Over 15 years ago, the Swedish Tax Agency rolled out a plan to reorganize its functions with a max 150 employees per office. Participants of the Hamburg-based social network XING (a major one in Germany), who had about 157 contacts reportedly had the highest level of job offer success.
How many stable social relationships frequently bring new business your way?
Dunbar’s number — first proposed in the 1990s by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar — suggests that humans can maintain stable social relationships with about 150 people. This number is often broken down into smaller circles of closer relationships, such as 50 close friends, 15 very close friends.
Some folks argued that startup founders with high local connectedness — quality relationships with circa 25 other founders, 10 experts, eight investors — double the revenue growth of those with low connectedness.
You can have amazing investors, mentors, and supporters all over the world
Do all of those investors, founders and mentors/experts have to be in your geo vicinity? Technology makes it easy to stay connected and collaborate no matter the distance. You can have amazing investors, mentors, and supporters all over the world. So, while it’s great to have local connections, it’s definitely not the only option.
The denser your city’s innovation cluster is, the more likely it is that attending a networking event — or just crossing a neighborhood to get to one — will result in a new customer or startup partner.
The concept of high local connectedness, with its focus on quality relationships with 25 founders, 8 investors, and 10 experts, aligns somewhat with Dunbar’s number which skews towards the importance of quality relationships over sheer quantity. The high local connectedness model prioritizes strong connections with key individuals, which is more likely to lead to meaningful support and collaboration.
But how do you decide which of the limited number of individuals are KEY? Priorities tend to change with the course of time..
Dunbar’s number suggests that we have a limited capacity for maintaining strong social relationships. By focusing on a smaller, more intimate network of founders, investors, and experts, startup founders can maximize the benefits of these connections.
How many of the current connections that you have on LinkedIn — or folks that email you on a regular basis — truly make your circle of Dunbar’s number folks?
How many more do you believe you need to add over the course of next year?
Get in touch with 5,000 Cities — let’s brainstorm about it!
