Networking and Partnerships for Startups by Co-Founder of LinkedIn. Guericke gives great tips on finding and researching people. Even tips on how to research your competition. Guericke gave the presentation at StartupDay 2010. http://www.seattle20.com/startupday

1. Networking for Founders My Top 7 Tips for Using LinkedIn Beyond Hiring, Getting a Job and Re-Connecting Konstantin Guericke http://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantin

2. Tip 1: Find entrepreneurs who worked on something similar to learn what worked in the market/product and what didn’t

3. http:// www.linkedin.com /search

4. Tip 2: Find out how many/what kind of people the competition has. And interview people who left.

5. http://www.linkedin.com/companies

6. Tip 3: Find and get in touch with experts in your market, technology and customer segment.

7. http://www.linkedin.com/myGroups http://www.linkedin.com/answers http:// polls.linkedin.com

8. Tip 4: Do your due diligence on co-founders and early employees. Errors are hard to fix.

9. http://www.linkedin.com/ rs

10. Tip 5: Find freelancers you can rely on in precarious moments and who work for stock options.

11. http://www.linkedin.com/services

12. Tip 6: Line up meetings with likely investors and prepare a personalized pitch.

14. Tip 7: Find charter customers and build the buzz for your launch.

15. http://www.linkedin.com/ directads