Importance of Networking

There’s a missed opportunity in the investment world: over 95% of capital remains allocated to non-diverse funds. This leaves diverse-led funds undercapitalized, despite their proven ability to outperform. This disparity isn’t just about fairness — it’s about untapped potential. A report from the National Association of Investment Companies (NAIC) highlights systemic barriers: smaller commitments to diverse-managed funds, higher asset requirements and inconsistent support from corporate and union pension funds. These challenges restrict market growth and limit wealth creation in communities that could benefit most. Addressing these disparities is critical to building a more dynamic and equitable financial ecosystem. When diverse leaders manage funds, they bring unique perspectives, broader networks and innovative strategies that drive returns and create lasting economic impact. This mission is personal to me. Throughout my career, I’ve championed initiatives to expand opportunities for underrepresented entrepreneurs and fund managers. By supporting diverse leadership in finance, we not only unlock growth but also help close the #racialwealthgap and foster sustainable change. It’s time to reimagine how we allocate capital — embracing equality as both a value and a strategy. Together, we can fuel innovation, empower communities and strengthen our economy.

Your Network is Your Net Worth…But Not in the Way You Think. We’ve all heard this phrase a hundred times. “Your network can get you opportunities.” “Your connections define your success.” “It’s all about who you know.” But here’s the catch: Networking isn’t about collecting contacts. It’s about building connections that actually count. You can have 10,000 LinkedIn connections and still feel stuck. You can attend every networking event and still get no real opportunities. You can send hundreds of DMs and still hear nothing but silence. So, what really makes networking valuable? 1. The quality of your connections. Your network isn’t just about numbers. It’s about the kind of people you surround yourself with. If you’re around action-takers, you grow. If you’re around complainers, you stay stuck. 2. The way you contribute. The best networkers don’t just seek help. They offer value first. People remember those who genuinely help them. The more you give, the more you get. 3. The depth of your relationships. A strong bond with five people will take you further than a weak connection with 500. Your network should be more than just names in your contact list. Build relationships, not just connections. Networking isn’t just about meeting people. It’s about staying valuable, being intentional, and building real relationships. So, instead of asking “How can I grow my network?” Ask “How can I build meaningful connections?” That’s where the real value lies. What’s one connection that changed your career or life? Share in the comments. #buildingnetwork

🌐Ever wondered what happens when you type a URL into your browser? Let’s break it down step by step! 🔍 1️⃣ Enter the URL When you type something like "www.slsitsolutions.com" and hit Enter, your browser’s first job is to translate the URL into an IP address. This mapping is usually stored in various caches (browser, OS, local, ISP) for quicker access. If it’s not found, it asks the DNS resolver to look it up. 2️⃣ DNS Lookup If the IP address isn’t cached, the browser performs a recursive DNS lookup by querying DNS servers until it finds the correct IP. 3️⃣ Establish a Secure Connection Once the IP is found, the browser sends an HTTP request to the server. For security, HTTPS is used to establish an encrypted connection. The browser and server complete a handshake to share encryption keys, ensuring secure data exchange. 4️⃣ Rendering the Content The server processes the request and sends back a response (status code 200). The browser then receives and parses the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to render the content, displaying the website to the user. #Tech #WebDevelopment #DNS #HTTPS #CyberSecurity #Browser #Networking #LearnWithMe Logos and trademarks are the properties of their respective owners!

AI Data Centers Eat Fiber Faster Than We Can Build The AI infrastructure race started with GPUs. Now, it is rapidly becoming a fiber and connectivity race. Hyperscalers and content/cloud networks already account for roughly 75% of global used international bandwidth. And AI is adding another major layer of demand. That pressure is spreading across the entire network: → Inside data centers → Between data centers → Across metro and terrestrial backbones → Across subsea networks Optical technology is moving fast: 400G → 800G → 1.6T → 3.2T We can squeeze more capacity from existing fiber with faster optics, more wavelengths and better spectral efficiency. But eventually, we need more physical infrastructure. More fiber. More routes. More subsea capacity. And the investment cycle is already accelerating. Subsea cable investment is expected to exceed $13B between 2025 and 2027, roughly double the previous three-year period. At the same time, hyperscalers are increasingly building global connectivity infrastructure themselves. Meta’s Project Waterworth plans more than 50,000 km of subsea cable across five continents, while Google continues expanding its own terrestrial and subsea footprint. Something fundamental is changing: Hyperscalers are no longer only customers of telecom infrastructure. They are increasingly becoming builders and owners of it. The AI boom may have started inside the data center. But its impact will reach all the way to the ocean floor. #AI #DataCenters #FiberOptics #Subsea #Telecom #DigitalInfrastructure

A follow-up to something I posted earlier… The most valuable person in your network probably has nothing to do with your industry. That sounds backwards. But here's what most people miss about networking: The connections that look "irrelevant" create the most exponential growth. The ones that seem "practical" just keep you moving in straight lines. I think about people in my life who have made a real difference, like Michael Roderick, a friend who used to be a Broadway producer and inspired me on my journey to start writing musical theater. As I write about in The Long Game, there are three types of networking most people never distinguish: Short-Term Networking: You connect because you need something now. It feels transactional because it is. People sense the agenda immediately. Long-Term Networking: You build relationships in your field over time. Smart professionals do this consistently. But it's the baseline, not the breakthrough. Infinite Horizon Networking: This is where exponential growth happens. You connect with people completely outside your sphere. Not because you need something. Because they spark curiosity. The astronaut who changes how you think about systems. The comedian who teaches you timing in presentations. The dog breeder who shows you patience in development. These connections seem impractical. They won't help you close a deal next quarter. But here's the paradox: When you stop optimizing for immediate relevance, you start accessing ideas no one else in your field has. You think differently. You solve problems differently. You become unforgettable in a sea of people with identical networks. Your greatest opportunities emerge from conversations you never expected to have. Networking isn't just a business tool. It's about becoming more curious. More creative. More human. When you connect out of genuine curiosity, you don't just build a network. You become someone worth knowing. It's the most rewarding investment you can make in your personal and professional life. Think about the people in your life who inspire you most - and ways you can begin to spend even more time with people outside your sphere.

6 Follow Up Templates That Keep Networking Conversations Alive: 1. The Value-First Follow Up Aim to add value to an initiative you know they're working on: "Hi Sarah, saw your company just announced the new product launch. I came across this article on similar launches in your industry. Thought it might spark some ideas for your marketing strategy. Hope the launch prep is going smoothly!" 2. The Specific Question Angle Asking specific questions shows credibility and can get you info you can use to add value: "Hey David, been thinking about our coffee chat last week. You mentioned struggling with team retention in H2. Have you tried implementing "retention interviews" yet? I saw 3 companies in tech reduce turnover by 40% using them, here's a link to that data." 3. The Introduction Offer Networking is hard (as you know!). Offering to make an intro is a great way to add value to two people: "Hi Jessica, following up from our chat. You mentioned needing a UI/UX designer for that new AI feature. My former colleague Anna just went freelance and she's brilliant. She redesigned our entire app in 6 weeks last year. Happy to make an intro if you're still looking!" 4. The Industry Update Hook Leveraging a shift in the market or industry can be a great way to spark a follow up conversation: "Hey Marcus, did you see [Company]'s new Slack-free hours announcement? It directly impacts what we discussed about interrupted work and team output. Could be something worth looking into for your team?" 5. The Achievement Celebration Everyone loves to be recognized for their achievements. Be that person! "Lisa! Just saw you got promoted to VP on LinkedIn. I remember you mentioned being in an interview process when we met for coffee. I know how stressed you were about the interview with the C-Level. Looks like you crushed it! Would love to hear about your new role if you're up for a chat in the next week or two." 6. The Resource Share Sharing resources aligned with your contact's needs is one of the best ways to stay top of mind: "Hi Tom, I know you'd mentioned how much time your sales team was spending on pre-qualification. A connection of mine just shared an AI automation flow that solves for that exact problem. He said it's saved his team 15+ hours per week and led to more sales. I grabbed a copy if you'd like to see it. Just let me know!" —— ➕ Follow Austin Belcak for more 🔵 Ready to land your dream job? Click here to learn more about how we help people land amazing jobs in ~3.5 months with a $44k raise: https://lnkd.in/gdysHr-r

AWS US-EAST-1 went down yesterday. And a lot of “compliant” companies went down with it. In SOC 2, the Availability criteria is supposed to test how resilient your systems are. But most auditors stop at questions like: “Are you hosted in multiple Availability Zones?” (wouldn’t have helped) or “Is your data replicated across regions?” That’s not enough. Because if your failover isn’t tested and automated, multi-region means nothing. A tabletop exercise doesn’t prove resilience. A DR document doesn’t guarantee uptime. A clean SOC 2 report doesn’t mean your architecture is built to survive a regional outage. This is exactly why GRC Engineering matters. We need auditors and companies who understand architecture, who can validate that “resilience” isn’t a checkbox, it’s a system design. Half the internet is down today, including 9,000+ customers. We need auditors who’s spidey senses start tingling when they hear “we’re hosted in us-east-1” How many of these customers have a clean SOC 2 report? And how many actually tested their BC/DR controls? GRC Engineering is the future because it isn’t about passing audits. It’s about making sure the evidence actually means something. #GRCEngineering #SOC2

Trillions in GPUs are only as fast as what connects them. This week’s Spotlight is: Optical Connectivity Is AI's Next Infrastructure Bet GPUs are no longer the hard part of scaling AI infrastructure. Connecting them is. At today’s bandwidth requirements, copper cabling hits a physical wall at about a meter and a half. As a result, optical AI connectivity has become the most important infrastructure opportunity to emerge after GPUs. Optical connectivity, moving data at the speed of light, is the connective tissue of AI infrastructure. Optical moves data at scale, cuts latency, and controls power consumption in ways copper can't. The market that follows is expected to exceed $100B over the next five to seven years. There are two distinct but intertwined networking challenges: – Scale-out: connecting thousands of GPUs across racks, rows, and clusters. Every GPU requires multiple optical transceivers. – Scale-up: connecting GPUs within a rack at ultra-high bandwidth and low latency, directly chip-to-chip. Our portfolio company Lumilens recently came out of stealth - announcing more than $900 million in total funding at a valuation of $5.5 billion. Lumilens designs and manufactures optical transceivers and NPO/CPO for scale-out and scale-up, respectively, and treats manufacturing as a product in its own right, from chip assembly to high-volume production. It is building a connectivity platform for AI infrastructure. The market structure here mirrors earlier moments in Internet infrastructure in telecom: a small number of hyperscalers account for most AI infrastructure purchasing. Winning a hyperscaler can define a company. In the PC era, Intel and Microsoft captured the platform. In the Internet era, Cisco and Juniper powered the backbone. In the cloud era, Arista emerged. Each platform shift consolidates infrastructure first, then triggers an explosion of application innovation on top of it. AI is following the same pattern, only faster and on a greater scale. Bottom line: Optical connectivity is the missing infrastructure layer that makes AI clusters economically and performance-viable at scale, and the window to define that category is right now. Key signals from this week's roundup: Google assembled a roughly $200 billion financing machine to supply Anthropic with TPUs, Broadcom hardware, and data center capacity, and Anthropic followed by hiring its own chip design team, making model-hardware co-design table stakes for frontier labs. SpaceX and Tesla committed $16.8 billion to a Texas chip fab, the FCC began drafting a ban on new Chinese data center optical transceivers, and London's Olix raised  $312 million at a $3.3 billion valuation for photonic interconnect silicon. Per Crunchbase data, July ranked as the third-largest funding month of the year, with 14 billion-dollar rounds and $65 billion in global funding, 53% of it into AI. Full Weekend Edition below. 👇

Struggling with discovery calls? This one mental change can make the world of difference - Treat the call not as a way to sell or get to BANT or qualify. Instead, treat the call as someone giving you time to help them solve a challenge. Approach the call with the questions you’d need to ask to help them solve a challenge. The conversation will change so quickly because the call will become about them, not about you. **************************** Two quick scripts: Inbound: “I can tell you a million things about us, but would love to hear from you first - what challenges are you working through, what priorities do you have for the year ahead - would love to start there, if that’s okay?” Outbound: “I can tell you a bit about (business line that hooked the call) but would love to hear your challenges/priorities first, or to hear what I can share with you that would make the best use of your time today.” Both scripts: either ask for permission or ask them to kick us off typically get a deep sigh and then a looong stream of consciousness reply telling you exactly how to sell give you answers that circle around business pain (rare to get) over features/benefits (the standard, and where most calls go wrong). Bonus: once you know what they want, you need to understand WHY they want it and who not solving it is impacting. This is how you start to monetize pain, multithread, and build value. #samsales #perfectdiscoverycall

Most people think networking is about finding the next opportunity. I couldn't disagree more. To me, networking has never been about collecting business cards, adding LinkedIn connections, or reaching out only when I need something. It's about building genuine relationships over time; slowly, consistently, and authentically. Many of the opportunities that shaped my career, both as a professional (at PwC and Microsoft) and as an entrepreneur (at Pebble Ridge Capital Group (PRCG) and Insure Me Group (IMG)), didn't come from submitting apps or making cold intros. They came from people.     Someone I had stayed in touch with.     Someone who remembered a convo we had months or even years earlier.     Someone who opened a door I didn't even know existed. That taught me a lesson I'll never forget and one I now share with everyone:     Networking is a long-term investment, not a short-term transaction.     The best time to build your network isn't when you need something.     It's today. Stay connected. Check in. Celebrate other people's wins. Offer help without expecting anything in return. Because the strongest relationships are built long before they are ever needed.