I visited the NBX networking group this afternoon. It was a pretty large group (approx. 40 people) although it wasn't limited to just one person per business category.
Even from my limited exposure to the group so far, I was really impressed with the group dynamic. Sometimes people think that good networking means no personality... but this group was filled with interesting people that I look forward to getting to know better.
There are a few competitors in the group, but in Austin it's hard to walk fifty feet without tripping over a web firm! It will be interesting to do networking in a group with competition, as I'm used to being in groups where I'm the only one... or at least being the FIRST one, having already made the personal connections within the group.
The only downside is that my schedule is getting pretty full with networking events. At some point I'm going to have to say no and actually get some work done! Thankfully I've hired employees to help with the workload. I suppose that's the challenge of growing a business.