Growing My Social Capital

Person #1

1)    Who they are and what their background is.

·      Rachel is an employee at the Starbucks at Library West on campus.

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

·      Rachel is a supplier. She provides library visitors with coffee if they so desire to purchase one.

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

·      I found her simply by going to the library to study on Saturday morning, and spoke to her while I ordered a beverage.

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

·      I purchased a coffee from Starbucks and in return asked if there was anyway I could speak to her after her shift, when the library closed. I shared my napkin idea with Rachel, and as a person who works for another company within the library, she loved it. As a UF student, she not only liked this idea because it would encourage her to go to the library more often, but a system that would bring in more students also means more customers for her.

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

·      Including this person in my network will help me exploit this opportunity with the help from an insider’s prospective. As someone who sees the amount of people flowing in and out of the library everyday, her input will surely be helpful.

Person #2

1)    Who they are and what their background is.

·      Rosie Zummo used to be a librarian in Tampa, FL.

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

·      Rosie is the domain expert. She may not be trying to create something for a library, but she worked for one, therefore she would know best whether or not a service like this would be successful or not.

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

·      Rosie is a friend of my aunt’s, so I called her in order to speak to her for this assignment.

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

·      We had a good phone conversation. I asked for her input on my idea, and she simply asked that I keep her updated with how my progress with it is going.

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

·      Rosie will be very helpful since she knows what it’s like to be in the library environment. She watches people come in and out daily and would have the best insight as to whether or not people would take advantage of this service, or simply act like it is nonexistent.

Person #3

1)    Who they are and what their background is.

·      Izzy Muncan is a student who is part of Student Government at UF.

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

·      Izzy is filling the market expert position. Although she many not have any specific relation to my service, she works to better student experiences on campus, such as those at the library, which is what my service seeks to offer.

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

·      Izzy is one of my sorority sisters, so I talked to her in person when I saw her at the house.

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

·      I asked Izzy if she could speak to some of her friends in Student Government and ask them if this is an idea they think would work well.

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

·      Having Izzy in my network will help me exploit my opportunity by giving me feedback. After talking to people in our Student Government, Izzy will be able to tell me if this is an idea that the school would be interested in using.

I really enjoyed this assignment because I was able to get out there a little more, rather than being afraid of talking to random people. I first started with someone I knew, followed by someone I knew of, and ended with a complete stranger. When speaking to people about ideas you have, I think it is always good to get the opinion of someone you know as well as someone you don’t know.