Like many marketing agencies, Talent Lab had lost a sizeable chunk of its client projects after 9/11 and forced to look for new work opportunities. Someone suggested networking and our Director, Mark Herring, turned up at an event in Shoreditch, East London, not knowing what to expect.

The event was organised by the newly formed Shoreditch Business Network and within a few weeks, Mark was asked to lead the strategy and communications for this new group of mainly creative and professional project-type companies. He was also funded by Hackney Council to research the potential for networking to help businesses in the borough – from start-ups to mature companies – to connect, collaborate and grow. Thus started a 20-year mission to create connected communities through networking.

Drawing on theatre, communications, brand and marketing experience, Mark has gone on to develop some of London’s and the UK’s largest and most innovative and sustainable business networking communities including Urbano Network.

Urbano Network is now over ten years’ old and in that time has connected thousands of businesses to all sorts of opportunities following some simple rules:

• Most business opportunities come attached to a person and are revealed through conversation
• The more conversations you have and the more contacts you make, the more opportunities you will develop
• The more you try to sell, the less success you will achieve
• The key to all business success are the relationships that your team and brand have with prospects and clients
• Networking is just a name we give to ways to meet new business prospects