The power of social capital

Einstein was wrong. The most powerful force in the world isn’t compound interest. It’s social capital.

As an Angel Investor, part of my job is to help connect founders with potential employees, customers, vendors, other investors, and anyone else who can help them along in their journey.

In the process, I get the opportunity to meet a lot of people. A LOT.

And, after over a decade of aggregating both financial capital and social capital, I can confidently say that the greatest impact I’ve made as an investor hasn’t been my startup investments. It has been my investments in people and relationships.

The concept is simple — The more you help the people around you, the more they help you.

It’s referred to as social capital. And it compounds better than any other financial asset I’ve ever invested in.

The catch, however, is that you never know when or how your efforts will pay off. It requires you to help others with no expectation that they’ll immediately return the favor.

Sometimes the act of service is returned unprompted — The person you helped finds an opportunity to help you.

More often, though, this “social capital” gives you the opportunity to ask for help from those you’ve helped in the past. Without fail, they’re *happy* for the opportunity to return the favor.

The dirty little secret is that the world isn’t as scary and horrible as many make it out to be. At their core, humans have an innate desire to help each other.

All it requires is for someone to take that first step.

Believe me — Social capital will change your life.