Networking:

From the mid-80s to the 90s, systems and structures began to emerge that shifted a lot of
business owners from a single-minded focus of direct selling to a broader scope which
included relationship marketing and networking.
There’s no arguing that networking is still one of the most important parts of growing your
business. Choosing your best methods for networking, however, has become a somewhat
divisive topic. While some argue that the internet, all the modern tools it has brought with it
is the most scalable space for networking. Others insist that the traditional tactics of attending
events, calls and face-to-face meetings offer bigger opportunities to forge meaningful
connections.
There are several emerging issues and trends surrounding the process of networking that are
being created out of the need to find an effective way to develop business for entrepreneurs
and salespeople in this new century.
Networks among business units are gaining momentum in a broad variety of industries.
Current management literature posits that this organizational form can best meet the
requirements of the ‘new economy’, such as customer-orientation, tailored solutions and
minimized costs and time. Many authors have elaborated on potentials in reducing
transaction and coordination costs.Shaping and managing relationships among (independent)
business units, a concept we will refer to as Business Networking, is a key strategic element
in the ‘new economy’.
Business networking is an effective low-cost marketing method for developing sales
opportunities and contacts, based on referrals and introductions - either face-to-face at
meetings and gatherings, or by other contact methods such as phone, email, and increasingly
social and business networking websites.

The shortened term 'networking' can be confused with computer networking/networks, which
is different terminology, relating to connection and accessibility of multiple computer
systems.

A business network of contacts is both a route to market for you, and a marketing method.
Business networking offers a way to reach decision-makers which might otherwise be very
difficult to engage with using conventional advertising methods.

In addition, business networking brings with it the added advantage of recommendation and
personal introduction, which are always very helpful for developing business opportunities

Problems encountered while networking:

 Approaching strangers can be scary for a shy person or an introvert.

 Being prepared
  Avoiding followups

 ‘Beating around the bush’ tends to have lesser impact and a cause for lesser
connections.

 People don’t tend to listen and respect others opinion.

 People don’t tend to have a business card.

 Not trying to be oneself. (Being Two-faced)

 Tring to be too much work-oriented.

 Exiting a conversation.

Solutions for networking:

 People should try contacting connections from their alma-mater as they share a like
minded mentality and have gone through the same ecosystem. People should try
contacting alums once in a while to get used to the feature of ‘cold calling’.

 It is advisable to know who you truly are by having a SWOT analysis on oneself.

 Follow-ups ensures that you wish to develop relationships with the customer even if
the customer isn’t interested in the product. This in turn helps to establish one’s brand
presence.

 It is advised to have a crisp and clean talk while networking to ensure people with
whom you network consider you worthwhile of their time.

 It is as much important to listen to others opinions as voicing your own.

 It is advised to always have a business card handy, especially while working in

corporates, because people tend to forget names quite often and a card might just
serve a reminder.

 Trying to be as authentic as one is and providing a true reflection of oneself always

helps.

 Mentioning a hobby acts as an ice-breaker which helps to connect easily with like-
minded people.

 Closing a conversation abruptly causes a bad impression. It is recommended to choice

your words carefully which serves the purpose and doesn’t look informal.

https://www.businessballs.com/building-relationships/networking/
https://www.bni.com/the-latest/blog-news/trends-in-business-networking

https://www.cio.com/article/3219704/how-to-network-17-tips-for-shy-people.html#slide18

Porter’s five forces analysis ---LinkedIn

Industry rivalry – Competition: In the PNS industry, LinkedIn is the leader, with a great
distance from competitors like Viadeo and XING. However, its leadership can rapidly change
in a short period of time, because the peculiarities of this market, and how fast customers
preferences can evolve. “Additional features, new services and the variety of options
provided by the company, both with free solutions and monetized solutions, offer users
different choices, and with that, attracts many different segments on the industry of
professionals as individuals, companies, marketing agencies, etc. Both Viadeo and XING are
planning on reformulating their strategies from “glocalization” to internationalization as they
realize how connected the global market is and that presence only in Europe is acceptable but
not enough in the future.” Competitors have less available languages than LinkedIn, showing
a less internationalized strategy and also a focus on the European market. For example,
Viadeo is present in China with the brand Tianji.

Threat of new entrants If start a business in the field of PNS is not so difficult, likewise
cannot be said to success, which take many years to be built, with several investments and
brand identity awareness. Then there are the economies of scale of big player to fight.
LinkedIn also has a first mover advantage in the professional networking industry, which is a
strong competitive advantage. The threat of possible new entrants could come “from SNS
such as Facebook, Twitter or from job portals like Monster (www.monster.com), customer
relationship management market (www.salesforce.com) or even companies involved in the IT
market in general, for example Microsoft and its interest in Yammer (recently launched
PNS).“42 For SNSs, which have experience in manage a wider range of users and internet
traffic of data, just adding new services would be easy to “take a share on the market, or
creating alliances, joining efforts with smaller companies already providing additional
features and therefore, although LinkedIn is very-well-positioned, and its approach of
updating functions is accurate, preventive measure are key.”

Threat of substitute products or services “Possible substitutes can include SNSs,

depending on the fact that networking [...] can be done refering to Facebook or Twitter if they
want to know about opportunities in a company and they do not use or know PNSs. For
example, Online Marketing features can be used both to position a company and also to
attract new candidates and promote opportunities.”

Bargaining power of customers/buyers: Because customers as individuals, enterprises or

professional organizations are not concentrated their power to bargain is low. However,
because of the continue dynamics on businesses like PNS or SNS, a downturn can create an
immediate negative reputation and movement to other options. The absence of innovation or
the adaptation to the change in customers’ needs means a loss of market share. All this
scenario with no switching costs for users that can easily join other options. “Overall, users
might switch to competitors but LinkedIn provides good quality services (and consequently,
has good reputation), adds new features and responds to market needs, plus the current
membership support available, makes it well-positioned against this force.” Finally, since
LinkedIn is directly selling its services to the customers, there is no dependency on the
external distribution channels which further strengthens its bargaining power.
Bargaining power of suppliers: There are many services for this industry (from data storage
to applications for mobile phone) and providers often are bought as a common strategy to
internalize. For example the acquisition of SlideShare by LinkedIn in 2012 for $119.
“Overall, the position of LinkedIn is solid, as it is the clear leader, there are no strong
followers, it has international presence and provides many services to attract different
segments inside the market of professionals looking for online features. [...] The approach of
LinkedIn of buying suppliers, adding new services and adapting the websites’ feature to each
customers’ needs places then in a favourable position.” In general, since professional supplier
are spending significant amount of time and efforts to build their network and personal brand
on LinkedIn, it would be extremely expensive for them to switch to another professional
network in the future, enhancing the dependency of them on LinkedIn in the long term and
providing substantial competitive advantage to LinkedIn over its competitors.

Competitors of Metvy:

1.LinkedIn

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn is a company providing a professional networking website head

quartered in Sunnyvale US. It has a revenue of US$ 3 billion, net income of US$166 million
and about 9,732 employees.

It is funded by Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Bain Capital Ventures, Bessemer Venture

Partners and the European Founders Fund. LinkedIn reached profitability in March 2006.
Through January 2017, the company had received a total of $154.8 million of funding over 7
rounds.

Currently, the most active members are those who frequently need to contact professionals as
part of their job: recruiters, analysts, researchers, investment professionals, entrepreneurs and
management consultants. Hiring managers and job seekers also search on LinkedIn whenever
they need to identify top recruits or inside connections to employers. Relationships matter to
professionals across all industries and functions, and LinkedIn’s product initiatives aim to
make LinkedIn the most useful business web site. It also has its ‘Slideshare’ product under its
armoury.
The funding was based on the company’s rapid member growth, multiple business lines and
future opportunity. The funding was done considering current revenue streams which include
advertising, subscriptions, job listings and corporate hiring solutions. 

Microsoft credit LinkedIn as being one of the key drivers of the 14%, or $15.5 billion,
increase in revenue reported between 2018 and 2019. Total 2019 Microsoft revenue comes to
a total of $126 billion.
In recent years Microsoft’s transition towards a commercial cloud business has been widely
heralded. As of the 2019 financial year, LinkedIn commercial services have been included
been folded into Microsoft commercial cloud revenue. Over 2019, Microsoft commercial
cloud revenue was worth $38.1 billion, equal to around 30% of total revenue. The $38.1
billion figure represents a 43% increase on 2018 commercial cloud revenue.Microsoft’s
closest rival in this business area, Google, reported a mere $8 billion in comparison.

In terms of costs related to LinkedIn, Microsoft reported a 15% increase in R&D expenses in
2019 (equal to $2.2 billion) partially driven by investments in LinkedIn. Investment in
LinkedIn was also linked to a 4%/$744 million increase in sales & marketing expenses.
In 2018, LinkedIn’s operating loss increased to $987 million, $63 million up on 2017. This
was largely the result of amortisation of intangible assets – to the tune of $1.5 billion. We can
perhaps assume that these assets will be drivers of longer-term profitability.
Cost of LinkedIn revenue increased the same year, by $818 million to a total of $1.7 million,
due to $888 million of amortisation on acquired intangible assets. LinkedIn operating
expenses increased from $2.2 billion to $4.5 billion, with amortisation accounting for $617
million. The same figure is cited in reference to an increase in LinkedIn expenses, from $1.2
billion to $2.5 billion.
We don’t get specific figures pertaining to LinkedIn amortisation for 2019, but we do know
that amortisation expense for the company as a whole came to $1.9 billion. This compares to
$2.2 billion in 2018.
Predicted amortisation expense levels related to intangible assets for Microsoft as a whole are
predicted to stand at $1.5 billion in 2020, $1.3 billion in 2021, $1.2 in 2022, $1.1 billion in
2021, $0.7 billion in 2024, and $2 billion from that point onwards.

STRENGTHS:

Sufficient financial resources to fund projects:

LinkedIn has evolved into a big organisation from a small startup.It has spent money on
acquisitions such as Slideshare for $119 million and Pulse newsreader for $90 million. The
company has financial resources to develop project from the inside and provide its users with
new services.

Good Reputation as a brand:

For business and corporate executives,LinkedIn is their most important account on social
networks. Even During the recession the job market in many countries, it is the most common
platform for job seekers for opportunities and the companies to find candidates. Most of the
members trust LinkedIn as a source of information affecting their decision making process.
Additionally, it relies on the ‘word of mouth marketing’ and quality to bring new users
onboard.The addition of two new members per second is a sign that shows confidence for the
future.

Diversified Revenue Streams:

This provides the flexibility to not be reliant on onlt one source for revenue as it has multiple
platforms for revenue streams.
First Mover Advantage:
Being the first mover to the market of professional networks and current leader places,
LinkedIn is in a favorable position to act and establish future trends.

International Presence:
LinkedIn has users all over the world and not only in specific regions such as Viadeo and
Xing generally focus on Europe.

WEAKNESSES:

Privacy issues:
In 2012, a security breach and passwords of more than 6.5milion users were stolen and
posted online by hackers. Though this were only 5% of the accounts, it was a warning for the
company and members as well and a request for action from LinkedIn concerns this topic. It
is of utmost importance that the credentials of the users are in safe hands. LinkedIn did not
present solid anti-threat security measures on their servers at that time.
Inadequate presentation for some industries:
LinkedIn covers a wise range of professionals but it might not be adequate for some specific
cases. Niche professional networks such as DoctorsHangOut or Physpro for doctors or
professions related to art are examples who might not finf their needs satisfied with this
service.

Cultural Barriers:
Each country has its cultural customs when it comes to work-related issues. The composition
of the membership of LinkedIn is a reflect of this as a half of them are from the US, then just
in recent years LinkedIn improve its presents in Asian countries like China and India.A small
acceptance rate comparing the population of those countries.
The website did not find the way to properly enter those markets and understand the culture.

PRICING:

Premium Business: Rs 2400/month (when billed annually 21% savings)

Premium Business: Like the “Career” plan but with 15 InMail messages; you can browse
more profiles — up to 3rd degree; see business insights (e.g. “Employee distribution and
growth by function,” “Notable alumni”).

Sales Navigator Professional: Rs.4900/month when billed annually

Sales Navigator Professional: Like the “Career” plan but with 20 InMail messages; access to
LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator lead-developing tool; lead lists; lead recommendations.

Recruiter Lite: Rs.6000/month when billed annually

Recruiter Lite: Like the “Career” plan but with 30 InMail messages; advanced search;
unlimited visibility of your extended network; automatic candidate tracking; integrated
hiring; recruiting-specific design.

Marketing Strategy:

Finding the top performing posts in your space by searching relevant hashtags or looking at
the “top posts” in your area and then adding our opinions in the comments.If one starts doing
it frequently they’ll start building a community and a personal brand.

Producing content through video, written, or audio form can serve as a promotion of
business. Native articles and text posts with content contextual to business get a lot of traction
on LinkedIn.

Adding ones’ LinkedIn profile link to ones personal email signature is a quick way to get
more exposure to your LinkedIn profile and get more followers. As you get more and more
connections, it could be the match that starts the process of your content getting higher reach.

People in B2B recognize how valuable it can be to host conferences to get leads and clients.
Hosting conferences to get leads and clients is a very valuable strategy especially for people
in B2B domain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

MEETUP:

Meetup is an online social networking platform that helps people to self-organize into groups.

Meetup is headquartered in New York, New York. David Siegel is the CEO of Meetup.
Meetup has raised a total of $7.5M in funding. As of August 2019, Meetup has 303.6K fans
on Facebook and 41.8K followers on Twitter. 

Estimated Annual Revenue: $25M

Total Funding: $18.3 million

Strengths:

 Unique Business Model

 Face to Face interaction

 More intimate than other social networks

 Like minded community building

Weaknesses:

 Low advertising/ awareness about the company

 Takes effort to go out and meet people on a personal level

PRICING:

$30 per group per month billed every six months or $35 per group per month billed
month to month excluding Taxes.

Features of a Pro subscription:

 Organize or sponsor an unlimited number of groups

 Send targeted communications to members using customizable lists

  Track your group activity with network analytics

 Get support from dedicated Pro community experts seven days a week

 Use time-saving integrations like Mailchimp

Marketing Strategy:

 Targeting young, like-minded professionals mostly in the major metropolitan areas

 Use of traditional and non-traditional methods: print and internet.

 Targeting local and budding events for brand promotion

 Using competitive advertising to differentiate meetup from various competitors.

 Emphasizing benefits such as: social professional growth, personal growth and
potential to change the world.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

NewWork (formerly Xing):

New Work SE, formerly Xing SE, is a Germany-based operator of a social network for
business professionals in German-speaking countries. The platform, XING, allows
professionals from all kinds of different industries to meet up, find jobs, colleagues, new
assignments, cooperation partners, experts and generate business ideas. The Company
operates through four segments: The B2C segment involves all of the XING platform’s
basic features , such us contact management, news, jobs and a number of XING’s mobile
applications, the B2B E-Recruiting segment offers tools and solutions that able companies to
find employees and talent; the Marketing Solutions & Events segment offers organizers
targeted event promotions and ad formats companies can use to promote their business within
a professional environment, and the kununu International segment enables candidates and
employees to learn about and rate companies and potential employers. The Company has
offices in Europe and the United States.

Investors and funding:

COMPANY ACQUISITION AMOUNT DESCRIPTION

ACQUIRED DATE

Honeypot Apr 2019 $ 24.7M Honeypot is an online recruitment

platform that allows individuals to
 search and apply for jobs.

InterNations Jul 2017 $ 11.4M InterNations is an expatriate community

that offers networking opportunities,
local events and expat-relevant
information.

Prescreen Jul 2017 $ 19.4M Prescreen is a cloud-based recruitment

platform that enables recruiters and
applicants to manage and track their job
applications.

BuddyBroker Apr 2016 Undisclosed BuddyBroker is an intelligent employee

referral program that offers companies
automatically integrated into the
recruitment process.

Eqipia Apr 2016 Undisclosed Eqipia is an intelligent and automated

employee referral platform that enables
companies to find and recruit employees

Financials:

In Thousands USD TTM FY2019 FY2018 FY2017

31-Mar-2020 31-Dec-2019 31-Dec-2018 31-Dec-2017

EV 1,195,469 1,746,600 1,479,579 1,789,533

Revenue 306,493 301,745 273,229 209,288

Ebitda 93,132 95,792 87,405 65,113

Net Income 36,374 38,537 36,558 28,928

Total Assets 361,297 346,867 318,593 290,663

Total Debt 15,015 15,182 14,141 14,045

https://www.new-work.se/

Ref: https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/56950-21#stock
------------------------------------------

Bark

Bark is an online platform that connects buyers with sellers. For buyers, it is the easy way to
find local service professionals and get free quotes fast. A buyer can simply post a service
requirement and the Company's technology goes out and finds relevant sellers. For sellers,
Bark is a lead generation platform that is an economical alternative to other online marketing.

-------------------------------------------

Jobcase:

Jobcase Inc. has a diversified business model with revenues from license fees from other
websites that are powered by or integrated with Jobcase technology and from talent solutions.

Jobcase technology powers over 100 jobsites – some full service, some simple-search, some
niche, etc. – all of which have generated a total registration membership to date of 48
million+ Americans.
In January 2015, Jobcase reorganized to focus on serving this community directly via
jobcase.com. Jobcase Inc. is privately owned and owns all technology and data rights. Post
re-organization, many of the sites powered by Jobcase technology since 2009 continue but
are now owned and housed in a separate legal entity.

FUNDING:

The bulk of the fresh capital will be put toward product development (and potentially
strategic acquisitions), according to CEO Fred Goff, specifically in the areas of machine
learning and new integrations and APIs.

The funding was made with an aim to connect blue-collar workers with employers.
The company has raised a total of USD $118.9 Million; a $100M growth equity round in
2019 was led by Providence Strategic Growth, and in 2017, Jobcase raised $7 Million USD
in venture capital in a Series A funding round.

PRICING:

Jobcase levies fees for pages with information about job openings: $229 for one job, $249 per
month for three, and $599 per month for ten.

Improvements:

 Improve the customer experience

 Enhancements to its machine learning architecture to serve more relevant content to

Jobcasers

 Product developments to further simplify the process of making connections and

community building

 Integrations and APIs that enable Jobcasers to more easily promote themselves and
better engage with employment opportunities.

https://medium.com/@LinkVentures/jobcase-announces-100-million-growth-round-to-
empower-the-worlds-workers-f2f29f725e31

---------------------

OPPORTUNITY:

Opportunity is a business network driven by real-time interactions and opportunities around

you.They use advanced lead matching algorithms that connect users from our 5,000,000+
network to opportunities based on variables that identify ‘who needs who or what’ anywhere
in the world at anytime. Results are reported in real-time so members can take immediate
action in order to bring professionals together in a more meaningful way.They are currently
built for finding sales leads, job opportunities, and job candidates.

Opportunity has raised $350 k in total funding.

PRICING and STRATEGIES:

$29 per month

 Access all possible matching leads & opportunities.

 Receive VIP lead notifications first, before unsubscribed members.

 Premium App Access – see who is nearby with our geo locator service and access
more locations & opportunities.

 Utilize numerous profiles in one account, for professional opportunities and beyond.

 Advanced Communications – communicate with your leads through direct email, bulk
emails, SMS & more.

 Job Hunters Only – Receive constructive feedback when headhunters pass on your job
submissions.

 Hiring Managers – Candidate matching & creation of 10 job listings on a monthly

basis at no additional fee.

 Global Search Tool – Our Advanced AI searching system to find what your looking
for using any Profile type to find results outside of your static\fixed profile
parameters.

 Ad’s V3 Banner Advertising – Create powerful image or text based Ad’s easily to
reach a huge audience of users in Opportunity, you get 1,000 free Ad impressions
each month.