the rumors are true. networking still works.

even in this world of AI slop and bullshit — maybe especially because of it.

let me say something that’s gonna sound boring before it sounds smart.

networking still works. in person. in real life. shaking hands and exchanging cards and walking up to strangers at a chamber of commerce luncheon. yes. that still works. that especially works right now.

i know it’s not the answer anyone wants to hear in 2026. everyone wants the AI hack. everyone wants the automation. everyone wants the cold email sequence that runs on autopilot while they sleep. and listen — i love AI. AI has genuinely helped me as a black queer founder go toe to toe with competitors who have ten times my budget. i’m building ten apps because of AI. i’m not anti-AI. i would not be where i am without it.

but here’s what i’ve noticed after running my own numbers honestly. my most valuable customers, my best leads, the deals that actually close, the relationships that compound — they’ve come from being in a room with another human being.

not from a cold email. not from an instagram dm. not from a viral post. a room. a handshake. a real conversation.

that’s the part nobody wants to admit because it doesn’t scale and it doesn’t trend.

why this matters more now, not less

think about what’s happening to everyone’s inbox.

cold outreach is dying because AI made it free to do badly. every founder is firing off 500 personalized emails a day that aren’t actually personalized. every linkedin message looks the same. every dm sounds like it was written by the same chatbot.

we’re drowning in AI slop. and the people on the receiving end have completely tuned it out. open rates are crashing. reply rates are worse. attention is the scarcest resource left and AI just made it scarcer.

so what cuts through? being in the room. being a real person across the table from another real person. that has actually gotten more valuable as the digital noise has gotten louder.

the founders who figure this out first are going to eat.

but here’s where most people get networking wrong

they go to any event. they treat networking like a numbers game. they show up to whatever has free drinks and a step-and-repeat banner and call it a strategy.

that’s not networking. that’s collecting business cards while losing your weekends.

real networking starts with picking the right rooms. and “right” doesn’t mean popular, busy, or impressive on instagram. it means the people you actually need to be in front of are going to be there.

here’s the filter i use now, and it’s changed everything:

i only attend events where my ICP — my ideal customer profile — is going to physically be. that’s it. that’s the whole rule. if my customer isn’t in that room, i don’t care how prestigious the event is. i am focused on finding my customers or those who can distribute my apps to my ICP.

for myself and my businesses, that means chamber of commerce events, local business luncheons, small business owner summits, indie hacker meetups, bootstrapper gatherings — anywhere the decision makers and founders i actually serve gather in person. that’s where the spa owners with marketing budgets are. that’s where the small saas founders who need real seo are sitting at a round table eating chicken. different rooms for different products, but same principle every time. find where they already gather.

the pre-research nobody does

here’s the move that separates founders who network well from founders who waste their time. you do the work before you walk in.

before i commit to any event, i do three things:

look at the past events. who attended last time? what kind of people show up? if they post photos or a guest list or even just the title sponsors, i can get a pretty good read in five minutes on whether i belong in that room or not.

reach out to someone who attended. i’ll dm someone who posted about being there and just ask — was it worth it? did people actually network or did everyone stand on their phones? are decision makers there or is it mostly other vendors? was the crowd warm or cliquey? are people open to being approached?

people will tell you. people love being asked. five minutes of dms saves you a wasted afternoon and gas money.

check the vibe match. some rooms are great rooms with the wrong people for me. an event can be incredibly well run and still be a complete dead end for what i sell. if past events have been mostly enterprise saas vendors and my product is for solopreneurs, no amount of charisma is going to make that room convert. i pass.

this kind of filtering is what most people skip because it feels like overkill. it isn’t. your time is more expensive than you realize. one afternoon at the wrong event is one less afternoon shipping product.

what AI is actually good for in networking

here’s where i’ll bring it back, because i’m not anti-AI, i’m pro-using-AI-for-the-right-things.

AI is incredible for the preparation layer of networking. before an event, i’ll use AI to research the attendee list, look up the companies that’ll be there, build a quick brief on the three to five people i actually want to meet, and pre-draft talking points. that work used to take hours. now it takes minutes.

AI is also great for the follow-up layer. personalized outreach to the specific people i met, with specific references to the specific conversation we had. that’s not slop. that’s intentional follow-up that AI just makes faster.

but the actual conversation in the middle? the handshake, the eye contact, the laugh at the buffet line, the moment somebody decides they like you enough to take your call next week? that is a human thing. and it will remain a human thing.

AI shouldn’t replace the handshake. AI should make sure you walked into the room ready for it.

the part i need you to internalize

we got sold a story that the internet would replace in-person business. it didn’t. it never will. it changed the mix, but it didn’t kill the original thing.

and now, with everyone hiding behind AI, the founders who are still willing to put on real clothes, drive to a luncheon, sit at a table with strangers, and have an actual conversation — those are the founders quietly building the most durable businesses.

it’s unsexy. it’s slow. it doesn’t scale. it works.

so here’s my honest advice for the rest of this year:

pick three rooms. just three. rooms where your ICP actually is. do the research before you go. show up consistently. shake hands. follow up. compound those relationships.

watch what happens to your pipeline in 90 days.

i’m documenting all of it — the events, the outreach, the deals that close in person versus the ones that close online, the real ratios. if you want the actual playbook instead of more “automate everything” hype, subscribe and come build with me.

cheers…to being in the room. ❤️