Activating your network just got easier

We’ve all heard the saying it’s not what you know, but who you know. And while we’d argue that what you know is pretty important too, there’s definitely truth to the idea that your success as a business relies on the strength of your network.

Connecting with people means connecting to opportunities — chances to secure funding, grow your audience, forge partnerships, and access other resources that have the power to take you to the next level. Find the right people, open the right doors, and good things are bound to happen.

But making those connections isn’t always so simple. Networking can be a pretty time-consuming, manual process. And what you put in isn’t always what you get out (anyone whose spent days making small talk at conferences or sending emails into the void knows what we’re talking about).

So we asked ourselves: what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if we could leverage technology to make connecting to the right people easier? To help organizations access the resources they need? That’s exactly what we set out to do.

But before we go any further, there’s something we need to say: most organizations already have a huge untapped resource at their disposal. Your board members, investors, and advisors make up one of the most powerful assets you have. They can contribute an immense amount of expertise, connections, and hands-on support. Plus you know they’re already invested in your success.

The key to tapping into all that value is in knowing how to activate your board. And we think activating your board shouldn’t create more work for you or your board members. So that’s where we come in.

This month, we launched a new integration that allows you to pool your network and quickly identify valuable connections. Here’s how it works:

Surfboard makes it easy for everyone—board members, investors, advisors, friends and supporters—to sync their LinkedIn connections to your shared workspace. All they have to do is sign in to their LinkedIn accounts and opt-in to sharing it with you. When they do, we compile the lists to create your collective network in a single, easy-to-scan place so you can quickly identify who you want an intro to.

From there, we automate the entire process, helping you leverage your board’s network via a streamlined request system. Need to ask if someone is able to make an intro? Just click a button and we’ll send the request for you. Need to draft the intro email on their behalf? We’ve got you covered. We’ll even track each step of the process—and send reminders to follow up—so you never have to question where things stand.

No more scrolling through endless LinkedIn pages just to find a lead or two. No more tediously writing email after email, wondering if you’ll even get a response. And no more manually keeping track of who you’ve asked what.

By tapping into your existing network, we make it easy to leverage the connections you already have, and turn them into tangible opportunities to help you grow and scale. It’s part who you know and part who they know.

As a result, more and more of our companies are able to unlock new resources, whether they’re startups connecting to VCs for potential funding, or nonprofits connecting with prospective donors. We’ve seen the power of activating your collective network firsthand—when everybody chips in, you can do more by doing less.