20A- Growing Your Social Capital
1. The first person I spoke with was my fathers friend, Steve Dicapria. He owns two restaurants in Miami, and has been in the industry ever since he graduated from the University of Connecticut.
2 . He is an expert on my target market, young adults ages 18-25.
3. I have known him ever since I was a little kid. My dad has been friends with him ever since he lived in Connecticut in the 80s. To contact him, I simply just called him and asked to talk about his business.
4. He told me multiple "tips" on how to get young adults to use your product. He noted that the key to this is to keep up with trends that are going on. For example, social media is a key trend in this generation right now.
5. Steve could fit in to my network because he would be willing to allow is restaurant to use the app as a trial. He liked the idea and thought that it could help him generate business. He also knows many people in the industry that he could get me in contact with.
1. The second person I interviewed is Debbie Shamley. She works in marketing currently, but was previously employed by Yelp.
2. She fits the domain expert.
3. She is friends with my mother, and I am friends with her son. She use to drive me to school when I was younger. To contact her, I called her as she is currently living in Tampa.
4. She is no longer in the domain, but she explained t me that starting an application is very tough. She said that it is incredibly competitive and there is always another app trying to make your concept better.
5. She could fit in my network as someone who has not only worked with a top application on the market, but also worked for an app in the same industry as mine.
1. The last person I interviewed is Chris Sullivan. He is a primary stakeholder for Outback Steakhouse.
2. He is a supplier in the industry.
3. He recently married one of my moms friends. We had short conversation over the phone.
4. He explained to me that my hardest job would be persuading restaurant owners to sign up for the app. To do this, I would need sell the owners that enough people will use the app to help their business.
5. He would fit into my network as someone to ask advice.
2 . He is an expert on my target market, young adults ages 18-25.
3. I have known him ever since I was a little kid. My dad has been friends with him ever since he lived in Connecticut in the 80s. To contact him, I simply just called him and asked to talk about his business.
4. He told me multiple "tips" on how to get young adults to use your product. He noted that the key to this is to keep up with trends that are going on. For example, social media is a key trend in this generation right now.
5. Steve could fit in to my network because he would be willing to allow is restaurant to use the app as a trial. He liked the idea and thought that it could help him generate business. He also knows many people in the industry that he could get me in contact with.
1. The second person I interviewed is Debbie Shamley. She works in marketing currently, but was previously employed by Yelp.
2. She fits the domain expert.
3. She is friends with my mother, and I am friends with her son. She use to drive me to school when I was younger. To contact her, I called her as she is currently living in Tampa.
4. She is no longer in the domain, but she explained t me that starting an application is very tough. She said that it is incredibly competitive and there is always another app trying to make your concept better.
5. She could fit in my network as someone who has not only worked with a top application on the market, but also worked for an app in the same industry as mine.
1. The last person I interviewed is Chris Sullivan. He is a primary stakeholder for Outback Steakhouse.
2. He is a supplier in the industry.
3. He recently married one of my moms friends. We had short conversation over the phone.
4. He explained to me that my hardest job would be persuading restaurant owners to sign up for the app. To do this, I would need sell the owners that enough people will use the app to help their business.
5. He would fit into my network as someone to ask advice.
Hey Eric,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog this week, I think you did a great job building your social capital and figuring out what was the best situation for you with your business plan. It is great to have different people with different skills on your social capital because everyone has their own specialization that they bring to the table so that your overall capital as a business is very strong. I hope these interviews and talks with these people gave you a better understanding of what you want your product/service to bring. Overall, great job and details.
Hi Eric!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post. You spoke with a lot of diverse individuals in your industry and it seems as though they definitely helped you with your overall business plan. As I went through this assignment, I clearly saw how outside professionals can help with bringing up various perspectives and ideas that had not initially been thought of. I think speaking with people, in general, about any business idea is only going to help rather than hinder it simply because you gain a better, more well-rounded understanding of it. Great post!