Growing My Social Capital

Domain Expert

1.  Who they are and what their background is

I was unable to find anyone to fit this criteria.  I am going to keep looking and will update if I find anyone.  If any of you have ideas please let me know.

2.  How are they a domain expert

3.  How I found, and contacted, this person

4.  Nature of the exchange

5.  How will this network connection help me

Market Expert

1.  Who they are and what their background is

Tricia G.  Tricia has owned, and operated, several successful market research companies in the Gainesville area.  I also know Trish in passing from meeting her years ago at Alachua County Chamber of Commerce networking events.  She has operated in this capacity for almost twenty years.

2.  How are they a market expert

Tricia has done market research for all three sectors in the Alachua County area.  With twenty plus years of experience she has helped launch many successful brands in the area.

3.  How I found, and contacted, this person

Tricia is the daughter of a good friend of mine.  She was also on the board of directors for a non profit my girlfriend, was also, previously on.

4.  Nature of the exchange

One of the question I asked Tricia was what would be the initial approach to conducting market research for this project.  She said that we would want to establish need and to see what the physical radius was that would utilize the service.  In other words due I need to market to firms within ten miles or fifty miles to cover operating costs.  I also asked if she knew if such a service already existed in the area.  She said she has heard of national brands attempting this, but, not local ones.

5.  How will this network connection help me

Because I am connected to Trisha through two sources this weak bond is one that I have a preexisting level of trust with.  She has made it clear that she will be availabe to me anytime I may need advice. It was also implied that if I ever needed extensive services from her that there may be some room to liberally negotiate fees.

Industry Supplier

1.  Who they are and what their background is

Brian I.  Brian is a former wholesale purveyor for HP Inc. (formerly Hewlett-Packard). 

2.  How are they a market expert

Brian spent over a decade as a wholesale purveyor dealing mostly with Best Western purchasing agents.

3.  How I found, and contacted, this person

My cousin Dax is a regional manager for HP.  He has know Brian for a while and introduced us via email.  I now owe Dax beer.

4.  Nature of the exchange

I was interested in Brian's opinion of if my idea was viable or not.  He stated that it would probably be a good idea as a nonprofit, however, a for profit translation may not be viable.  He stated that a for profit would probably be crushed by big box and amazon.  A nonprofit on the other hand is able to recieve funding from donations, service fees, grants, etc. so they could remain a player without sacrificing their mission

5.  How will this network connection help me

The fact that a wholesaler finds it a viable idea has increased my confidence in my idea.

Reflection

Establishing these weak connections was great.  Even if I never follow through with this it is always great to meet people that you may not necessarily meet.  Any time I have a significant idea this is exactly how I research it.  People in the field already have seen what works and what dose not.  Whenever you can get your hands on that kind of inside intelligence it is awesome.