Despite being more connected than ever, building a business network in 2026 looks different from what many would have predicted.
Work is more distributed, first encounters increasingly happen online, and trust takes longer to establish. Expectations have shifted too: professional relationships that feel transactional are often avoided, particularly by younger professionals entering the workforce.
Additional pressures shape this environment. According to the World Economic Forum, cyber-enabled fraud is now one of the most pervasive global risks, forcing greater caution in business interactions. Mastercard research points to a related outcome: people are more guarded about online engagement.
Deloitte adds another layer. Its research on Gen Z and millennials shows that values, alignment, and psychological safety now play a central role in professional relationships.
Taken together, this does not mean that business networking in its traditional form should be abandoned. It means it has to become more intentional.
Across conversations with guests on the Winning Friends podcast, the same ideas surface repeatedly. While the word networking is often avoided (itself a sign of the times), these founders share universal insight into how strong business networks are actually built today.
Every strong business network starts with selection. The most resilient networks grow slowly because they pass on more opportunities than they accept.
For Pepe Villatoro, co-founder of the worldwide Fuckup Nights movement, business relationships begin with self-knowledge. “Even if there’s a bright, shiny opportunity, if it comes with the wrong people, you should say no. It’s healthier to grow slower with the right people.”
Pepe also warns against hustle culture and the glorification of constant urgency. “If you haven’t asked what you truly value and you just want to be the next Elon Musk,” he notes, “you’ll lose trust because you’re not authentic.”
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Values are signalled in everyday actions: how quickly you respond, what behaviour you tolerate, and where you draw boundaries. A strong business network reflects what you protect, not just what you pursue.
Once values determine who belongs in your business network, curiosity determines how relationships begin. Several guests describe discomfort with the default networking opener. “What do you do?” compresses a person into a function and leaves little room for connection.
Veerle Donders, director of concept and brand at Zoku, prefers questions that open rather than define. “I try to understand what drives someone as a person,” she says. “That tells you far more than a job title.”
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Questions like “What brought you here?” or “What are you enjoying working on right now?” shift the tone immediately. They replace performance with reflection – an important foundation for trust in modern business networking.
Listening is a discipline. It means letting pauses stand and noticing what is said indirectly as well as directly. People who listen well spot patterns earlier and earn trust faster. Over time, they become people others think with, not just talk to.
Mike Southon, author of ‘The Beermat Entrepreneur’, describes listening as the most underestimated skill in business. “I never sold anything,” he says. “I just listened. If you give people the space, they’ll tell you exactly what they need.”
People connect more easily when they feel safe – socially, psychologically, and practically.
Applied to business networking, this means being deliberate about environments. Smaller gatherings, clear agendas, and familiar formats reduce friction. When expectations are predictable, energy shifts from impression management to genuine connection.
Reflecting on Zoku’s design philosophy, Donders explains: “Small things matter. Shared tables, predictable rituals, spaces where it feels normal to talk – those details lower the cost of interaction.”
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Some founders stop adapting to environments altogether. They design their own.
Jeff Pan, CEO of Belli, avoids crowded conferences in favour of controlled, smaller settings. During one industry event, his team chartered a yacht and invited only the prospects they wanted to speak with. “In three hours,” he explains, “you get the entire four-day conference experience – and they’re stuck on a boat with you.”
Whether it is a dinner, side event, or informal walk away from the main programme, curating the environment changes the quality of professional conversations.
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Mike Southon built his career on connecting with people and he finds the connector to be an easy role to slip into. “As long as you stay true to your word and actually do the follow-up,” he notes, “that’s where the value is.”
Being a connector means noticing overlaps and acting on them. Making introductions you believe in. Sending the document you promised. Over time, small deeds compound and business follows because people remember who made things easier for them.
Strong business networks are built on reliability. Every interaction contributes to a longer memory, whether you intend it to or not.
Pepe Villatoro describes reputation as a form of capital. “Your biggest asset as a business person is your reputation. Even when you fail, that’s what you protect.”
Jeff Pan reinforces the long game. One of his largest airline clients emerged years after an earlier consulting relationship, in a different role and market. “All these little moments,” he says, “compound themselves five or ten years later.”
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Business networks may expand in good times, but they are defined during difficult ones.
During hardships, Pepe Villatoro suggests applying a mental exercise: act as if today’s decisions could appear in tomorrow’s newspaper. “Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep. The conversation you’re avoiding is usually easier than you imagine.”
Mike Southon puts it more bluntly: “Tell the truth. If you tell lies, you get found out – and you never get repeat business.”
In practice, that means staying reachable, naming problems early, and handling bad news without theatrics.
Not all strong business networks have a physical footprint. Serial founder John Rush operates almost entirely online. Living outside major tech hubs, he ideates, validates, builds, and distributes products through digital communities.
Rush has spent years showing up in digital spaces where his audience already gathers: Reddit threads, X discussions, niche founder communities, and comment sections.
Founders who contribute to online communities steadily develop credibility that adds up over time.
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If the earlier points describe how individual relationships are formed, communities are formed when those principles are applied consistently. A cumulative result of shared values and repeated behaviour.
“If it’s just ‘I want to build a community to sell more,’ that’s not a community,” Pepe Villatoro explains. “That’s an audience.”
Communities are fostered by thoughtful conversations, practical help, or a shared worldview that feels rare elsewhere. Done well, community becomes the highest form of business network.
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Building a business network in 2026 means drifting back toward something familiar. Across the Winning Friends podcast, founders reference universal principles: keep your word, listen properly, act consistently, treat people well.
In response to the global complexity, business networking now resembles personal relationships. People are trusted for how they behave, not how often they show up.
Business networking continues, but in a more human form.
