Do You Know Auren Hoffman? - Not Yet!

Peter Caputa and Greg Narain, had been chatting about knowing, er... actually "not" knowing, Auren Hoffman, who gets paid handsomely for introductions, a "for-hire" social networker. What a cool job!

I'd seen Auren's "name" lots of times from being a LinkedIn Oldtimer . I quickly searched my computer using X1 and found that I had sent him an invitation to join me on LinkedIn back in May of 2004.

At the time, I found his profile interesting as we both had initiatives to help youth reach their potential, and we shared some mutual acquaintances, so I reached out to him for a direct connection.

Auren politely responded to me via email, saying, "Joe – I’m sorry, I cannot remember how we know one another." I admire him for taking the time to respond without blatantly declining my invitation, or just ignoring it, as some do. Unfortunately for me, I didn't continue the email dialogue at the time, but will do so again soon. We are only two connections apart from each other and share a number of very interesting mutual connections, so not being "directly" connected on LinkedIn isn't really a big issue. And I do have his email address!

On the other hand, perhaps he should know me! I could open up some doors in Washington, DC for him and I'd be happy to do it. And my introductions are usually over a Venti Drip and don't come with an invoice, though I do think that is totally cool!