Growing My Social Capital

*My business is a 2 part business with: a product and a phone app. I believe the product (transportable outlet) had the most concerns/questions which is why this assignment is based around that product as I wanted advice and insight into it's possible success. 

Person 1: Tom - Domain Expert

1. Tom works for TECO energy, which is the leading supplier of energy and electricity to the Tampa Bay area. He has worked for TECO for over 20 years and is very knowledgeable about electricity. 
2. He fulfills the domain expert because my product is solely based around outlets which stems from electricity and people's consumption of it. He has valuable knowledge of the industry and how my product could be applicable and its possible success. 
3. He is a family friend, as we've always used TECO for our energy, and I contacted him over the phone.
4. He gave me very valuable advice which I appreciated with his upfront but helpful attitude. With my product of the portable outlets, he believed that it's something of the future and loved my initiative. He definitely though outlined concerns about its possible productivity and charging power. There is no return expectation as he did this as a favor due to my family's relationship with him.
5. He will be valuable in my network as I try to exploit this opportunity of the lack of outlets because of his expertise and knowledge of the field. His connection could be valuable in a possible internship if that's something I pursue as well. 

Person 2: Nancy - Market Expert

1. Due to my connection with Tom, he linked me to Nancy, who works in the research department of TECO. She has a major in marketing, and has worked in the field of energy and TECO for over 7 years.
2. He fulfills the marketing expert because she does research for TECO about the change, evolution, and innovation for their energy and electricity development. This matches well with my transportable outlet. 
3. I was able to contact her because of my family's relationship with Tom, and thus I called her on the phone in Tampa. 
4. Although we've never met before, she was very friendly due to my relationship with Tom, so she trusted me and gave me very insightful information. She informed me that there is a possible market for this (more electricity in general) due to society's increasing dependence on technology. 
5. She will be valuable in my network as I try to evaluate the possible success of my product and analyze if the market is right for it. She'll also be a good connection if I ever want to work in this field or launch a product. 

Person 3: Supplier
     For this section, I was unable to directly talk with a supplier of outlets or in the field of electricity due to my lack of time and experience in the field. However, I did reach out to Legrand which is a leading electrical outlet supplier. I hope they will give me valuable insight into the possible production capabilities of my transportable, wireless outlet. This is definitely a key component of success to my product to carry out my goals, and thus I hope to receive a message back and I will try to share that response.

Reflection: As a whole, this assignment definitely was a unique and challenging experience as it took me out of my comfort zone. Although I've had networking experiences before in cases trying to find internships, this was definitely different as I had to do research and talk to people that were experts in their field. Even though I wasn't successful in finding a supplier, it was a valuable experience just in making phone calls as well as extensive researching and networking. It was challenging, but I definitely grew as a entrepreneur and gained insight on 'target networking,' which will hopefully be useful in my future networking events.