Overhear and Hustle

I recently had coffee meetings on consecutive days and in both meetings, I was approached by people sitting close to me who overheard my conversations. While sometimes this can be disruptive, in these instances, valuable connections were made and products were actually sold. I really appreciate the hustle of the people who overheard my conversations, so I wanted to write about them. First, I met with someone who was interested in helping out with ribl. We met at Starbucks to get to know each other and toss around some ideas. During our conversation, we stumbled upon the topic of fashion and technology, and at that time, a guy sitting next to us overheard us and started talking about how he's trying to grow the fashion ecosystem in DC by building District House DC and invited us to upcoming events. We all traded contact information and pledged to keep in touch.

The following day, I had coffee with a local venture capitalist and we discussed startups that were interesting to us. We started talking about content and publishing companies, and immediately a man who goes by the name DanielDaPoet walked up to our table and talked about how he spent a few years in jail and was now rebuilding his life by publishing memoirs. He pitched to us a $5 pamphlet of poems that he wrote about his time in jail, and the VC and I each bought a copy. He also asked whether we would help market his products, and we traded contact info. I appreciated and am inspired by the hustle of Daniel.

Meeting and working in public spaces like coffee shops can foster serendipitous encounters. Your conversation may be overheard and people may interrupt, but sometimes these interruptions can be helpful and inspiring. One day, you might be that person overhearing another conversation and benefitting from it. I hope you found this interesting! If so, please connect with me on Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn for future updates. Photos courtesy of Wayvs and Danger Zone Beatz