The Preface to Never Eat Alone begins with a story about how a group of “young upstarts”—various CEOs and founders at major corporations—used the principles outlined in Ferrazzi and Raz’s text to create a retreat for “successful entrepreneurs who want to make the world better” (xi), known as Summit Series. They include Eliot Bisnow, the co-founder of the Summit Series, as their example. Other notable business leaders, like Peter Thiel and the book’s author, Keith Ferrazzi, attend Summit Series to interact and engage with other thought-leaders, CEOs, and start-up founders. Summit Series’ informal code of conduct includes the following values: Learning, Friendships, “Synchronicity,” Love, and Fun.

The Summit Series story is followed by an “equation”: “SUCCESS IN LIFE = (THE PEOPLE YOU MEET) + (WHAT YOU CREATE TOGETHER)” (xiv).

At the end of the Preface, the authors present a “How to Read this Book” set of guidelines in a list that is written to advise readers on how best to retain and implement the concepts described.

(This Preface is added to the 2014 updated and expanded version.)