talk to, we go talk to them.  Period.   And we do it relentlessly across all aspects of building the business.

Now, if you can get a warm intro, definitely take it!  And there is something to be said sometimes for laying low until you can put your best foot forward.  But the message of the day is simple —- keep moving!  And don’t let anyone stand in your way.  There are a whole lot of additional benefits that go along with getting out and having these discussions, but I’ll save those for another post.