I’m working on a startup to create a new social network for the C-Suite. Is it a crazy idea? Surely they don’t have the time? And anyway, isn’t that what LinkedIn is?
I think LinkedIn is crap for the C-Suite and that’s one of the reasons they don’t use it as much as they could. I believe if a platform was created that offered REAL value, they would find the time to use it.
Like I said, am I crazy?
I do not think you are crazy, it is all in the execution. For future ref it is usually useless to ask whether you are crazy or not. You'll get "yes" and "no" whether or not you're crazy. Try market research and asking your proposed end user.
C suite people got there by being good networkers. Their peers live in a pretty sparse world. They already know each other and network. There's no need for this.
I agree with this. Moreover, many C-Suite having social network accounts have them managed by their company's marketing services. They don't use it by themselves.
And by its very nature, a C-Suite network will look like a desert compared to Linked-In. Such network seems useless by its very nature. Most C-Suite will have already more contacts than your network could provide.
C-suite use a lot more brick and mortar events than others. Leadership conferences, speaking engagements at industry events, living in the same high rent districts while sending kids to the same high rent schools, etc.
I'd also question just how scalable this is. Most social networks rely heavily on the "networking" part to scale rapidly - I question whether you can find sufficient C-level execs (as opposed to executive coaches, sales people etc) who would be interested enough to evangelize large numbers of other C-level execs into your social network.
I'd put a lot of effort into validating the scalability.
"C"elfies
This already exists. It's called TED.
The C-suite networks the old fashioned way, and they are good at it. They don't need more friends and contacts. In fact, they employ administrative assistants to keeps the hordes away, not to make new contacts.
Move on to another idea.