How Can You Maintain Good Relationships With Your Peers A relationship is not built over cards exchanged at an event, it takes effort.

Entrepreneurship doesn't come without its fair share of social interactions. From events to meetings, with investors and peers, entrepreneurs have to build good relationships through their networking skills. But a relationship is not built over cards exchanged at an event, it takes effort.

So, an entrepreneur has to focus on maintaining the relationships they have built over the years. Here's a guide to how startup founders can maintain good work relationships with their peers in the ecosystem.

Share Your Views

More often than not, entrepreneurs are looking for their peers or mentors to validate an idea they are working on. It's often from these discussions with others in the ecosystem, that an idea's execution strategy is planned. So, while networking it's important to not withhold but share your views. Gaurav Gupta- Co-founder and CEO, MyLoanCare, said that being open to sharing your views and connecting with like entrepreneurs and industry leaders in industry forums can be a big avenue for new business ideas and opportunities.

At the same time, it's also important to be open to criticism and take it as feedback for your product. Sanjay and Naina Parekh, founders of EUME said that founders should be open to feedback and creative criticism just as easily as one would be to encouragement. "For any entrepreneur or business it is essential to listen to what your consumer wants and engage with them regularly to let them know they're valued. To build and maintain any lasting relationship one needs to facilitate open communication, it is the key to success," they said.

Be Transparent

This is one aspect that every founder agrees upon. As in any relationship, it is important for entrepreneurs to be honest about their work relationships as well. Dr Hitesh Doshi, Chairman and Managing Director, Waaree Group, said that it takes a dedicated amount of time to build good and lasting relationships. As much as it is important to build relationships to run a successful business, it is equally important to nurture and maintain the same. "To continue those one has to maintain transparency, clarity, honesty and respect for the opposite party," he said.

Gupta too agrees. He said that people tend to value honesty and trust more than most other things in relationships. "With investors and business partners, communicate regularly and transparently. With employees, engage not just at the professional level, but also at an emotional level," he said.

Be Patient

Another virtue that is crucial to maintain work relationships is to be patient. You have to work on them over a period of time and not always expect results right away. For example, if you have met an investor at an event and exchanged greetings, don't always expect a meeting to be set up immediately. Connect with him/her on social media (preferably LinkedIn) and engage in conversations. Hiren Shah, Founder and Chairman, Vertoz said that maintaining good business relationships is a continuous task, which involves winning the trust of your external and internal customers. "During this process, one's interpersonal as well as entrepreneurial skills are put to test. Sustaining and strengthening these relationships calls for nurturing them by investing time and energy. Stay true to your word and honour your commitments," he said.