The tech industry relies heavily on relationships and connecting with people. Like golf, cycling is a great way for investors and executives to socialize and strike deals. Our own Ali Behnam has been riding for work and fun for 17 years and shares why cycling is his networking activity of choice.
(DealBook) Cycling Matches the Pace and Pitches of Tech
Thinking he needed to take up a “California sport,” Greg Gretsch started cycling in 1988, when he moved to the Bay Area to work in marketing at Apple after graduating from the University of Georgia. He bought a 10-speed road bike and joined a group of other Apple employees for a standing noon ride.
“I think I went four miles before I got dropped,” he said, a reference to being left behind by faster riders.
Today, Mr. Gretsch, 49, is a founding partner with San Francisco-based Jackson Square Ventures, which makes early-stage investments in fledgling companies, including a social network and performance-tracking app for athletes call Strava. He rides an average of five days a week on paved roads in the Bay Area and on trails near his second home near Lake Tahoe. Cycling is primarily for exercise and escape, he said, but it has also been good for his career.