Growing My Social Capital

Domain Expert

1) Who they are and what their background is. I contacted David Smith through Facebook because I was searching for people who had experience in the same industry that I want to get into. He is very knowledgeable in the space of gym equipment and has worked in the industry for over 15 years. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. I am filling the spot of the domain expert because I am looking for someone who has worked in the gym industry for a while and who has experience dealing with this time of customer and target market. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found the person through mutual friends and then contacted him through Facebook to see if he would let me ask him about his background and if he had any advice with the product. I sent him the video of my elevator pitch to see if he would consider helping a student for an entrepreneurship class. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? The favor that they did for me was explaining the gym industry and how in our society at the current moment there has been a strong shift toward going to the gym more often and healthy eating, which is why my product would be a great fit if it were engineered properly. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including Mr. Smith in my network will enhance my ability to exploit the opportunity of identifying my target market and potentially overcoming any obstacles that I might face when dealing with a whole new industry. 

Market Expert

1) Who they are and what their background is. I went to Southwest Recreation Center and talked to employees or people that frequent the gym and utilize other fitness centers. I met Logan Braswell who is a student at the University of Florida. He is training to be a personal trainer for Southwest Rec and is extremely knowledgeable about the fitness industry. He knew a lot about the shower aspect of the gym and I talked to him about my potential product. He talked about all different kinds of ways it could be improved and why it would work in his industry. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. I am filling the spot of the domain expert because Logan is passionate about the gym, frequents it often, and has a ton of connections in the fitness center industry.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found the person by going to the gym and talking to employees about who is the most knowledgeable in the field and they recommended I talk to Logan. I contacted him by getting his phone number and meeting up at the rec to discuss my venture. 

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? He gave me tips on what I should do to perfect the replacement for the “shower shoe” and he talked to some of his friends in the same area who agreed that it would be of interest for them to see turned into an actual product. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including this person in my network will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity because he has so many connections in the space that I am trying to get into and he knows so much about fitness centers, the target market, and how to develop my product into something that many people will want to use. 

Supplier

1) Who they are and what their background is. The supplier that I found is a guy by the name of Ryan Hudson. He has been working in the meat industry for a few years out of college supplying to grocery stores and other local markets. He is now working on supplying equipment to gyms, which is why I wanted to talk to him. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. The slot I am trying to fill is the spot of supplier. This person fills this spot because they have experience in the supply industry and went to school to learn about the supply chain management of goods and services, which is exactly what I need if I want to license my product and get the word out. 

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found this person by talking to my family about this assignment I had to do for entrepreneurship and they knew someone through a friend who then hooked me up with Ryan. I then called him and sold him on my idea and told him all about it, and asked for advice in the supply side of my product and to see potential issues.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? Ryan helped me out tremendously in realizing the difficulty in getting a product from conception to the shelf. It takes a lot of time, effort, energy, and hours working to relentlessly meet your goal. He told me that if I needed more help down the line to contact him as a mentor. 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including this person in my network will enhance my ability to exploit an opportunity that arises from knowledge of the supply-side of a business. There is a lot of thinking that goes in getting a product from the business into consumer’s hands. 

Reflect

This experience will shape how I participate in future networking events by allowing me the confidence to talk to people that are older than me, people I have never met before, and not feeling intimidated. This experience has differed from my previous networking experiences because this one has been something that was not already organized. Most of the networking events that happen in college are organized, planned, and connect two people together fairly easily. This networking requires work and is something that is ultimately, more rewarding.