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continually frustrated by how hard it was to get to know fellow MBA candidates.” She said that the networking events were either designed to resemble cocktail hours—situations where “you only skim the surface with new people or stick to people you already know.”
    None of this is meant to knock business school. It is still a place where you may gain important skills for your career. However, it's simply to say that getting an advanced degree may not be the most efficient route for meeting startup cofounders.
    So what about networking on your own—attending functions at a company where you already work, or seeking out other people in your area who might be interested in entrepreneurship?
    This can certainly be a helpful career move; there's no telling whom you will find by putting out some feelers at local business or social events. But that's exactly the problem: There's no telling whom you will find. Think about what you would say to someone you just met about your own business credentials. Would you recite your resume? Find the perfect anecdote to illustrate your skills? Can you drop the name of the right mutual acquaintance? Maybe—maybe not. Maybe you will bond over the fact that your brother went to the same college as this person's sister. But sooner or later, it becomes a lot like trying to find dates on a barstool. What can you find out about the other person and what can he or she find out about you?
    Now, think about the business cards you collect at other networking events. Can you even remember which person was which by the time you get home?
    Making the right impression on other people at a golf tournament can be an important skill. But it's not important for everyone. For someone in public relations, it's a vital part of the job. But what difference would this make for a developer or a designer or an engineer? As one veteran of a number of startups in the Seattle area likes to say, “Tech folks are not natural networkers.” And we don't think they should have to be.
    What other people ultimately care about—and really, should care about—is the quality of your work. But you can't whip out your laptop (or even your iPad) and, while holding your white wine in one hand and balancing your hors d'oeuvres on your knee, proceed to show someone how you work.
    For that, you need to apply the action-based networking principles of Startup Weekend.
    You Must Join a Team
    We at Startup Weekend don't have much in the way of wine or those fancy little quiches. However, by the end of the weekend you will truly understand the skill sets of the people around you—and they will understand yours.
    From the easy registration method to the informal Friday night dinner, attendees are expected to talk to one another; and since the only thing they have in common (up until that point) is an interest in entrepreneurship, it is easy to learn about their peers' dreams, ideas, strengths, and weaknesses. When you know that you are supposed to join a team with strangers and work together all weekend, the pressure is on to get to know everyone in the room and to find out what sort of talents surround you.

     
    Friday night is especially intense, because it's when the team creation happens. Yet, even the long working days of Saturday and Sunday provide ample opportunities to create, build, collaborate, explore, and brainstorm—not only with the members of one's team, but also with other attendees.
    One Startup Weekend participant recalls an event in Vancouver, British Columbia, where teams were required to check in every so often with the entire group. She recounts, “Although it was hard to stop frantically working on our own projects, I loved hearing about what other teams were building and their calls for help. It was so empowering to see [the] brilliant developers, designers, marketers, and project managers that we had in the room . . . it gave me a great