WHILE enjoying their supper in the private room of an exclusive club on Monday, the members of one of the new league of networking groups tasted the modern way to make friends and influence people.
The ten twenty and thirtysomethings were members of the Supper Club, and on the menu with bulgar wheat risotto and pinot grigio were hot topics in common to them all: How do we find talented staff? And how can we build a promising start-up into the next Virgin or Carphone Warehouse? The Supper Club members are new-style networkers. Fed up with dull dinners spent fending off accountants and consultants who are hungry for prospects, tuned-in and ambitious smaller companies are increasingly turning to a different style of networking.
These modern networkers promise to be less formal than traditional groups. They also purport to offer a more targeted and slick way for young entrepreneurs to network.
“It’s about shared experiences and learning amongst a select peer group,” says Duncan Cheatle, an entrepreneur and the founder of the Supper Club. “We hand-pick as members entrepreneurs with companies at the same stage who we think make a good fit and will learn from each other. There are no advisers and no one selling to you.”
The criteria for entry to the club’s monthly meetings — which cost £35 a pop — is that members be the founder or owner of a small company that is at least three years old and has a minimum turnover of £1 million.
Charlie Osmond, chief executive of Freshminds, a recruitment company, is a member of the Supper Club. He says: “The main value has been in finding out the things I didn’t know I needed to know. These intangibles are almost impossible to get any other way and vital for the success of a small growing firm like ours.”
Adam Street is another new networking club. Members of the London-based entrepreneurs club include Simon Woodroffe, the founder of Yo! Sushi. The club, which features cosy leather sofas and cavernous bar areas, runs an online directory for members to trade and do deals with each other.
The £150 joining fee, plus £450 a year membership, makes this club more expensive than many traditional networking groups. For example, a company with 21 to 30 employees can join the Federation of Small Businesses for just £320. Membership benefits include cheap insurance and legal advice.
But James Minter, the Adam Street founder, insists that the club is not poor value for money. “Today’s young business people do not regard lobbying and benefits as a priority,” he says.
“Our small membership numbers mean that I know each member and their needs, and can introduce the right people to each other in a very discreet way.”
Some of the new networking clubs are online. This enables young company owners to schmooze efficiently without even having to leave their desks. Clubs on the internet include ASmallWorld and LinkedIn.
The latter club’s site is built on the “six degrees of separation” theory — that you are only ever six handshakes away from meeting whoever you want to meet.
