When your network actually has a net worth

What if you had a credit score for your relationships?

Soon, you won’t have to guess how valuable your network is. AI will tell you.

This is the third of the 10 core beliefs I have for what the future of relationship and community building holds, a.k.a. my Future of Networking forecast. For those who want to catch up:

1. 🔗 Trend 1: AI-Enhanced Networking

2. 🔗 Trend 2: Agents, Avatars, and Automation

🔮 My third prediction for the Future of Networking is that the value of your network will become a measurable asset.

Today, assigning value to your network is an inexact science.

As one example, I know my friend Jared Shapiro is one of the most well-connected people (and publicists) in Miami, but putting a headcount on how many people he knows would 1) be a challenge and 2) only tell half the story. What about how many people he knows who would bend over backwards to support him?

In the not-so-distant future, you’ll be able to build your own dashboard or tap into a tool that can instantly assess the worth of your network and relationships. (There are already tools out there that can track your current relationships and “score” them, which is a step in the right direction, but I don’t believe they are comprehensive enough yet.)

Eventually, you'll be able to quantify things like:

• How responsive your connections are to you

• How trustworthy and credible your relationships actually are

• Your network’s demographics

• The depth and context of each relationship

This is where your network becomes quantifiable data. And we all know how valuable data is these days.

Let’s look at something unexpected happening right now.

While most headlines focus on AI pushing us toward a more digital, automated existence, many of the top tech leaders are betting on the opposite:

A future centered on human connection and IRL experiences.

Why?

Because the rise of AI is creating a gap—a growing void where authentic human connection used to be. And smart companies are realizing that this gap is the next big opportunity.

When I heard Brian Chesky say the following on Decoder, it was a total full-circle moment for me:

Catch my minute-long reflections to Chesky’s remark on the Human Future podcast below. 👇

So, what does it mean for you that big tech leaders are now putting their money behind products that support the idea that relationships are more valuable than anything else?

It means there are going to be a lot of people rushing to demonstrate the value of their networks. 💰

Those that can will have bigger and better opportunities come their way because people and companies are going to want to tap into people with verifiable networks.

Verifiable is the key differentiator. There are a few examples we can already look to of professionals with verifiably valuable networks:

• Sports agents

• Talent managers

• Speaker bureaus (NYT best-selling authors and people like Simon Sinek and Keith Ferrazzi are commanding $100k to $200k+ per speaking engagement.)

• The ‘fixers’ and ‘strategic advisors’ in government

• Digital community leaders

These professionals aren’t “influencers” — they are relationship brokers.

They get paid to know the right people and make the right calls, and they command top dollar not because of an expertise that can be learned, but because of the access to the right people that they had to earn.

👀 For those wondering what a network value measuring tool could actually look like…

I ran a quick experiment using Perplexity’s Labs feature to mock up the network of Ari Emanuel (the mega-agent who inspired Ari Gold from Entourage).

The result? A ‘network value’ of $82 billion. 🤑

In less than 10 minutes, I could see his top connections and how the AI quantified his reach. And the estimate actually felt believable.

This wasn’t a scientific analysis, just a fun test of what’s possible. But it signals where we’re heading: a future where tools can instantly verify someone’s credibility, influence, and network reach. Whether that’s a publicist, advisor, investor, or founder... the numbers are about to get a lot less vague.

Take a look at the following screenshots:

Here’s the takeaway: AI will soon map anyone’s network—yours, mine, or someone else’s. So it’s time to ask yourself:

• Am I building the right network?

• Who already has a strong network that I should be working with? (Hint: This is what we do 😉)

This is not merely theoretical.

There are already tools to measure network value, for example:

• The Swarm – Maps who you and your team are connected to (former colleagues, classmates, investors, etc.) and calculates a “Relationship Score” based on connection strength. Their Chrome extension even reveals verified emails of people on LinkedIn. They’re backed by HubSpot Ventures, who said in their funding announcement: “The future of go-to-market lies in something far more human: relationships.”

• Happenstance AI – Connects to your email, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other data sources. You chat with their AI in plain language, and it intelligently surfaces relevant contacts, acting like an AI-powered networking assistant that understands context and relevance—not just keywords.

• Clay.Earth – A relationship management tool designed to help you nurture and visualize your network. It shows a “Network Strength” score for each person based on how in-touch you are relative to others in your network. Plus, it highlights overlap within your team, showing who else knows that person and how well. Clay was acquired by Automattic (the parent company of WordPress)—a huge signal that major companies are betting on the future of relationship-based tech.

Want to future-proof your network? Focus on these six power moves:

1. 🛠️ Treat your network like an asset—because it is.

   Start managing your relationships like a portfolio. I built my own network tracker in Notion so I could easily find people when needed but also to add tags like ‘high priority’ for those that I wanted to deepen or sustain relationships with.

2. 🎁 Build social capital through reciprocation.
   Start giving more than you ask. Introduce people to each other. Send helpful insights. Respond with care. AI may soon quantify generosity as much as volume.

3. 🪞Curate your visibility.
   It’s not enough to know the right people. Do they know you? Engage intentionally online and offline. If your level of responsiveness will soon become public data, why not get ahead of it?

4. 🧠 Codify what you’re known for.
   Be clear, specific, and memorable.

5. 🔍 Audit your relationship reputation.
   Ask trusted peers: What do you trust me for? What would you refer me for? Your perceived strengths (and gaps) are about to be visible. Start demonstrating that, listing it, or even touting it. If it’s true, shout it from the rooftops, if you have work to do… better get to it.

6. 📥 Own your relationship equity before platforms do.
   Export your contacts. Own your CRM. Don’t wait for a platform to assign your value. You decide how you want to be known, and by whom.

Nicole’s Take 🎬

The emergence of tools that truly quantify network value is one of the tech advances I’m most excited about.

I don’t claim to know thousands of people around the globe (I don’t even claim to know thousands of people in the United States) but I can confidently say that the people in my network—people who I have met with, engaged with, worked with, dined with, socialized with—would score me high on things like credibility, responsibility, responsiveness, trustworthiness, experience in my domain, and even personal things like likability, fun, ability to mingle with different crowds, etc.

I know that and my clients know that, but how do I actually demonstrate it as fact? Up until now, my only real option has been to let clients watch me in action or talk to others in my network. That was it—and fortunately it’s been enough.

But what if they had the option to easily view a dashboard with a matrix of metrics and scores to verify that me and my network made me the right superconnector for them? 

If you could verify in advance that someone had good relationships with the right people, wouldn’t you pay top dollar for them to make organic introductions on your behalf?

Based on what’s out there now, I can already forecast what’s coming once existing tools evolve or better tools debut: at their core, these tools will (further) demonstrate that trust is the most important factor. Your ability to build real trust and relationships will be what separates you from the rest and lands you big opportunities.

Just like a credit report changed how we quantify financial trust, we’re entering a world where your network value will be surfaced through AI-powered metrics.

In the meantime, the people who invest in quality relationships today will have the most valuable “network equity” tomorrow.

Till next time,
Nicole

“But wait, there’s more!” 👇

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