We talk a lot about one type of capital. Financial.

But there’s another that’s silent, and just as important. Social capital.

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Here’s what nobody tells you when you’re starting out: your response rate on a cold email is tied less to the words, and a lot more to the (perceived) social capital behind the sender. Same email, two different responses, two different outcomes.

That’s the reality.

Some of it you can’t change. Where you were born, how you look, your affiliated known institutions.

But a lot of it you can build. And here’s the part most early founders miss: you have to build it long before you need it.

The founder raising next quarter is too late. The founder hiring next month is too late. By the time you make the ask, the work should already be done.

I’ve built mine over the last decade, through doing the best work I could. Through writing, the podcast, showing up consistently for operators and founders, and being known for something. Most of what carries me today started as work I did years before I needed it.

The good news: you can do this authentically and strategically. Those aren’t opposites.

5 ways to start now:

1. Do great work: Be known to be thoughtful, reliable, consistent, and to do great work, and simply do what you say you will do. You’d be surprised how rare that is, and how quickly it differentiates you.
2. Speak about the work you do. Write, post, share what you’re learning. Not for followers, for the surface area. People you’ve never met will know what you stand for before they meet you.

2. Be specific. Don’t be generally “around.” Be known for something. The founders who compound fastest have a sharp, repeatable angle. If people ask about them, the feedback is often always consistent. That’s the importance of character influencing reputation.

3. Spend, don’t hoard. Make introductions you won’t get credit for. Share intel freely. Always give more than you take. Genuinely champion people earlier than is comfortable. Social capital spent compounds and capital hoarded decays.

4. Pick your rooms. One thoughtful operator community beats fifty random networking events. Go where the people you want to know already gather, show up authentically, that way it scales without effort. You are who you are all the time, constantly.

5. Show up authentically, consistently. Don’t underestimate the power of showing up. It’s actually not about just volume. Nurture relationships genuinely. Social capital is built through deliberate actions over time, not one thing. Five years of useful presence beats one strong week. Find ways to show up that give you energy, not deplete them.

None of this is slimy if you’re genuinely useful. The mistake is treating relationships as a means to an end. The work is the relationship.

So, to the day-zero founder reading this with no warm intros, no fund alumni list, no name that opens doors:Pick one of the five. Start this week. Be useful for the next twelve months without asking for anything in return.

Yours,

Maria Rotilu

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