Online and Offline Networking – You Can Have It Both Ways

I recently pitched B2B Power Exchange at an entrepreneurial competition in San Francisco. While the point of the pitch (the main prize) was exposure, it was judged by a local government official and two names from the investment community.

A comment was made by one of the judges that has been wearing on me ever since. He said that B2B Power Exchange’s business model is fragmented and can’t work. He said “You can’t be online and offline. It has to be one or the other.” What’s interesting is that his philosophies are based on Silicon Valley thinking – which seems to be that technology reigns supreme. Go online – get high valuations, get funded then get rich.

My experience has been different. Even within the Silicon Valley area where we got started, many of our participants still have not participated in online meetings. There are still a lot of people who believe that networking has to be an eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand activity.

My personal opinion is that technology cannot replace face-to-face interaction. It can supplement interpersonal contact, but it will be a sad day when people choose to exclusively connect with others behind the shroud of protection provided by their computer.

Many of our participants have had great success expanding their networks and pipelines by participating in physical networking meetings. Others have been successful connecting with others in online meetings. Some have generated results using both. Our business model is about lead generation - whether that takes place online or offline is irrelevant. Both work.

Here is my promise to you: We will always shape B2B Power Exchange around the ways people want to or need to do business. We won’t cave to opinions that businesses can only exist exclusively in the online or offline worlds. We believe you can have it both ways, and we will continue to blend physical networking with technology. And the use of technology will always mimic face-to-face interactions as closely as possible.