Growing Social Capital

1. Person 1

• I had the opportunity to speak to a matchmaker from a company called “It’s Just Lunch”, her name is Abigail Warren. 
• She is fulfilling the Domain Expert Slot
• I found her by googling dating services near me, and calling the number on their website. 
• I talked to her under the guise of being a potential customer. I think in this way I was able to receive a lot of the information I needed without the pretense of me being a potential competitor.
• I think by gaining the knowledge that she gave me, I am able to better understand the market I would like to enter, and just get tips on how to choose people, and how to connect love matches. 

Person 2

• I had the opportunity to speak to a technical support expert from a popular website called “Match.com” his name was Julius Pascal.
• He is fulfilling the Marketing Expert position. 
• I found him by using google, I was able to contact him by email, and he responded with ample information, that I think would help me understand all that I need to know. 
• The favor he performed for me was giving me the necessary information, that I need to know how they choose potential matches, what past customers have liked, and disliked about their company, what they chose to change and leave the same despite what their customers feedback was. In return I offered to sign myself, along with three friends to their website in order for them to gain more customers.
• I think by including the information provided by him, since he isn’t necessarily doing the exact same thing as I would like to do, I am able to just get a grasp on customer expectations. Why customers chose their site, why they are looking for this service, and what exactly they are looking for. I can use this to filter out my goals for my company and hopefully tweak it as necessary.

Person 3

• I had the opportunity to speak to the owner of C. B. K Catering. Her name is Anne Viaud. 
• She is fulfilling the important supplier position.
• I found her by using google, and searching up popular catering businesses in my town. I was able to call in and speak to her directly. 
• The favor she performed for me was offering prices, and deals that would be most beneficial and cost effective for my business. In exchange for helping getting the word out about her business, and to keep her business in mind when I actually start my own business. 
• I included a catering business because people love food, people are also able to bond over their love of food. Having catered food at my events would help people break the ice, and help keep them sustained throughout their date. 

Reflection-  This exercise helped me tremendously by helping me gain insight for the type of questions I would need to ask fin the future when I’m really looking for networking opportunities. Additionally, I was able to just talk to these people without the rush that a functioning business would’ve put on me. I was able to relax, and allow myself to just let the conversation go in any direction. Through this conversation, I was able to gain real insight, and essentially “put it in my pocket”.