Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking at Founder World, the largest Founder Conference in the Bay Area put on by F50 and Google Developers. I had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth because I was on the biggest natural high of my life. I spent the last four days in Los Angeles, shaking that a**, with Tony Robbins at the Unleash the Power Within Summit. (If you've been to UPW, then you know exactly what I am talking about).


The topic at hand was creating value, which is something that I have touched on before. When you are interested in building a relationship, especially with an investor, you want to figure out how to create value by giving before you start asking.


Before I met Tim, I was fundraising to go to Draper University. I was offered a spot to speak on KFI 640 and to bring Tim along with me. He was promoting Six Californias at the time, so it was perfect for him because it gave him the opportunity to push his policy. This was three months before I asked him for an investment.

Fireside Chat - Zach Ware: Vegas Tech Fund and Tim Draper: Draper Associates/DFJ

I have been in situations with Tim where people will walk up to him and say, "hey, can I pitch you?" without any other explanation and I'm thinking to myself, he doesn't even know you yet. You have to build a human connection first, otherwise known as people equity.

The next time you are out and you want to meet someone in the business world, this applies to your personal life as well, ask yourself, how can I add value to this person's life and lead the conversation with that.

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