Why I love wa.ag and you should too (and a discount code)

What I dislike (if you know me you can feel the restraint in that word) about most networking events is the lack of humanity. I understand that everyone has something to sell (their startup, their service, themselves). The problem is unless I know you, I’m really (really, really, really) not interested in your 30 second elevator pitch from hell and I believe that to be true for most people. People want to know you, not your business card or your resume.

Enter wa.ag, a startup run by my buddy Dave Gise (@davegise). wa.ag does a few things well; they provide exposure and real value for an restaurant or event space, they create a great pop-up gathering. The one that captured my attention is the way they turn networking on it’s head.

I was lucky enough to attend the first wa.ag at the Irish Exit (great fries!). Instead of just sticking people together and encouraging ‘networking’, Dave features a startup or small business and all the attendees are given information about the business as they walk in. They are then asked to examine that information and offer them tips and assistance according to their expertise. If you’ve ever been to one of our LITweetUps, it creates a very similar atmosphere of smart people working together (wa.ag stands for ‘work as a group’) towards a common goal. In my opinion, there is no better way to get to know someone professionally than to watch them think and work and apply their knowledge and talent, selflessly, to help someone else.

Keep your elevator pitches. Grab a beer, connect your mind and your creativity to your mouth and help somebody else’s business out a little bit while we shoot the breeze. Now I’ve had a chance to see and hear your capabilities (the real ones, not the ones you tell everybody about) and I’ve seen you as a human being helping someone else. That tells me way more about what you’re really capable of and if I want to do business with you.

The next wa.ag will be in Long Island tonite, Tuesday 9/13 and here’s a VERY generous discount code: discountatrookies.

If you’re free (I’ve got PTA, sorry) you should check it out or at least register to get informed about the next one.

I’d love to hear what you think.