Doing Deals?

Deal making is both art and science. It is the art of knowing the right people. You must be able to get to see people with money and people who can facilitate your business. You must be able to be a "dream merchant". selling to the right buyers you vision. It is a science because you must deliver on the facts, the elements of the business, and the numbers.

Now the NY Times business writer extols some web based entity that has a database that tells one who is connected to whom and ultimately tells you how you can through your own connections ultimately get to the person you seek.

For example, say I want to pitch Mr. X at entity A. It tells me that I know Ms. Z at B and she knows Ms. Y at C and she knows Mr. X at A. Thus I should speak to Ms. Z and ask her to speak to Ms. Y who will of course speak to Mr. X. Yeah, like it really works like that!

The problems are as follows:

1. Often Mr. X prizes his channels of communications and if one is close to Mr. X, well you just do not tell too many people, and if they know, you really do not bring them to Mr. X. If you do then Mr. X will soon cut off the relationship.

2. If you want to get value from Mr. X, and Ms. Y and/or Ms. Z know it, they will most likely want a piece of the deal. What do they look like, chopped liver?

And the problems go on. Deal making is complex, and often there are unexpected twists and turns. It is often based upon years of building trust and success, of trading favors, of having a track record, and of mutual benefit. It is not accomplished via another Facebook like app.