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Meet Adam Rifkin, The Godfather of Silicon Valley

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If there were a gate to Silicon Valley, Adam Rifkin is the person at the tollboth. I can’t tell you how many times people tell me, “oh do you know Adam Rifkin.” I shout yes with such pride. Adam is well connected. More importantly than that he is friggin awesome and exceptionally nice. Most people who know a lot of others, you expect to be salespeople and networkers but Adam is just an all-around good guy. I thought you would like to read more about him.

1- How did you get to know so many people?

One by one, over the course of many years.

When I first spent time in Silicon Valley, in 2000, I knew very few people. I asked the few people I knew who they recommended I talk with. I asked for introductions and met with those people, one by one, over coffee or lunch or drinks, and somewhere in the conversation I asked who *they* recommended I talk with. In those days I had a lot of time and didn’t know a lot of people, so I followed up with everyone who was recommended to me.

Nowadays, I don’t have much time, but I still like to meet new people. So lately I meet people by being introduced to them by someone else I know. LinkedIn is very helpful for meeting new people through someone I know.

2- What is the secret to building good relationships with people?

Focus, listen, share, maintain.

Focus on things in common with them that you’re interested in, too, both professionally and personally. Listen to what they say about those things, and also listen to what they don’t say. Share information and connections. Maintain a balance between doing favors for them, and asking them to do favors for you.

3- How is your company,Renkoo going to succeed?

We want to succeed by designing an application that is useful, beautiful, and fun.

We get a lot of feedback about our product, and we have lots of ideas of our own, so we need to strike a balance between listening to our users and following our own instincts. Our development process has changed recently to accommodate a lot of small releases of new features and designs rather than a few big releases. We’re eager to roll out Renkoo’s new code base, and then continually improve our offerings with a lot of small releases.

adam rifkin

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11 Responses to “Meet Adam Rifkin, The Godfather of Silicon Valley”

  • Brian
    November 16th, 2006
    11:04 am

    You’re right. Adam is the most genuine, intelligent guy I in SV. If you don’t know him you should b/c he’ll make you better. Thanks Adam for the intro to Noah!

  • Shivani
    November 16th, 2006
    5:43 pm

    Adam’s the greatest! He’s one of the only guy in the valley, so far that I’ve met, who knows more than 2 female entrepreneurs!

  • wen-wen lam
    November 16th, 2006
    6:15 pm

    nice fro adam!

  • Skip Tracer
    November 16th, 2006
    10:14 pm

    Cool. Good luck with Renkoo.

  • Web Things, by Mark Baker » Blog Archive » links for 2006-11-17
    November 16th, 2006
    10:22 pm

    [...] Meet Adam Rifkin, The Godfather of Silicon Valley at Okdork.com Apparently he finds karma. (tags: ifindkarma adamrifkin) [...]

  • mike mettler
    November 17th, 2006
    12:37 am

    It’s all true - he’s rockin. Adam, bring back the beard!

  • Ankur Luthra
    November 17th, 2006
    10:49 am

    I met Adam at the Entrepreneur vs VC wine taste off of yours, Noah. He is SUCH a nice guy! Very rare to find smart, successful, AND humble entrepreneurs like Adam

  • Noah Kagan
    November 17th, 2006
    12:27 pm

    Ankur and Mike. I didn’t know it would take an Adam Rifkin to break your blog comment virginity;) Did the godfather make you do it?

  • Bessed
    November 20th, 2006
    12:24 am

    Adam Rifkin…

    What are the best sites for Adam Rifkin? Depends on which Adam Rifkin you’re searching for. We’ve started with these. What else should be here, and who’s the most “important “Adam Rifkin?
    1. IMDb: Adam Rifkin - Comprehensi…

  • Rod Ebrahimi
    November 21st, 2006
    7:49 pm

    without a doubt, even the un-bearded Adam is a solid and sharp guy ;)

  • Happy Holidays from Team Renkoo at Okdork.com
    December 26th, 2006
    4:35 pm

    [...] The godfather gets whatever he wants;) [...]

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