Network Selection Strategy

Networks are one of the most valuable but underappreciated assets in building a career. Opting into better networks early compounds over time and is almost always worth more than incremental dollars.

The core principle

• Opting into a better network is almost always worth more than incremental dollars, especially early in career
• Network value compounds over time - the earlier you join, the more time for compounding
• If you're good, you should be in good networks. If you're bad, you won't get value from them anyway
• You can win anywhere, but why not increase your probability of success rather than decrease it?

Types of networks to consider

• Geographic networks: Where you choose to live
  • Moving to San Francisco means joining the SF tech network
  • Being in the "white hot center" of your industry is worth more than tax savings
  • Moving away just for taxes is foolish - you save 10% but lose out on 10x more money
  • The rent might be $2,000 more, but being in that network is worth much more than the rent
• Educational networks: College alumni networks
  • Some networks are really powerful, some are pretty weak
  • You're not just joining a college, you're joining the alumni network
• Professional networks: Who you work with and for
  • Choosing to work with someone means opting into their network
  • Going solo builds wider skills but you don't opt into a network
  • When on your own you gotta do everything, but you miss the network value
• Information networks: Your info diet
  • Social platforms like Twitter, TikTok - these are networks you're opting into
  • Within them there's subnetworks and subclusters
  • The content you consume - if you consume the same content as everyone else, you'll have the same thoughts
  • Your income will be roughly the average of the five people you hang out with most
  • Same thing applies to ideas and thoughts - you dollar cost average into the thoughts of your network

Why people get this wrong

• They optimize for the incremental dollar instead of network value
• They don't recognize how valuable networks are until later
• They choose independence over network access early in career
• They move for tax savings without considering network loss

How to differentiate yourself

• Differentiate your info diet
• Differentiate the people you hang out with
• Differentiate what you do with your free time
• These are upstream of the results people want downstream

The trade-off mindset

• There's no bonus points for doing everything the hard way
• It's about making things easier, not harder
• Increasing probabilities of success, not decreasing them
• If you're surrounded by five people who go to the gym, chances are you're gonna get ripped
• It's not a guarantee, but why not increase your odds?