Find your mafia

Networking is a key part to success. You need to find your mafia, groups of people you can call on to help with business, advice or job hunting.

I try to find different mafias, some centered around my b-school friends, some centered around my old workplaces.

Coming from Canada, I also spend a lot of time with the Canadian mafia here in Silicon Valley.

Here’s an excerpt and a link to an article I wrote that talks about Canadians in Silicon Valley and our relationship to Canada

I’m from Toronto and I’ve been in tech for more than 15 years. A lot of my friends are also Canadians in tech. In fact, I got my last three jobs through my network of other Canadians in tech. I’ve done deals with other Canadians in tech.

We go to tech conferences together. We go to evening socials and networking groups together. Of course, there are always hockey and baseball games to go to. We know each others’ kids.

We do a lot of things you’d expect a network of Canadians in tech would do, except for one. We don’t live in Canada – we live in Silicon Valley.

The value of pitching a return home to Canada’s tech expats