Episode Details

Marc Nathan is an experienced leader in the startup community, super connector, and founder of T Squared Agency, where he helps companies with business development, fundraising strategy, investor introductions, and strategic advisory. With decades of experience connecting founders, investors, executives, and service providers, Marc has built a career around creating meaningful relationships—and turning those relationships into real business opportunities. He shares how he discovered his talent for networking, why the best connections aren't transactional, and how playing the long game has helped him build a powerful professional network.

On this episode we talk about:

• How Marc made his first money building and selling computers as a teenager

• Why meaningful networking is about helping people rather than making immediate sales

• How Marc turned his ability to connect people into a consulting and fundraising business

• The realities and risks of investing in startups, including why most deals don't work out

• How to build and maintain long-term relationships through genuine care, consistent follow-up, and giving first

• Building a personal brand through LinkedIn, content, and "presence marketing"

• Why hosting your own events can become a powerful networking and relationship-building strategy

Top 3 Takeaways

1. Don't make networking transactional. The best networkers focus on understanding people's problems and helping them solve those problems, even when there is no immediate benefit in return. Marc has built relationships that have come back to him 10 or 15 years later because he played the long game.

2. Care is the foundation of lasting relationships. Marc's one-word business plan for maintaining relationships is "care." Stay in touch, send people useful information, make introductions, and genuinely want to see the people in your network succeed.

3. Create platforms that bring people together. Marc's monthly consumer packaged goods meetup started as a simple coffee gathering and eventually grew into one of Austin's premier events. Creating your own platform gives you a reason to consistently connect, help, and introduce other people.

Notable Quotes

• "The number one don't is don't be transactional."

• "If you care about somebody, you want to see them succeed."

• "It's not so much about the noise, it's about the signal."

Connect with Marc Nathan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc1919/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcnathan1919

• Other: T Squared Agency

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