How do you define “strong?” What kind of business? If its a SaaS, then engagement (e.g., how sticky users are with your product) matters more than revenue in some cases. Post PMF, revenue matters a lot, churn matters, net retention, MoM and YoY revenue growth, TTTM revenue, and TTM EBITDA. Again, though, depends on the type of business and how you define “strong.”

You should “go in” to understand the market. Everything else is theories and assumptions.

Can definitely relate. Up until this point, I was all-in with my core business (agency). It was/is quite lucrative, but it’s not stable. Now, I’m trying to diversify in two main ways: a) skill diversification by learning a new skill (something I wanted to do for a long time), and b) revenue diversification by launching other companies (have launched two already). I don’t know where all this will lead me, but I sleep better at night, knowing that I don’t keep all my eggs in the same basket.

You don’t have to visit SV or NY to make rich friends. There are many examples of people who show us that location (when it comes to wealth) doesn’t matter as much. (That’s not to say that location doesn’t matter at all.) My advice would be this: find a good concept and start a podcast. It doesn’t matter if you’re introverted (I’m a painful introvert myself), and it doesn’t matter if you haven’t done it before. Get behind the mic and start reaching out to folks you look up to. No one is going to give you their time if you just reach out in cold. But, a podcast can work as your trojan horse. Most people want to talk about the stuff they know. You’ll get a lot of rejection; be prepared for that and embrace it. But, little by little, episode after episode, it will get easier to get access to the people you want to talk to. That’s not to say you’ll become buddies after the episode recording. But, you’ll have their undivided attention for 1hr. I did the same in my industry. Didn’t know any people when I started 2 years ago. Made a lot of friends along the way and positively impacted our company’s bottom line. That wasn’t my intention, but all sorts of great things happen when you interview people.