Networking in Miami - Don’t always have an agenda

I'd heard that Miami was the blockchain hub, so I took my custom sprinter van out of storage and hit the road. This is my first time in the sunshine state so I had no idea how the people will take to a nomad like me.

After 5 days of driving through 4 states, down the gulf coast through Panama City, Tampa, Clearwater, Sarasota and Naples, I crossed the everglades to finally see the Miami downtown skyline. I am leaving out all the fun travel stuff here because we are talking about building Velera.

There are two things that are of priority for Velera at this time. Finding a great legal counsel and acquiring some pre-seed funding, so I started attending relevant events. To my surprise, it was Miami blockchain week, and I had scored VIP tickets to the Quantum Miami event worth a thousand dollars. Thank you, Sam. Velera was well received on day 1 of the event. Next morning, Micah and me designed a brochure and got it printed pretty much in a couple of hours.

I'm not a big fan of agenda-based networking. I believe that if you immerse yourself in the conversations and activities, opportunities will present themselves. During a casual chat while waiting in line for food, I met one of the top lawyers in the industry who later turned out to be a sponsor and speaker at the event. We exchanged contacts and on a call 2 weeks later showed us the brochure on his desk.

Next, I attended the Miami hack week, where I met our first potential angel investor in person. We were at a VC event and I pitched Velera to him. He immediately understood the vision and we exchanged contacts. Later that night, by chance, I approached a stranger from behind to play table tennis and realized it was him. We had a such a great conversation that we ended up staying until closing time.

In the end, I met three potential lawyers and one potential angel investor without any expectations or agenda. I highly recommend this approach to networking because you will soon realize how magically things align and you don’t necessarily have to put too much effort. Pretty much for anything in life.