This is the Future

这就是未来

How do you get in touch with the people you need to meet? Whether you need advice, funding, a partnership, or a new employee — it’s easy enough to find likely candidates. Getting reliable contact information is another thing entirely.

您如何与需要认识的人取得联系？ 无论您需要建议，资金，伙伴关系还是新员工，都非常容易找到可能的候选人。 获得可靠的联系信息完全是另一回事。

Today’s default is email introductions. If I want to contact you, I need to convince someone who has your email address to send an email to both of us as an introduction. You know the type: “I think you and Jesse would have a lot to talk about, so here you go — “

今天的默认值是电子邮件简介。 如果我想与您联系，我需要说服拥有您电子邮件地址的人向我们俩发送电子邮件作为介绍。 您知道以下类型：“我想您和Jesse会有很多话要说，所以这里您开始-”

There has to be a better way. In this article I’ll explain why we still use email intros, and what is being built today that can help us change to a better system.

一定有更好的方法。 在本文中，我将解释为什么我们仍然使用电子邮件简介，以及今天正在构建的内容可以帮助我们改用更好的系统。

我们都在隐藏联系信息(We’re All Hiding Contact Info)

When I was growing up, everyone had their phone number in the telephone book. In an age before email and robocalls, it was safe. You could find anyone’s contact info just by looking in the phone book.

当我长大时，每个人的电话号码都在电话簿中。 在没有电子邮件和漫游呼叫的时代，它是安全的。 您只需在电话簿中查找即可找到任何人的联系信息。

But not anymore. It’s too easy for robots to scrape every available web page, and send robo-calls, robo-texts and spam emails by the hundred. Nobody wants their phone number or email in ANY public directory, social media profile or website.

但现在不再。 对于机器人来说，抓取每个可用的网页并发送数百个机器人呼叫，机器人文本和垃圾邮件太容易了。 没有人想要在任何公共目录，社交媒体资料或网站中使用其电话号码或电子邮件。

Instead, my contact info is stored in the phone contact list or Outlook contact list of a few hundred people. It’s out of date in a few hundred other places. I have no visibility into who has my contact info at this point, and no edit rights to keep it up to date. It’s a crazy data model.

相反，我的联系信息存储在数百人的电话联系人列表或Outlook联系人列表中。 在其他几百个地方已经过时了。 我目前看不到谁拥有我的联系信息，也没有编辑权限来保持最新。 这是一个疯狂的数据模型。

To reach someone new, I need to find a person I am in connected with, that is also in connected with the person I want to meet. Not only does the target need to be a friend-of-a-friend, I have to know which friend of mine they are connected to.

要结识新朋友，我需要找到一个与我有交往的人，也与我想认识的人有联系的人。 目标不仅需要成为朋友的朋友，而且我还必须知道他们与哪个朋友联系。

摩擦太多 (Too Much Friction)

Finding people this way is a lot of work. It adds time and friction to the process of meeting others.

以这种方式找到人是很多工作。 这增加了与其他人会面的时间和摩擦。

To make an intro, my friend has to be sure it’s a win/win. If the conversation doesn’t go well, one or both relationships is at risk. This sets up a relatively high hurdle for making an intro.

要进行介绍，我的朋友必须确保这是一次双赢。 如果对话进行得不好，则一种或两种关系都处于危险之中。 这为进行介绍设置了较高的障碍。

Tools like LinkedIn only improve the friends-of-friends approach a bit. I have better visibility to see who my friends-of-friends are. There are some tools to ask for an introduction. Unfortunately, LinkedIn has sold my inbox to the highest bidder, and so I turned off InMail introductions because they were simply vendors and recruiters paying LinkedIn for the right to SPAM me.

像LinkedIn这样的工具只会稍微改善“朋友之友”的方法。 我可以更好地了解谁是我的朋友们。 有一些工具要求介绍。 不幸的是，LinkedIn将我的收件箱卖给了出价最高的人，因此我关闭了InMail的介绍，因为他们只是向LinkedIn支付垃圾邮件所有权的供应商和招聘人员。

Let’s imagine the 100,000 most relevant people in your field as a full stadium of people, at night. Using your existing contacts is like a candle in the dark, you can only see a few faces closest to you.

让我们想象一下，在晚上，您所在领域的100,000位最相关的人员是一个完整的人员体育场。 使用现有的联系人就像是黑暗中的蜡烛，您只能看到距离您最近的几张面Kong。

Using friends-of-friends is like replacing that candle with a small flashlight. You can see a few feet away, to the next circle of people. But you can’t see 99% of the people in the stadium, and they can’t see you.

使用朋友的朋友就像用小手电筒代替了蜡烛。 您可以看到几英尺远，到了下一圈人。 但是您看不到体育场内99％的人，他们也看不到您。

We’re looking for a solution that’s like turning on the big overhead lights on game day.

我们正在寻找一种解决方案，例如在比赛当天打开大型头灯。

降低对朋友介绍的障碍(Lowering the Hurdles to Friend Intros)

First, let’s lower the hurdle to giving an introduction. What if I can introduce two people, without giving out their email address or phone number?

首先，让我们降低介绍的门槛。 如果我可以介绍两个人而不给出他们的电子邮件地址或电话号码怎么办？

Let’s say John asks me to introduce him to Richard. I can use a digital intermediary to preserve everyone’s privacy and control. I can give John’s phone and email to the intermediary, and also Richard’s phone number and email.

假设约翰要我向他介绍理查德。 我可以使用数字中介来保护每个人的隐私和控制权。 我可以给John的电话和电子邮件给中介人，也可以给Richard的电话号码和电子邮件给中介人。

The intermediary sends a unique URL to John, and a different unique URL to Richard. A URL might look like this: http://ContactLink.com/q4wfopdijadsfi

中介将唯一的URL发送给John，将另一个唯一的URL发送给Richard。 一个URL可能看起来像这样：http: //ContactLink.com/q4wfopdijadsfi

When John visits that URL, he can use the web page to type in an email and attach a file. The intermediary forwards the email to Richard’s regular email.

当John访问该URL时，他可以使用该网页键入电子邮件并附加文件。 中介将电子邮件转发到Richard的常规电子邮件。

When Richard visits that URL and clicks “Call Now”, the intermediary calls both John and Richard on the phone and bridges the call together. Either John or Richard can cancel the URL at any time to stop the conversation.

当Richard访问该URL并单击“立即致电”时，中介程序会在电话上同时呼叫John和Richard，并将呼叫桥接在一起。 John或Richard都可以随时取消URL来停止对话。

They don’t see each other on CallerID — they only see the intermediary. They don’t get each other’s email addresses, just the intermediary’s.

他们在CallerID上看不到彼此-他们只看到中介。 他们不会获得对方的电子邮件地址，而只会获得中间人的电子邮件地址。

It’s a safe way to introduce people. I can feel comfortable giving more introductions and connecting more people.

这是介绍人的安全方法。 我可以提供更多的介绍并联系更多的人，感到很自在。

助手是终极连接器 (An Assistant is the Ultimate Connector)

There’s a group of people who are both very reachable AND protected from SPAM and cold-callers. Who are they? All the people who have a live, human Assistant to manage their communications. They benefit from a much wider circle of opportunity. It’s like having an overhead spotlight on you, where the whole stadium can see your face.

有一群人非常容易到达，并且免受垃圾邮件和来电者的攻击。 他们是谁？ 所有拥有实时人工助手来管理其通信的人。 他们受益于更大范围的机会。 就像头顶上的聚光灯照在你身上，整个体育场都可以看到你的脸。

Want a phone number and email for a top VC or a top lawyer? It’s right there on the website. That’s because their Assistant is the one answering the phone and email. The Assistant learns what kinds of contacts and meetings their boss wants to accept. Anyone can get in touch and make a request, and the Assistant decides who gets through.

想要顶级风险投资人或顶级律师的电话号码和电子邮件吗？ 它就在网站上。 那是因为他们的助手是接听电话和电子邮件的人。 助理了解老板希望接受的各种联系和会议。 任何人都可以与您取得联系并提出请求，然后助理决定谁通过。

It’s not scalable or affordable for everyone to hire an Assistant. But technology gives us some ways to replicate the Assistant functionality at a low cost.

每个人都不能聘请助手来进行扩展或负担得起。 但是技术为我们提供了一些低成本复制助理功能的方法。

通过数字中介进行介绍(Introductions Through a Digital Intermediary)

Let’s add a layer to the digital intermediary discussed above. It gives me a Public URL to list on my website, my LinkedIn profile, and my Twitter profile. Now there are lots of ways for people to search for me, find me and get to that link. It might look something like this: http://ContactLink.com/jesse-hercules

让我们为上面讨论的数字中介添加一层。 它为我提供了一个公共URL，可在我的网站，LinkedIn个人资料和Twitter个人资料上列出。 现在，人们可以通过多种方式搜索我，找到我并访问该链接。 它可能看起来像这样：http: //ContactLink.com/jesse-hercules

When people arrive at that link, the intermediary does the same things a human Assistant would do. It determines the person’s identity by validating their phone and email. It asks why they want to get in touch. It looks in its memory to see if we know anything about this person (ie, a known spammer or a known good guy).

当人们到达该链接时，中介程序将执行人类助手将执行的相同操作。 它通过验证其电话和电子邮件来确定该人的身份。 它询问他们为什么要保持联系。 它会在内存中查看我们是否了解此人(例如，已知的垃圾邮件发送者或已知的好人)。

If they pass the interview, they get a private conversation URL where they can send me an email or get on my calendar. It might look like this: http://ContactLink.com/awreq34fh

如果他们通过了面试，他们将获得一个私人对话URL，可以在其中给我发送电子邮件或获取我的日历。 它可能看起来像这样：http: //ContactLink.com/awreq34fh

I can manage that URL to ramp their access up or down. Perhaps it goes well, and I give them permission to call and text me. Or perhaps it goes badly and I block them. I can also rate the person, so over time they accumulate a reputation based on all the people they get introductions to.

我可以管理该URL来增加或减少他们的访问权限。 也许进展顺利，我允许他们给我打电话和发短信。 也许情况很糟，我阻止了他们。 我也可以给此人打分，因此随着时间的流逝，他们会根据所有介绍他们的人来积累声誉。

When enough people have a digital intermediary, something magic happens. People with a good reputation can get in touch with anyone they need to. It’s like a stadium with all the big overhead lights on. Everybody can see everybody else.

当足够多的人拥有数字中介时，就会发生神奇的事情。 信誉良好的人可以与任何需要的人取得联系。 这就像一个体育场，所有的头顶大灯都亮着。 每个人都可以看到其他人。

And you’d never go back to a candle or a flashlight again.

而且您再也不会回到蜡烛或手电筒了。