Finding the One Relationship That Changes Everything (Transmission #334)
Every successful journey has a story of an instrumental connection or insight that changed the trajectory.
One relationship can—and does—change everything for a founder.
Meeting the person who opens the door to a meeting with your first customer. The one who worked with your future CMO a decade ago. The angel investor with ten years in your sector who puts $25k into your pre-seed round and introduces you to your future Series A lead. The person who loves your product and checks in every few months asking how they can help, giving you the confidence to keep going. The person who shares a hard-one lesson that convinces you not to make a pivot that would have killed your startup–or to make the pivot you’ve been afraid to commit to. The happy-hour conversation that finally gets you in front of your dream channel partner after twelve months of cold outreach.
For any of that to happen, you have to be in the room. You have to show up, be present, and stay open to new perspectives and ideas.
That’s what the new GEM Ambassador Program is designed to do: expand GEM’s presence through localized leadership in key markets and unlock more rooms to be in.
Thank you to our incredible first Ambassadors:
- NorCal: Mark Choey (Bay Area) and Heather Harmon (Sacramento + Bay Area)
- New York: Pierre Calzadilla
GEM Ambassadors cultivate authentic connections; in return, members gain deeper access to in-person touchpoints, trusted introductions, events in their city—plus motivation and support during the often-lonely founder journey. They are the table-setters for GEM chapters across the country, and eventually, the world.
We’re building on what Seattle members already experience, where dinners, happy hours, and coworking days are regular occurrences. Adding boots on the ground in New York and the Bay area gives founders and executives the support they need—so no one builds in isolation.
And that brings us back to how one relationship can change everything.
For GEM, the most obvious example is meeting Brian Mommsen in 2019. I’d hosted a couple dinners before that, but a Resident dinner is a whole different ballgame compared to a standard meal at a fancy restaurant. Without that one conversation, I might never have realized that dinners were the “thing” that GEMineers were craving—the place where founders get vulnerable, share what’s really going on, and cement friendships that last a lifetime.
Showing up is a huge piece of success. And I’m glad I was in the room at CREtech in 2019.
The GEM Ambassador program will open more doors for more founders—in the constant, ongoing quest to find the one relationship that changes everything.