By Larry Chiang
Austin, Texas — March 12 — Yes, I get business knowledge from genius sources. And just like Thomas Jefferson, I cut and paste those nuggets of knowledge and pass them to you.
 Baxter male charms by listening intently to your every word |
A tremendous plagiaristic source of inspiration is Doug Ellin’s character Johnny Drama in HBO’s Entourage. Johnny Drama advises his little brother on the issue of man-charm, “entice but don’t encroach. Man charm is entirely different from woman charm.”
Well ‘Drama’, here is how I apply what you taught into charming venture capitalists.
File this under, “What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School”.
-1- Intro a Friend as a Fan
Fawning over a VC is weird and it is made less weird if you bring a bigger fan. I use this little gambit all the time. When Mark Cuban spoke at TC50, I said “hi” but brought him not one but two fans. Man charming is easier if you add value to his entourage (pun intended).
-2- Google Him and Admit It.
Don’t google and deny cuz it makes you creepy. Google them and say, “Dude, I just googled you. You’re a stud.” Man charm is all about paying a sincere compliment(s).
-3- Don’t Out Alpha Him
You might have a buddy that drives what he drives or is cooler, but out alpha maling won’t make a buddy. Making a buddy makes a buddy.
-4- Listen Like a Shih Tzu.
Shoulder surfing is reserved for welebrity cautionary tales. Your goal is to listen intently. Baxter interacts with facial expressions only. Take another page out of Bazters book of tricks and tilt your head slightly. Listening and not talking but facially interacting allows Mr. VC to further pontificate… err advise 😉
75% of the time, this works everytime.
-5- Tease Your Elevator Pitch.
Simplify, incorporate humor and prematurely stop selling yourself. My rule of thumb and goal… make what you are raising money for easy enough for a distracted, multi-tasking, A.D.D. VC to understand while drunk at Facebook’s open bar party at Pangaea.
Go forth and Man Charm.
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Larry’s book releases 09-09-09 and is on the waitlist to get onto the NY Times bestseller list. |
This post was cranked out in about an hour so email me if you see a spelling or grammatical error(s)… larry@larrychiang com
Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9, which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He has testified before Congress and World Bank on credit.
He is a frequent contributor to Business Week’s blog on “What They Don’t Teach You at Business School“. For fun, Larry blogs, attends tech conferences and hoops it up at Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation. Text or call him during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes at 650-283-8008.
Larry speaks on stuff they don't teach in B-school to help you get street smart in doing business. In college, he started a business that helps college students with their FICO score. He loves entrepreneurs, Ben and Jerry's ice cream and after parties. You can reach him at:
