On a Las Vegas rooftop in 2015, I met Mary Ellen Delaney, and she changed how I've built every relationship since. She taught me the 5×7 rule, and it is one of the simplest, most reliable relationship-building ideas I know: when you have five interactions with someone in the first seven weeks of meeting them, you have a friend for life.
Mike shares the 5×7 rule (2 minutes).
Most new connections fade because nothing follows the first meeting. The 5×7 rule fixes that with deliberate, low-effort follow-through in the window when the relationship is still fresh. Five touches in seven weeks is enough to move someone from "person I met once" to someone who genuinely knows you, and the early weeks are when that momentum is easiest to build.
The Five Interactions
Here is the sequence Mary Ellen taught me, with one natural way to run it:
- Meet them. The first interaction is the initial meeting, usually at an event.
- Follow up by email. A short note after you meet, so the connection has a second touch on the record.
- Share something useful. A couple of weeks later: "I saw this resource and thought of you." No ask, just generosity.
- Meet again. Schedule a real follow-up, over Zoom or coffee.
- Add value out of that meeting. Connect them with someone who can help, or send another resource that came up.
Five interactions, seven weeks, and you have a friend for life. The point is to be intentional, because relationships that drift are usually relationships nobody tended.
A Friend Forever
That is the spirit behind everything we do at Malloy Industries: be relentlessly generous, show up, and keep showing up. Whether or not we ever work together, we're in your corner, rooting for you, and happy to help where we can.
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