20A - Growing Your Social Capital

Person 1

1) They are the father of my friend. They currently own their own multi-million dollar business that deals with manufacturing and construction.

2) Domain Expert in industry

3) I met this person many years ago when I went to middle school. I spent a lot of time around my friend, and naturally it would always spark business conversations with his father when he would tell us what he was currently doing and giving us advice on how to start up ourselves. I called him for this particular exercise.

4) When we talked, he said that the basic principles of the business model were decent, but there was still a lot of work that needed to be done and rough edges that needed to be rounded out. He wanted me to go out and shadow him and have a discussion to see exactly what is entailed in the process, and if I would, then he would help me.

5) This is an expert in the field, who is worth tons in advice, experience, and knowledge that would most definitely help my business succeed and get on its feet.

Person 2

1) I once again talked to another father of my next door neighbor. This time, he works for a construction company as well that deal with supplying construction supplies to other parties.

2) Important Supplier In Industry

3) I have known this person since I was about 2 or 3 years old. I also made a phone call to him describing the situation I was in and the business I wanted to start.

4) He said that they would pretty much be able to supply with any construction materials that I would need if I had the money. This would be beneficial for long-term projects once it has established its presence. He was only concerned with the fact that I would have money to pay.

5) A supplier will be incredibly beneficial when it comes to supplying infrastructure of my business. He will be able to support the physical aspects of my business.

Person 3

1) This time, I talked to my aunt, who is an experienced computer and app developer over in in Poland.

2) Market Expert

3) I got on Skype to have a talk with my Aunt about my business. She is family, so I have pretty much known her for quite a long time.

4) They provided me with a lot of essential information when it comes to developing a flow and creating applications for successful businesses. She recommended that it would probably be important to have an application associated with my business that would make it possible for people to use on their mobile devices. She didn't expect anything in return because she is family.

5) This is incredibly beneficial to my business. Having an application would prove extremely useful to set up an efficient and reliable service to anybody who is trying to find parking spaces using their mobile phones.

Reflection: Instead of looking for potential customers, I had to instead look towards experts and potential partners. The difference here is that the people I talked to this exercise already had a lot of experience and were not necessarily suffering from the same problem that I am trying to solve. With this in mind, their main goal was seeing if there was any potential in creating a business that would both solve a problem and turn a profit so that they could get in on it. The difference is, that with a customer, they are only concerned with if their problem can be solved or not.