Sam Meek: Networking For Your Career And Building a Startup To Replace Moto Mail

How did the military prepare this Marine to a hedge fund and then founding his own startup?

Sam Meek left the Marine Corps as a Sergeant and went on to become the VP of marketing for a billion dollar hedge fund. He is now the founder and CEO of Sandboxx, a mobile app company that is disrupting snail mail. In this interview we talk about his career path, lessons learned, and how you can maximize your military skills.

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Insights From The Interview

  • Why you should treat every networking opportunity as a potential job interview. 
  • How connections can trump credentials for snagging a job.
  • How Sam figured out the right problem around which to start a business.
  • Sam's method for connecting with top influencers can help you network better.
  • Start building a relationship with everybody you talk to.
  • The importance of a relationship management system and how to make one to track your contacts.
  • What to do in an interview, even when you're completely unprepared.
  • People hire people that they want to work with -- make people feel loved.
  • Figure out your "go to" military stories. The ones you can use to connect with people, even if they don't have a military background.
  • What to do when your job description is broad. How to carve out your role.
  • How making little tweaks can make a big impact at your job.
  • How to find the right team to build and execute on a business idea.

Resources

  • Check out Sandboxx.us and start sending mail through your phone.
  • Sam mentioned Pipedrive as a CRM that tripled his productivity.
  • You can find out more about Sam on LinkedIn or reach out to him via e-mail or twitter @swmeek.
Download
Here's a simple relationship management spreadsheet you can use to track contacts.
CRM-template.xlsx
Microsoft Excel Table 64.7 KB

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