Superconnectors

A few years ago, I helped organize this tech conference at my university. One of our biggest struggles was getting sponsorship. Many of our leads were dead ends or taking long to convert. Out of desperation, I went to every tech meetup event I can find to get more leads. I met one person at a meetup and told him about our event and what we were looking for. The guy told me he knew exactly who to connect me with.

He introduced me to one of his colleagues, I’ll call him Nate. In my first meeting with Nate, he told me that he’ll do everything he can to help us out and opened up his entire rolodex. He had connections everywhere. Whether it was sponsorship, speakers, venues, anything. It’s like he knew everyone, everywhere. And everyone seemed to know him. I never met a more extroverted person in my life. His energy was boundless and he was very warm and inviting.

I’ve heard of superconnectors before, but it wasn’t until I met him that I realized what a superconnector is. Superconnectors know hundreds, maybe even thousands of people. All people that they can call up at anytime. Superconnectors are extremely valuable nodes in a network. They’re quite rare too. Including Nate, I could count the number of superconnectors I know on one hand.