Two weeks ago, we introduced you to the Kitchen Cabinet—the three types of advisors every entrepreneur needs. Last week, we dove deep into Compensators, the people who fill your blind spots and teach you what you don’t know. This week, let’s talk about Connectors.
Because here’s the truth: Your network isn’t just about sound advice. It’s also about access. And access is everything when you’re trying to build something from nothing.
The Access Problem
With our first firm, we had credentials. Fortune 500 consulting experience. Advanced degrees. Years of corporate credibility. But we didn’t have the one thing that matters most when you’re trying to land enterprise clients: we didn’t have anyone who could get us in the room.
You can have the best service in the world, but if you can’t get a meeting with the decision-maker, you’ve got nothing. You can craft the perfect pitch, but if it’s sitting in someone’s spam folder instead of on the CEO’s desk, it doesn’t matter how good it is. This is the brutal reality of entrepreneurship that nobody talks about: Opportunity doesn’t find you. You have to find it. And most of the time, you need someone to open the door.
That’s what Connectors do. They don’t fill your knowledge gaps like Compensators. They don’t believe in you unconditionally like Champions. Connectors give you access to rooms you can’t enter alone. They make introductions that change trajectories. They put your name in conversations you’ll never hear but that determine whether you get the opportunity or not.
What a Connector Actually Does
A Connector is someone with a deep, credible network who is willing to leverage their relationships on your behalf. Notice we said “willing to leverage.” Having a big network doesn’t make someone a Connector. Being willing to stake their reputation by connecting you to the right people? That’s what makes them invaluable.
Early in our second firm, we were chasing a potential client that would have been transformational for us. The kind of account that doesn’t just add revenue. It adds credibility and is an entrée to other clients just line it. But we couldn’t get past the gatekeepers. Our emails went unanswered. Our calls weren’t returned. We were stuck on the outside looking in.
Then one of our Connectors made a call. Not an email introduction. Not a LinkedIn message. An actual phone call to someone she’d known for twenty years, someone who trusted her judgment completely. Within forty-eight hours, we had a meeting. Within two weeks, we had the contract. That’s the power of a Connector. They don’t just introduce you, they transfer their credibility to you. When someone you trust vouches for someone else, you take that introduction seriously. You give them the benefit of the doubt. You actually take the meeting.
Our Connector didn’t just open a door. She opened the door that led to a dozen more doors. Because once you have one marquee client, the next one is easier. And the one after that. Credibility compounds. But you need that first domino to fall. That’s what Connectors do. They push the first domino.
The Connector vs. The Networker
Here’s where people get confused: They think anyone with a lot of connections is a Connector. They’re not. We know plenty of people with ten thousand LinkedIn connections who wouldn’t dream of actually introducing us to anyone who matters. They collect contacts like baseball cards, but they don’t leverage relationships.
A true Connector has three characteristics. First, they have genuine relationships, not just transactional connections. They’ve built trust over years, not collected business cards at conferences. Second, they’re strategic about introductions. They don’t just throw spaghetti at the wall. They think about fit, timing, and mutual value. They make introductions that actually go somewhere because they’ve thought it through. Third, they’re willing to put their reputation on the line. This is the big one. When a Connector introduces you to someone in their network, they’re essentially saying “I vouch for this person. If they screw this up, it reflects on me.” That’s not something people do lightly.
The networkers you meet at women’s events? They’ll hand you a business card and suggest you “connect on LinkedIn.” A real Connector will say “Let me introduce you to Sarah. She’s dealing with exactly the problem you solve. I’ll set up a call.” See the difference? One is passive. One is active. One protects their network. One leverages it strategically for people they believe in.
How to Identify Your Connectors
Start by asking yourself: What rooms do you need to be in that you can’t access on your own? For most entrepreneurs, it’s one of these: potential clients or customers who could transform your business, investors or funding sources, strategic partners who could amplify your reach, media or speaking opportunities that would build your brand, or talent—people you need to hire but can’t attract yet.
Once you know what access you need, start mining your existing network. And we mean really mining it. Pull out your phone. Open LinkedIn. Start scrolling through connections. Look at your college alumni directory. Think about every job you’ve ever had and who you worked with. Consider your friends’ networks, your family’s connections, your kids’ friends’ parents, people from your neighborhood, your church, your gym, your book club.
This is where most entrepreneurs stop too early. They think “I don’t know anyone who works at that company” and give up. But you probably know someone who knows someone who works there. Your college roommate’s husband might sit on a board with their CFO. Your former boss might have worked with their VP of Operations twenty years ago. Your neighbor’s sister might be their top sales rep. You won’t know until you start asking.
Here’s what we did when we needed to break into a particular Fortune 500 account: We made a list of everyone we knew. Then we started having conversations. Not asks,just conversations. “Hey, do you happen to know anyone at Company X?” Sometimes the answer was no. But sometimes it was “Actually, my college roommate works there” or “My brother-in-law’s company does business with them” or “I was just at a conference with their head of strategy.”
Those casual conversations turned into warm introductions. Those warm introductions turned into meetings. Those meetings turned into contracts. But it started with systematically mining every connection we had, no matter how distant it seemed. Your Connectors are already in your orbit. You just have to find them and cultivate those relationships. Look for someone with a strong reputation in your industry or target market, someone who’s generous with introductions but strategic about them, someone who understands your business well enough to know who you should meet, and someone who believes in what you’re building enough to stake their credibility on it.
The key is that they have to be willing. Lots of people have networks. Fewer people are willing to open them up for you. Your job is to identify who those people are and cultivate those relationships long before you need them.
The Mistake Most Entrepreneurs Make
The biggest mistake is asking for introductions before you’ve earned them. We’ve watched entrepreneurs meet someone once at a conference and immediately ask for an introduction to their biggest client. It doesn’t work that way. Connectors protect their networks. They’re not going to risk their relationships on someone they barely know.
You have to earn the right to ask. You do that by building a real relationship first. By demonstrating that you’re credible, reliable, and worth vouching for. By showing up consistently. By delivering on what you promise. By being someone they’re proud to introduce, not someone they’re nervous about. When Victoria and I needed that critical introduction, we didn’t ask cold. We’d already spent two years building a relationship with that Connector. She’d watched us work. She knew our track record. She trusted that we wouldn’t embarrass her. That’s why she made the call.
The other mistake is treating Connectors like vending machines. You can’t just show up when you need something. The relationship has to be reciprocal. What value are you bringing to them? How are you helping their network? Are you making introductions for them? Are you sharing insights or opportunities that help them? If the relationship only flows one direction, it won’t last long. Connectors want to help people who are also helping others. They want to be part of a network that’s generative, not extractive. Show them you understand that.
When a Connector Changes Everything
There’s a moment in every entrepreneur’s journey when a single introduction changes the trajectory of your business. For us, it happened multiple times. The Connector who got us into the room with our first Fortune 500 client. The one who introduced us to the buyer who eventually acquired our second firm. The one who connected us to the speaking opportunity that led to a dozen more.
Each of those moments looked small at the time. Just an email introduction. Just a phone call. Just a “you two should meet.” But each one opened a door that led to doors we couldn’t even see yet. That’s the thing about Connectors. You often don’t realize the full impact of what they’ve done until years later. That one introduction compounds into relationships, revenue, and opportunities you never could have accessed on your own.
When we sold our second firm, we thought about all the Connectors who’d helped us get there. The people who’d made introductions when we were nobody. The ones who’d put their reputations on the line when we were unproven. The relationships they’d opened up that beca,me the foundation of our business. We didn’t build that company alone. We built it with a Kitchen Cabinet that included Connectors who believed in us enough to give us access.
Building Your Connector Network
If you’re reading this thinking “I don’t have any Connectors,” start building those relationships now.
Start with one. Build the relationship. Earn the right to ask. Then watch what happens when someone with credibility puts your name in a room you’ve been trying to access for years. That’s when everything changes.
Next week, we’ll close out this series with Champions—the people who believe in you when everything feels impossible.
