20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain

1.  This person is currently a VC who has invested in various business across industries but specializes in real estate and property manager. This person has decades in the industry and therefore solid experience.
2. This person fills the domain expert in my industry slot. He will fill the slot because he is a part of the industry and has experience with the type of opportunity I am interested in pursuing.
3. I found this person via a Linkedln search for entrepreneurs and investors in property management. I first contacted this person through a nicely worded Linkedln message and transitioned to email after.
4. He was able to tell me the needs he had that were not being met and then proceeded to critique my idea.
5. Including him in my network will enhance my chance to exploit this opportunity because he is very experienced and well connected in this industry. This could in turn help me perfect my business model and plan as well as possibly attaining funds to pursue the opportunity.

Market

1. This person is a real estate agent and broker. She has worked for big agencies in the past but now focuses on bigger clients with a smaller office.
2. This person fills my market expert in my slot. She will be able to fill the slot because she is very well connected in the specific are I wish to start and most importantly she knows a lot about customer research and plays a big piece of my market Real Estate agents are the ones purchasing properties for clients and will therefore have an in with a new customer every time.
3. I found this person via a Google search for Real Estate Agents in Miami with experience. I first contacted this person through a nicely worded email message and we continued to email after.
4. In response, I was able to show her my elevator pitch and full opportunity and she gave me constructive criticism about both.
5. Including her in my network ill enhance my chance to exploit this opportunity because real estate agents input in key to my business. They will be my first channel of marketing to get the user number up, given that the agents will have an in with the customer as well as their trust.

Supplier

1. This person is currently a manager at a local repair service company. He has been with the company and in the industry for a decade already.
2. This person fills the supplier expert in my industry slot. He will fill the slot because he is a part of the industry and has experience with the type of service I will be hoping to provide.
3. I found this person via a Linkedln search for Repair Service managers in Miami. I first contacted this person through a nicely worded Linkedln message and we started to email after.
4. He was able to tell me the clients he was currently not having and were therefore outside of his segments. I then proceeded to pitch my opportunity and he critiqued it.
5. Including him in my network will enhance my chance to exploit this opportunity because he is experienced and well connected in the type of service I will provide. This could in turn help me perfect my business model and plan.

Reflection:

After completing this assignment I am much more comfortable to reach out online to network with people of interest. Before I only had experience with scheduled events and such so it has been a very different experience. Now, I will definitely opt to start my search for networks online so I could possible achieve a more rewarding connection for the future.