At SaaStr 2023, I had a 12-minute conversation with a VP of Partnerships at a Series C company. No pitch. No business cards. Just asked him about his biggest challenge with international expansion. Three months later, that conversation turned into a $2M partnership deal. That’s what good startup event networking looks like—and it has nothing to do with collecting LinkedIn connections.
Here are the 7 tactics that turned me from “business card guy” into someone people actually want to talk to.
Tactic #1: Research 20 People Before You Arrive (Not 200)
Most founders show up at a startup event hoping to “meet people.” That’s code for wandering around awkwardly. Here’s what works: Before the event, identify exactly 20 people you want to meet. Not 200. Twenty.
Pull the attendee list (most B2B events share this 4-6 weeks before). Use Sesamers to see who’s attending events you’re registered for. Then research each target: LinkedIn profile, recent posts, their company’s latest news, what they’re working on.
I spend 5 minutes per person. That’s 100 minutes of prep that separates you from the 80% of attendees who show up cold. When you walk up and say “Hey Sarah, saw your post about expanding into EMEA—we just cracked that market, happy to share what worked,” you’re already 10x more memorable than “Hi, I’m a founder, what do you do?”
Pro tip: DM all 20 people on LinkedIn two weeks before the event. “Hey [Name], seeing you’re going to [Event]. Would love to grab coffee and hear about [specific thing they’re working on]. Tuesday 8am work?” Pre-booking even 3-5 meetings means you’ve already won the event before you land. Here’s how I pick which events are worth this prep work.
Tactic #2: Ask Questions That Make People Think (Not Talk)
The worst networkers ask “What does your company do?” Everyone gets that question 47 times. It triggers autopilot mode: rehearsed elevator pitch, eyes glazing over, polite nod, move on. Zero connection.
According to Harvard Business Review research, people remember conversations where they had to think, not just recite. Ask questions that don’t have scripted answers.
My go-to questions: “What’s the hardest problem you’re trying to solve right now?” or “What’s working surprisingly well in your business that you didn’t expect?” or “If you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing about [their industry], what would it be?”
These questions do three things: show you’re interested in them (not pitching), surface actual problems you might solve, and make you memorable because most people at networking events don’t ask interesting questions. They just wait for their turn to pitch.
Tactic #3: The 10-Minute Rule (Then Move On)
I used to have 45-minute conversations with one person at events, thinking I was “building rapport.” Wrong. That’s hogging. Startup event networking is about starting conversations, not finishing them. Research from Cvent shows that 72% of attendees are more likely to do business with people they meet at events—but only if you follow up properly.
Set a timer. Ten minutes max per conversation. If it’s going great, say “This is super valuable—I’ve got to run to another meeting but let’s schedule 30 minutes next week to dive deeper. Are you free Tuesday?” Then book it right there. Exchange numbers or grab a calendar link.
The goal isn’t to close deals on the event floor. It’s to identify who’s worth a real conversation later. Ten minutes is enough to know if there’s fit. Everything else happens in follow-up.
Exception: If you’re mid-negotiation on something big, obviously don’t bail after 10 minutes. But for initial networking? Move fast, meet more people, book follow-ups with the right ones. Here’s my full pre-event checklist for maximizing these conversations.
Tactic #4: Kill the Business Card Theater
Business cards in 2025 are cosplay. They’re what people who don’t know how to network think networking looks like. I watched a founder collect 83 business cards at Web Summit. Know how many he followed up with? Zero. Because he didn’t actually connect with anyone.
Here’s what I do instead: After a good conversation, I text myself their name and one specific thing we discussed. “Alex Chen – struggling with European compliance, mentioned needing help with GDPR.” Takes 10 seconds. No card to lose, no app to forget to check, just a note I’ll actually use.
Or skip the middle step entirely: “Hey, let me get your number so we can schedule that follow-up call.” Boom, you’re in their phone. Text them before you leave the event: “Great meeting you. Tuesday 2pm work for that call?” Now you’re a person with a scheduled meeting, not a business card in a pile.
The best networking at startup events happens when you think less about “making connections” and more about “starting relationships.” Cards don’t build relationships. Scheduled follow-up calls do.
Tactic #5: Organize Your Own Dinner (This Is the Cheat Code)
Want to know the real secret of startup event networking? The conference itself is just bait. The real networking happens at dinners, breakfasts, and after-parties you organize yourself.
I started doing this at every event: Book a table at a restaurant near the venue for 6-8 people. Invite 3-4 people I want to meet from my target list, tell them each to bring one interesting person. Done. Now I’m having a real conversation over dinner instead of shouting over techno music at the official after-party.
Cost: $150-300 for dinner. Value: Way higher than the actual conference ticket. Last dinner I organized at a fintech conference led to three partnerships and one customer that’s now $400K ARR. The conference sessions? Taught me nothing I didn’t already know from YouTube.
Pro tip: Track events where multiple people from your target list are attending using Sesamers’ attendee tracking, then organize dinners strategically around those events. Here are the B2B events where this tactic works best.
Tactic #6: The 24-Hour Follow-Up (Not “Next Week”)
According to Salesforce data, leads contacted within 24 hours are 7x more likely to convert than those contacted after 48 hours. Same principle applies to networking. The magic window is 24 hours post-conversation.
My follow-up template: “Hey [Name], really enjoyed our conversation about [specific thing you discussed]. You mentioned [their problem]. I’ve actually dealt with this exact issue—here’s what worked for us: [one quick tip]. Would love to hop on a 30-min call next week to dive deeper. Here’s my calendar: [link].”
Notice what’s in there: Specific reference to your conversation (proves you remember), immediate value (quick tip), clear call-to-action (calendar link, not “let’s find time”). This email gets 60-70% response rates for me. Generic “nice to meet you” emails? 10% if you’re lucky.
I draft all my follow-ups on the plane home. Before I land, every important conversation has a personalized follow-up email in my drafts folder. I send them within 24 hours. This alone puts you in the top 5% of event networkers.
Tactic #7: Track Everything (Or You’ll Forget Everything)
After three days at a conference, your brain is mush. You remember the weird guy who cornered you for 40 minutes. You don’t remember the names of the five legitimate prospects you actually wanted to follow up with.
I use a simple system: After every meaningful conversation, I log it immediately. Name, company, what we discussed, what I promised to send them, follow-up deadline. I track this in Sesamers because I can tag contacts by event, set reminders for follow-ups, and see my full event networking history in one place.
Some founders use Notion or Airtable. Some use their CRM. Doesn’t matter what tool you use. What matters is having ONE system you actually use. I’ve seen too many founders collect great contacts and then lose track because they scribbled notes on napkins or relied on memory. Here’s my full system for tracking events and follow-ups.
Track metrics too: conversations had, meetings booked, deals in pipeline, revenue closed. Without data, you don’t know if your networking is working or if you’re just accumulating LinkedIn connections. Here’s how I measure networking ROI from every event.
The Truth About Networking at Startup Events
Here’s what nobody tells you: The best networkers at startup events aren’t the most charismatic. They’re the most prepared. They know who they want to meet, what questions to ask, and how to follow up. Everything else is just showing up.
I’m an introvert. I hate small talk. I used to dread networking events. But once I realized networking isn’t about being charming—it’s about being strategic—everything changed. You don’t need to work the room. You need to work your target list.
That $2M partnership from the 12-minute conversation at SaaStr? That didn’t happen because I’m a networking genius. It happened because I researched him beforehand, asked about his actual problems instead of pitching, scheduled a follow-up before we parted, and sent a detailed email within 24 hours with relevant resources. System beats personality every time.
Stop Collecting Cards, Start Building Relationships
Ready to turn event conversations into actual business? Use Sesamers to discover events where your target customers and partners will be, track who’s attending before you arrive, and manage your follow-ups systematically so nothing falls through the cracks.
See which events your network is attending, research attendees in advance, and track every conversation with built-in follow-up reminders. Because the best networkers don’t wing it—they systematize it.