ITR #022: Is over-networking ruining your fundraise?

Welcome to the latest edition of “Into the Ring” - my newsletter on how to successfully plan & execute on your startup fundraise. I’m Jorian Hoover - I work 1:1 with founders to run high-quality fundraises and have helped 50+ founders raise over $190M (you can check out how to work with me here). And a warm welcome to the 116 new subscribers for this edition! If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe here.

Over the past couple years as a startup fundraising coach I’ve gotten to meet countless amazing founders, VCs, and folks in the startup ecosystem. One of the main challenges I face is there’s always another interesting person I could meet. But if I spend all my time meeting new people, I won’t have time to do the work I love, which is working directly with startup founders to help them prepare & execute for a fundraise.

So today’s topic is near-and-dear to my heart, because too often I see founders who focus on networking to the detriment of fundraising. We’ve heard it countless times: "Your network is everything." The advice sounds logical. Build relationships, attend events, make connections. The more people you know, the better your fundraising chances.

Here's what nobody tells you: networking can become the very thing that kills your fundraising success.

When Networking Starts Working Against You

If you're spending more than 40% of your time networking, you may be sabotaging your own fundraise without realizing it.

You attend founder events, startup conferences, and CEO talks. You collect LinkedIn connections and send follow ups on Superhuman. You schedule coffee chats and join founder WhatsApp groups. Meanwhile, your business metrics remain flat.

VCs notice this pattern immediately. They see founders who can talk eloquently about market trends but struggle to explain why their user growth stagnated for 3 months. They meet entrepreneurs who know everyone in town but whose product roadmap hasn't advanced in quarters.

The problem isn't that you're social. It's that you've confused activity with progress. Every hour you spend networking is an hour not spent on the fundamentals that actually attract investors: building product, acquiring customers, and generating revenue.

The Compound Effect of Building vs. Networking

Building momentum creates exponential returns. Each product improvement makes your next customer acquisition easier. Every customer provides feedback that drives better product decisions. Revenue growth gives you leverage in every conversation.

Networking without substance rarely delivers. When you don't have compelling progress to share, conversations stay surface-level. Promised introductions rarely happen because you haven't given anyone a strong reason to stake their reputation on you. Most interactions end with "let's keep in touch" rather than concrete next steps.

You can see this in your weekly calendar. If networking fills more slots than building, your business is standing still while you feel busy. You're optimizing for the wrong metric.

Warning Signs You're Over-Networking

You might be networking too much if you:

• Schedule coffee chats when you have pressing product deadlines

• Know more about other startups' progress than your own metrics

• Attend events to "stay visible" rather than accomplish specific goals

• Feel productive based on meetings attended rather than milestones hit

The biggest red flag is when networking becomes your preferred work. You'd rather attend a founder breakfast than fix your broken checkout flow. You choose industry panels over customer research calls. Talking about your startup feels more productive than actually improving it.

This comfort zone kills companies. VCs invest in founders who tackle difficult problems, not those who avoid them through perpetual relationship building.

Why Strong Fundamentals Create Better Networks

When you focus on building first, something interesting happens. You become the person others want to network with.

You have real problems to discuss instead of generic startup conversation. You can share actual insights from scaling challenges rather than recycling industry talking points. People seek your advice because you're visibly making progress while they're still figuring things out.

Your reputation spreads naturally. Word travels when someone consistently ships features and hits growth targets. You get invited to higher-quality conversations without chasing them. The introductions you receive are warmer because people genuinely want to help someone who's executing well.

This is networking as a byproduct of success rather than a strategy for achieving it.

How to Network Without Losing Focus

You still need relationships to fundraise effectively. The key is making networking support your momentum rather than replace it.

Limit networking to interactions with clear business value. Skip general startup events. Instead, target conversations with potential enterprise customers, technical advisors, VCs you can trade notes with, or founders solving similar problems who are a few years ahead of you.

Before accepting any networking invitation, ask yourself what specific value you expect to gain. Can this person help solve a current business problem? Will they provide insights you can't get elsewhere? If you're networking just to "stay visible" or because "you never know," skip it.

Quality beats quantity in networking just like every other part of your business. One meaningful conversation with a relevant founder beats 10 casual meetup interactions.

The Fundraising Reality Check

VCs evaluate momentum, not connections. They want to see consistent progress over sustained periods. They look for founders who identify problems quickly and solve them efficiently.

If your last 3 months were heavy on networking events but light on business milestones, you're approaching fundraising from a position of weakness. No amount of warm introductions can overcome flat metrics and stagnant progress.

The strongest fundraising position is having so much momentum that investors compete to participate. This comes from building obsessively, not networking strategically.

Focus Where It Counts

Your network matters for fundraising success. But only when you have genuine progress worth networking about.

Build momentum first. Get your metrics moving consistently. Ship features that customers actually use. Solve real problems that generate measurable results.

Network second, strategically, and sparingly. Let your progress create networking opportunities rather than hoping networking will create progress.

The most valuable connections happen when you're building something others want to learn from or be part of. Focus there first, and both your business and your fundraising outcomes will improve dramatically.

Thanks for stepping Into the Ring 🙏

Thank you for reading today, and for your support. If there’s anything that resonated with you, simply hit reply and let me know.

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👉 I’ve helped 50+ founders run high-quality fundraises and raise over $190M. Curious to work with me? You can learn more about what that looks like on my website.

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