Clem

Building in the background. Tweeting in plain sight. Redefining the way we eat, save and live @wiseforkapp. Disrupting the way we network @IntroMaven

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/c2tJ0gHI5r

[Clem @ChukaClem]

The best networkers in any room aren't the loudest or the most confident.

They're the most prepared.

They know who they want to meet, why that person matters, and what they'll say in the first 30 seconds.

Preparation isn't a personality trait. It's a decision you make before you walk in.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

I spent years in real estate before I started building software.

In that world, the follow-up was everything. You could show a property brilliantly, read the buyer perfectly, create real interest in the room — and still lose the deal because someone else communicated better the next morning.

The conversation opened the door. The follow-up decided what walked through it.

When I started talking to professionals about their networking experiences, I expected them to describe the same pattern. And they did — but with a twist I did not anticipate.

In real estate, most people understood that the follow-up mattered. They just struggled to execute it well.

In professional networking, a surprising number of people had convinced themselves the follow-up was optional. Or that a connection request counted as one. Or that the right person would reach out to them if the conversation had gone well enough.

The more I heard this, the more I realized something: the belief that a strong first impression is sufficient is one of the most expensive assumptions a professional can hold.

Here is what I kept hearing underneath the surface.

People left events feeling good about the conversations they had, but with no clear sense of what to say next. Not because they were lazy or indifferent. Because they had no context to work with, the conversation had faded. The notes they meant to take did not exist. The follow-up felt like starting from nothing, so they waited for the right moment, and the right moment never came.

The barrier was not motivation. It was friction.

What I have come to believe is that most professionals do not lack the desire to follow up. They lack the infrastructure to do it with any confidence. So they either send something generic that gets ignored, or they don't send anything and blame the timing.

Both outcomes feel like a follow-up problem. The real problem is that the system for capturing what happened in the conversation was never there to begin with.

This is the behaviour IntroMaven is built around. The follow-up message is important. But it depends entirely on what you held onto after the conversation ended — the person's name, what you discussed, what they were working on, why it mattered.

The conversation is not the output. It is the input.

What you do with it afterward determines whether the interaction becomes an opportunity or just a pleasant exchange you mostly forget.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

Are you attending networking events without a clear plan? Networking events are full of people who are technically present but mentally unprepared.

They walk in with a vague hope of "meeting someone useful" and walk out with a stack of business cards they'll never sort through.

Preparation doesn't mean memorizing a script. Instead, it involves identifying one or two key things you genuinely want to learn and recognizing one or two types of people who can help you achieve that.

That's it. Approach each event with a clear goal, and the rest takes care of itself.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

@JonBuildsHQ $5K MRR

[Clem @ChukaClem]

People spend weeks researching job listings and minutes researching the events where those hiring managers actually show up.

Flip that ratio even once and see what happens.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

I built the first version of IntroMaven around a feature I was certain users needed.

It was a detailed contact profile page. After meeting someone at an event, a user could log their name, role, company, and a brief note on the conversation, making it structured and organized.

I thought the problem was that professionals forgot things after events. So I built something that helped them remember everything.

Then I spoke to the people who had tested it.

They were not using the profile page. They were logging a sentence or two, sometimes nothing, and moving on.

I assumed they were being lazy. A few conversations later, I realized I had diagnosed the wrong problem.

The issue was not that professionals failed to capture information after meetings. The real problem was they didn't know what was worth capturing in the first place, especially when tired or distracted, which erodes trust.

What they actually needed was a much simpler prompt-something like: what was the one thing about this conversation that made it worth continuing? This highlights how small changes can empower users and build trust.

That single question produced more useful follow-up material than any structured form I had designed.

We rebuilt that part of IntroMaven around it.

This is something I keep learning as a non-technical founder. My instinct is often to build more: more structure, more fields, more capability. But the people who test the product consistently teach me the same lesson: the most useful thing I can give someone is a clearer question, not a more complete system.

Complexity often appears as thoroughness, but true trust is built through simplicity, which is the more effective design choice.

The harder design decision is almost always the simpler one.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

A lot of networking advice focuses on what to say.

Almost none of it focuses on which room to walk into.

The event shapes the conversation. The conversation shapes the relationship. The relationship shapes the opportunity.

Picking the right room is the strategy. Everything else is execution.

IntroMaven matches you to events worth attending. Sign up for early access at https://t.co/8TyCpnDJe6

[Clem @ChukaClem]

The real reason most networking goes nowhere has nothing to do with confidence or conversation skills.

It's event selection.

showing up to the wrong room, with the wrong crowd, at the wrong career stage means even a perfect conversation leads nowhere.

before you rsvp, ask: do the people who typically attend this event have the authority, context, or connections that move my specific goal forward?

If you can't answer that, you're picking events based on availability, not strategy.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/pFc6TcYsmm

[Clem @ChukaClem]

Most people prepare what they want to say at networking events.

Almost nobody prepares what they want to ask.

One specific question lands you in more conversations than a perfect pitch ever will.

IntroMaven gives you event-specific questions before you walk in.

[Clem @ChukaClem]

Attending 3 networking events this month beats attending 1 every quarter. Consistency compounds faster than intensity. The people who build real career networks show up repeatedly, not perfectly. Sign up for early access → https://t.co/5JhLk2kYId

[Clem @ChukaClem]

Your first message after a networking event sets the tone for the entire relationship.

Most people send some version of "great meeting you!" — and that's exactly why it gets buried.

Specificity is what makes someone reply. Reference what they said, not just that you met.

#Networking #jobs

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/joZXy6p7tZ

[Clem @ChukaClem]

The best networkers in any room aren't the loudest. They're the ones who asked "who specifically should I talk to here?" before they walked in.

Preparation beats personality every time.

IntroMaven gives you that preparation. Sign up for early access → https://t.co/8TyCpnDJe6

#Networking #Carreradvice

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/fvzTl5dOzG

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/0MXNDQavr4

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/Msyc49Zjfg

[Clem @ChukaClem]

https://t.co/44uTGUYD4o

[Clem @ChukaClem]

I've seen a lot of simple ideas make a lot of money

And you know what the only thing that was different about these products?

Marketing

I'm starting to believe that marketing and branding are the single most important factors for success

A lot of people wouldn't create something innovative

And that's fine

But your marketing has to be innovative.

Nothing else matters.

#Networking #Intromaven #Wisefork #Jobs #Founder