In the most common narrative about entrepreneurship, a startup is born from a brilliant idea and grows thanks to the talent and determination of its founders. It is a compelling story — but an incomplete one.

In the world of startups and venture capital, no project truly grows alone. Ideas matter, the product matters, the team matters — but what often makes the difference between a stagnant project and one that accelerates is the ecosystem of relationships surrounding it.

Networking is not a secondary activity nor a mere visibility exercise: it is a structural component of growth. An invisible form of capital that, over time, can impact as much as — and sometimes more than — tangible resources. It is one of the key elements for scaling a project in the startup and VC landscape.

Networking is often reduced to exchanging business cards or attending individual events. In reality, it is a much broader process: building trust-based relationships that develop both offline and online, within communities, recurring conversations, and spaces for dialogue that evolve over time.

Meaningful connections are strengthened through repeated exchanges and authentic dialogue, long before they turn into concrete collaborations.

In this sense, in the investment world it is not only what you build that matters, but also the relational context in which that journey takes shape.

Networking cannot be considered a “soft” element of the startup ecosystem, nor a marginal activity compared to product, strategy, or execution. On the contrary, numerous analyses in the venture capital world show how relationships concretely impact access to opportunities, decision-making quality, and reputation building — three dimensions that can determine whether a project accelerates or remains invisible.

The first dimension is access: to capital, clients, partners, and key competencies. In venture capital, this mechanism is well documented. According to Harvard Business Review, startups introduced through a warm introduction have significantly higher chances of securing a first meeting with an investor compared to those reaching out cold. NFX, one of the funds most active on network effects, highlights that over 70% of early-stage deals originate from direct or indirect referrals within founders’ and investors’ networks.

This does not mean networking replaces project quality — rather, it accelerates access to the right decision-makers. Qualified introductions reduce noise, increase initial trust, and enable deeper conversations from the start. In the VC world, a warm intro is not a shortcut: it is the ecosystem’s operational language.

The second dimension concerns decision quality. Building a company means making decisions under uncertainty, often without clear precedents. Here, dialogue with other founders, advisors, and investors becomes a value multiplier.

Often, the real difference lies in access to informal conversations where patterns emerge clearly — not in textbooks, but in peer dialogue, away from pitches and spotlights.

Finally, networking deeply influences reputation building. Even before an official presentation, perceptions about a founder and team begin forming over time. Reputation is one of the most underestimated assets in the early stages of a startup. Investors and partners assess not only the product, but also the quality of previous interactions, behavioral consistency, and listening skills.

Reputation does not stem from a single event, but from a credible and consistent presence within the community. Events and informal gatherings become spaces where projects take shape through the people representing them.

In this context, community events are not mere visibility opportunities, but relational infrastructures where networking evolves from opportunistic activity into strategic investment.

Networking becomes even more strategic when starting without established networks or limited access to key information and opportunities. In such cases, building relationships means creating context — safe spaces for dialogue, exchange of experiences, mentorship, and mutual trust.

Strategic networking transforms a personal network into a real engine for opportunity and continuous learning.

For investors, networking is not only a scouting tool but also a way to understand and evaluate founders. Through relationships, VCs observe founders over time, gather informal signals, and read team dynamics. Elements that are difficult to measure on a slide — listening ability, response to feedback, handling of uncertainty — often emerge in these contexts.

Many decisions mature long before a deal, within relationships built over time. Networking enables investors to develop deeper knowledge of founders, based not only on numbers but also on empathy — understanding motivations, context, and people.

Even a “no” does not necessarily mean closure. It can become the beginning of a different path: honest dialogue, an open door, a future opportunity. Each interaction contributes to building trust and alignment.

Effective networking means being intentional rather than being everywhere.

• Cultivate relationships over time

• Give before you ask

• Seek stimulating and diverse contexts

• Integrate online and offline interactions

• Deepen instead of merely expanding your network

Growth Means Choosing the Right Relationships

Networking is at the core of my daily work. For over ten years, as Event Manager at Zest Hub, I have observed and supported the development of professional relationships within a vibrant ecosystem.

Two initiatives reflect this approach:

Ecosystem Events – Zest’s structured event format designed to connect founders, investors, and corporates to foster knowledge sharing and strategic collaboration.

GLOW – Growing and Leading Opportunities for Women – A community I co-founded with Mara Gulizia, dedicated to empowerment and networking among business women through monthly meetups focused on experience sharing and meaningful connection-building.

Both initiatives demonstrate that networking works when it becomes a continuous and inclusive process, not an isolated event.

In a healthy ecosystem, relationships are not an accessory — they are the invisible infrastructure upon which opportunity, trust, and growth are built.

Startups do not grow solely thanks to capital or brilliant strategies, but through the quality of the connections they build and nurture over time.

In a world that moves fast, networking remains one of the few investments that requires time, presence, and care. And it is precisely this apparent slowness that makes it powerful — because trust cannot be improvised; it must be built.

Often, the next step of a project does not arise from a perfect slide deck, but from a relationship cultivated consistently over time.