20A -- Growing Your Social Capital

[What constitutes 'contact'? Social capital exists in the "potential goodwill" that exists between two people. For you to establish "potential goodwill" for this exercise, you need to have asked feedback from each of these people on your business idea so far or in some other way created a favor "request." For instance, this could include asking to meet with them to show your elevator pitch or your idea napkin. 

How to write up this post. Break up your post into three parts, one for each person. For each person, describe:

1) Who they are and what their background is.

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

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?

Finally: Reflect. This experience requires you to do a little 'targeted networking.' How will this experience shape how you participate in any future networking events? Did this experience differ from your networking experiences in the past? How?]

Domain expert in my industry (2): This would be someone who's engaged in the same type of business activity as you would like to be. They may own the same kind of company that you would like to own, or they may be a technical expert who knows a lot about the kind of product or service that you would like to produce.

1) Background Info: Terry B is an expert in the animal nutrition industry, which I am attempting to penetrate. Terry operates a feed store elsewhere in the Florida Panhandle and thus understands what the customer base demands. I am hoping he can provide me with more complex and valuable market information in the future.

3) How we connected: I had actually purchased chicken feed from Terry's store when I raised chickens as a kid.

4) Social Transaction: I messaged him through LinkedIn since that's probably the least invasive form of communication.  I consider the initial reply to be a favor since I am not entitled to that.  I am going to provide him with a test batch of feed to see how it sells at his store.  That could easily prove profitable for him and I will deliver it to his store myself.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Our connection could open up a market for me to then capture, which would be profitable for us both.

Market Expert (2): This would be someone who is targeting your market with similar products/services -- or knows a lot about conducting customer research in your area -- or represents a major piece of your market (this might be most applicable with B2B markets).

1) Background info: Noah T. is a market expert in animal nutrition.  He is a sales representative selling animal feed in bulk to various stores and vendors. Noah can help me distribute my product once I grow feed production capacity to a reasonable size.

3) Point of Contact: I found and contacted him on LinkedIn. It was easier than trying to find representatives via Google search or other forms of social media.

4) Social Transaction: I decided to ask for his opinion of my business idea.  I sent him my Idea Napkin and an interested to hear his thoughts. Noah has a great deal of contact who will likely prove useful.  I may become an additional supplier to Noah.  My anticipated lower cost of production will enable me to make the market more competitive, thus saving him money -- increasing his profitability.

5) Opportunities: Noah may be a buyer as well as a gateway into meeting other buyers and consumers for my products. Our business relationship should be mutually beneficial.

Significant Industry Supplier (2): This would be someone who is selling products and services to other organizations/firms in your industry. 

1) Background info: Zach H. is a sales representative who sells vitamins in bulk, which I think qualifies him as a helpful contact for my operation. Additionally, he sells to many similar firms to mine already and will likely have other useful information about the industry, specifically about the supply chain.

3) Point of Contact: I contacted Zach on LinkedIn.

4) Social Transaction: I asked if I could share my Idea Napkin with him. That was suggested in the instructions and it sounded like a good idea to me.  I am waiting to hear back with his thoughts.

5) Opportunities: I will need bulk vitamins for my production so Zach is definitely a valuable connection for me.  He may also be able to help me better network within the greater industry; time will tell.

Reflection:
I think this exercise was beneficial because it forced me to seek and converse will contacts who will likely prove valuable to my business in the future. I definitely should continue to stay vigilant on LinkedIn as well as with physical connections. I this exercise has helped me better understand how to properly evaluate and filter contacts into useful groups moving forward.