I had coffee last week with a guy named Marcus who’s raising a seed round.
He told me he needed “more access.” More investors, more intros, more rooms.
I asked him: which three rooms, specifically, do you need to be in by September.
He couldn’t name one.
That’s not an access problem. That’s a targeting problem.
Most people treat access like a vague resource they’re missing, like oxygen at altitude. But access isn’t ambient. It’s not something you either have or don’t.
It’s specific. It’s a name, a room, a Tuesday in October.
The bottleneck is almost never the door. It’s not knowing which door, or having a reason good enough to knock.
So here’s the exercise I gave Marcus, and I’m giving it to you.
Name three rooms you’re not in yet. Not someday-rooms. Not dream-rooms. Rooms you could plausibly be standing in by September.
One should be a warm intro away.
One should be a cold pitch away.
One should be an event away.
If you can’t name them, that’s the actual problem. Not your network. Not your resume…
