The best business relationships start with a coincidence

The best business relationships of my life didn't start at trade fairs. Not on LinkedIn. Not in CRM pipelines. They started through coincidences: a Tinder match, a beer hall, a pair of lederhosen at Tegernsee.

Let me start with the Tinder match, because it's the most absurd story. I matched with someone on a dating app who — as it turned out — worked at a supplier. Nothing romantic came of it, but I made a few notes in my app: name, company, role, what we talked about.

Many months later, someone told me about a person at that exact company. And because I'd noted the details, I could say within seconds: 'Oh, I know her — she works in department XY and is responsible for Z.' The person was impressed. I knew: thank you, failed Tinder date.

Economist Christian Busch describes in his book 'The Serendipity Mindset' (2020) that lucky coincidences in business don't just happen — they are cultivated. People who actively take notes after chance encounters and stay open to unexpected connections multiply the probability of valuable serendipity. Serendipity isn't luck — it's a trainable skill.

Or the lederhosen story. At an event in London, I met someone from the US. And because we didn't stop at the usual — 'What do you do? Cool, we should connect on LinkedIn' — but actually talked, about travel, culture, life, it came out that he'd be visiting Munich for the first time shortly after.

Long story short: I squeezed the guy into a pair of lederhosen, we drove to Tegernsee, and he got the full Bavarian experience. No PowerPoint, no pitch, no 'Let me send you my deck.' Instead: a shared experience neither of us will ever forget.

And that's exactly what holds relationships together. Not business cards. Not LinkedIn connections. But shared stories. Moments of laughter. Experiences you can reference years later.

Granovetter's 'Strength of Weak Ties' theory (1973) is reinforced by newer research: a LinkedIn study with 20 million users (Rajkumar et al., 2022, published in Science) confirmed that weak ties — casual acquaintances — lead to new job opportunities significantly more often than close contacts. Every chance contact you capture is a potential bridge to a world you don't know yet.

The most honest story I almost kept to myself: one completely ordinary Sunday, I messaged an old contact who'd worked at a partner company. We hadn't spoken in years. And yes — the evening ended at my first kinky party. It has nothing to do with business. But everything to do with the principle: every outreach can lead somewhere. Usually where you least expect it.

What all these stories have in common: they wouldn't have happened if I'd just let the coincidences pass. The Tinder match would be forgotten. The guy from London would be a business card in a drawer. The old contact would be a name I can no longer place.

The difference is: I captured the details. Not in a CRM. Not in a spreadsheet. But where I can find them quickly — and where they're automatically linked to the right contact.

Coincidences happen to everyone. The question is whether you capture them or forget them. And whether six months later you still know who the person was and what you talked about.