Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Mental Models

Collector of People Mental Model

Systematically building relationships with interesting people before you need them, treating networking as collecting valuable assets for future opportunities

Decision Rule

When meeting someone interesting, ask: 'How can we work together?' and position it as either creating magic together or having a new industry friend

How It Works

Creates a bank of relationships that can be activated when opportunities arise, while providing value to others through connections and collaboration

Failure Modes

Coming across as purely transactional rather than genuinely interested

Not following up or maintaining relationships over time

Collecting without ever providing value back to the network

Focusing on quantity over quality of relationships

Example Decision

Meet interesting person at event → follow up with 'best case we create magic together, worst case you have a new industry friend' → stay in touch occasionally → when starting new company, reach out with specific opportunity