Growing My Social Capital

1) One person must be a domain expert in your industry.

1) Who they are and what their background is. Matthew Lockwood. His background is that he studies and analyzes the market in the internet industry.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. Market expert.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I actually met Matthew through my fraternity which is something special. I lived with him in an off campus house and we grew close and now he is starting to try and create a business and run with that.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation?  He would help me analyze the market and figure out exactly what i'd have to do to get the most amount of money out of my work.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Well since I have never done anything like this before I think that any help would be good. I'm just really lucky to have met Matthew because I know he'd help me so much with my idea.

2) One person must be an expert on your market.

1) Who they are and what their background is. Nick D'ambrosio, he has made countless apps on the app store already and knows exactly what the people want.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. Domain expert. Nick has already created lots of apps so he definitely understands how the business works behind app creating.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I met Nick in Summer B here at UF, we bonded quickly and we have the same similar forward thinking and entrepreneurial style!

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? Basically he's made a lot of apps on the app store already and he says that he'd help me out with mine if I decide to actually do it. He's a great guy that just wants to help and I know he has a lot of industry knowledge that would help me so much with my own app. If I end up making money from this app I'll probably end up giving him a cut as well.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Well, since I haven't made an app yet I really don't have much experience in this industry at all and my friend Nick has a really good handle on this industry so I think that if we work together we could kill this project.

3) One person must be an important supplier to your industry.

1) Who they are and what their background is. Sabina Horecky, Masters in business administration but is becoming an international supplier. 

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot. Supplier, she fills this spot because of her extensive usage in supplying but also in the technical side of things.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. Well I guess i'm thankful because she is my sister and she will always care for and help me just because I am her brother. It's just great that she decided to go into the supplying side of things while i'm in the business side. She will always help me with my endevours.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? She told me before that if we ever get into a business together that we will split the costs of whatever we make in half since we will be the ones running the business.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? My sister is surprisingly very into this industry. She wants to start working with amazon soon as well and become a large scale distributor. This could help me on many different scales.

What constitutes 'contact'?
I've stayed in good contact with all three of these people and I'm sure that will not change any time soon. I know that all three of these people will be there for me to help me with whatever I need. So if I do decide to ever actually go through with this idea, I know that these guys will be there to help me through this. I've showed all of them my idea face to face and they have all loved the idea so I think I will keep continuing with this idea.

REFLECTION: I think that if people actually go out and networked for this small little activity that they will obviously do it when they actually have to network to get their business off the ground. I also think that I have a huge network of friends that will all help me through anything that I go through or with anything I decide to make. This is something special that I will definitely use to the best of my ability.