Network Effect Group Chats

A story about how Ben creates value through his networking style and information sharing habits.

"Ben has this incredible way of creating value. He has a really curated feed where he finds interesting things and knows exactly who to route the information to. He's like FedEx - he doesn't touch the package. When I get information, I immediately start doing research, write notes, and talk about it. But Ben just grabs the box, tosses it in the truck, drives it to the address, drops it off, and doesn't ask questions. He just knows what's useful for people.

I had him add me to all these group chats - now I'm in probably 60 group chats where it's me, Ben, and a mutual acquaintance or friend. He's just routing packets of information to different people all day.

The amazing thing is we monetize this phenomenally. Ben just tries to be useful. He'll say 'Hey, remember that guy you met a year ago who you never talked to again? I've been texting him daily, and he's got this new thing taking off. He wants us to invest and isn't letting anyone else in.' Then we invest in it. The karma comes back tenfold for Ben, and he never asks for anything.

He's so good at this that people bypass me altogether and go straight to him now. He even said he needs to make a shirt that says 'I reply' because that's his thing - he replies. It's pretty basic, but it creates tens of millions of dollars of value for us."