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20A – Growing Your Social Capital


20A – Growing Your Social Capital

ENT3003

Chris Ward

Mark Darwish
1) Who they are and what their background is.
·      Manager at Universal Orlando and investor in Seattle Coffee in Seattle, Washington.
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- Investor and owner of a Seattle Coffee location
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
·      He is my manager at Universal
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
·      He is willing to be a consultant if I move forward with my business idea.
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
·      Mark has connections in the coffee industry and more specifically in a franchise if I should choose to take that route.
Sarah
1) Who they are and what their background is.
·      Manager of a Starbucks coffee shop in Universal Studios.
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, Sarah currently manages a Starbucks location
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
·      There are about 6 Starbucks locations on Universal property.  This location is back of house for employees only.
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
·      Sarah was able to talk for a few minutes while I drank my coffee.  She is willing to answer any questions I may have in the future related to running a coffee shop.  She also introduced me to another employee, whom is responsible for the stock at their location.
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
·      Sarah’s exercise may help me avoid common mistakes made while trying to get a coffee shop off the ground
Tim
1) Who they are and what their background is.
·      Tim is an employee at the back of house location
2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, supplier), and how the person fills the spot.
·      Tim is not a supplier but was as close as I could find.  He is responsible for the supply at that location
3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person.
·      Tim was introduced to me by Sarah the manager at his location
4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? 
·      I have a weak exchange with Tim, he can answer some of my easier questions but will be no help in figuring out where to get my coffee from
5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
·      Tim may be able to help me understand how much product will be needed on a daily basis.  He may also help me avoid mistakes as the business grows.

 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?

·      While I owned my contracting company in Maine, I was part of BNI, Business Networking International.  This experience helped me understand how to effectively network and I used those skills on this assignment.  The individuals I networked with for this assignment may help grow my business work in the area of coffee shop management and may even make it easier to find qualified employees when the time comes.  Who knows I may have found an investor, a manager and an employee already.

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