You need Proof of Work to get a meeting with a busy person. — Naval Ravikant

You need Proof of Work to get a meeting with a busy person.

Author: Naval Ravikant

Insight: We live in an age of infinite requests and finite attention. Every busy person's inbox is drowning in asks from people they don't know, people who want their time, their advice, their introduction. The default is "no" simply because saying yes to everyone is impossible. So how do you break through? You need to show up with something real already done—a project shipped, research completed, results achieved. Not a pitch or a proposal, but actual work that speaks for itself. This flips how most people approach opportunity. They think the meeting comes first, that if they can just get fifteen minutes with the right person, they'll convince them to care. But it usually works backwards. The person with limited time doesn't want to hear about your potential—they want to see your track record. A short email with a link to something you built beats a thousand polite requests for coffee. The non-obvious part? This actually makes life easier, not harder. It removes the guessing game of networking. You're not trying to charm someone or hope they're in a good mood. You're simply showing them you're serious enough to do real work whether or not they ever notice. Sometimes they notice anyway. And when they do, the conversation starts from a place of mutual respect instead of you asking for a favor.