This is a guest column by Shamit Bagchi.

My current team is a startup team of self motivated members. These are my friends who are good at their own roles such as a technology expert, a financial expert who has vast experience with startups and is quite senior, one person who is very active in several student volunteer activities, another who is an artist himself, then another who runs his own startup and finally someone who is very interested in marketing and marketing strategy.

‘What do I believe in’ is the starting point - for myself to remain motivated and create energy in the team and not depend on energy. As co-founder of our venture I have the constant task of aligning the vision and bringing this diverse team with complementary skills on to the same page. The cultural entrepreneurship (fine arts) venture which we plan to diversify stems from my passion for the arts. So the right kind of communication plus the interests that the venture can serve to each of the members of the team is going to be crucial. Some have short term some longer terms interests in the venture.

When it comes to face-to-face networking, you should focus on two varieties:

1. Attending meetings or events where you will likely find your target market.
2. Attending meetings or events where you will likely build your bridges of influence.

This is a guest article by Advit Sahdev, Founder of the Online Digital Marketing Agency ODigMa. They specialize in social media marketing in India with special focus on Facebook business communities. Read more about Advit here.

Ravindran Govindan will answer your queries on August 13 at Microsoft Canaan TechSparks, the YourStory event

Microsoft Canaan TechSparks 2010, the YourStory.in flagship event in partnership with CNBC-TV18 Young Turks, is featuring a panel discussion on Product Technology: Investment, Opportunities and Challenges. Eminent people from the investor space, technology space, and of course the bloodline of businesses -- the media -- form our esteemed panel. Charles Assisi, Executive Editor, Forbes India; Alok Mittal, MD, Canaan Partners; Shailendra Singh, MD, Sequoia Capital; Girish Joshi, Head, Microsoft Bizspark; Ravindran Govindan, Executive Chairman, Mercatus Capital, Singapore; C V Prakash, Founder and CEO, Gradatim IT Ventures; Prashant Choksey, cofounder, Mumbai Angels; and Jaspreet Singh, CEO and cofounder, Druva, are part of this panel.