I used to tell myself I wasn't good at networking.
Not because I'd tried it and failed. But because somewhere along the way, someone told me: "You're an introvert. People like us don't do that."
And I believed it. Carried it around like a fact. Even though I'd been a consultant for over 10 years. Even though I'd spent a decade having conversations with clients, understanding their problems, helping them build solutions.
But that was different, right? That was work. Networking was something else. Something I wasn't built for.
Funny how the stories we tell ourselves become the limits we live within.
I've been to a couple events recently. And something shifted that I didn't expect.
When you're building something you care about, conversations aren't scary. They're necessary. You need to learn about people. How they work. What their challenges are. What makes them light up or tune out.
I'd talk to someone - a guy building AI agents, a man advising businesses on their IT infrastructure, real estate agents sending dozens of follow-ups a week. And I wasn't pitching. I was researching. Genuinely curious about their process.
I've always loved process. Understanding how things work. And having the app gave me this perfect reason to lean into that curiosity.
After listening - really listening - I'd demo Connect. Show them the voice note feature. Send them a follow-up message right there, based on what we'd just talked about.
"Wait. You just sent that? I need this in my life."
Not because the tech is magic. Because the message wasn't bullshit. It was specific to them. I'd actually heard what they said.
.
There's vulnerability in this.
Doing the voice note in front of someone means saying: "Here's what I heard. Here's what I think." And you could be wrong. You could sound dumb. But that's what connection requires. Letting the walls come down.
Active listening isn't just nodding along. It's demonstrating that you heard them. That's a risk. But it's also what builds trust.
And here's the thing I keep coming back to: Marketing. Networking. Building. It's all just connecting with people.
Which I've been doing for over a decade. I just told myself a story that this was different. That this wasn't something I could do.
The story wasn't true. It was just in the way.
Connect isn't for people who want to "crush it" at networking events. It's for people who actually give a shit about maintaining real relationships but don't want to spend hours on follow-up emails.
The app works when you care about the person. When you've listened. When the message you're sending reflects that you were actually present in the conversation.
Turns out, that's how everything works. Not just the app. The conversations. The connections. The whole thing.
I'm not good at networking because I became an extrovert. I'm good at it because I stopped hiding behind the story I'd been telling myself.
When you have something you care about and you're genuinely curious about how other people work, showing up isn't scary. It's just what you do.
And yeah, you refine along the way. The product. Your pitch. Yourself.
But the core thing - connecting with people - that was always there. I just had to get out of my own way to see it.
The stories we tell ourselves are powerful. They shape what we think we can and can't do. What we're "built for" and what we're not.
But sometimes, when you have something that matters enough, you realize the story was never true. It was just something you carried because someone else handed it to you.
And you can put it down any time you want.