Leveraging Social to Scale Intellectual IP

One of the bigger initiatives I have decided to do this year is to put myself out there content-wise on social media. My friend Ryan Edwards pointed out that I do it to stroke my ego. I can't argue that that has something to do with it, but not all. The real inspiration came from my following investor Howard Lindzon.

He is the managing director of a fund called Social Leverage. The name of the fund says it all. He has spent his career building an audience on Twitter and his blog. Because of these continual social deposits, he has been able to articulate his way to some great insights and develop a best-in-class network. Howard is a dynamic early-stage investor who has had significant successes doing early-stage Fintech companies such as Robinhood and eToro.

I find that I am in the business of having conversations. These conversations are with founders, operators, and investors. The problem with being in the conversation business is that I do very few activities that scale once the conversation is over, it's over.

By continually writing and podcasting my thoughts and conversations on social networks, I can put myself on the internet to attract and strengthen a network that I would not have otherwise. It takes consistency and dedication, but I see the results bear fruit. My network is increasing, but I am also getting much clearer on my thinking by physically spelling it out on these networks. As a result, I believe I am becoming a better investor.

However, please give me the hook if I start pontificating about philosophy on YouTube. Then we see that I have gone too far.