Growing Your Social Capital

Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert: Professor Alan Lopez, Ph.D., Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Professor Lopez was an incredible computer science teacher I had during my Spring term at Miami Dade College in 2018. In this relatively laid-back class, Introduction to Microcomputers Usage (CGS1060C), Professor Lopez occasionally explained the foundation and complexities of computer science technology and several opportunities in the market, to which was very interesting for the students (although we obviously didn’t understand everything). Furthermore, Professor Lopez has experience with large output computing systems and has used this expertise to craft several of his business ideas (mainly with flipping unused land and creating government contracts). Overall, Professor Lopez, who is most likely in his mid-thirties, is a very intriguing guy who not only utilizes his knowledge with computing, but also finds creative ways to exploit opportunities in different fields.

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: Apart from his Ph.D. in computer science, he is very informed with anything technology related and has proven success through multiple business ventures.

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

By being his student and engaging in real conversations that carried significance for me. Various times we had conversations that went beyond the scope of the class, as he would talk to me about what he wrote for his dissertation (I believe it was focused on public infrastructure), his business ventures, his failures, and even failed relationships. Thus, we held fewer formal conversations in comparison to most professors I’ve spoken to, and for this reason, I emailed him a video of my second elevator pitch and provided a brief description of my business opportunity.  

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

Based off his personality, Professor Lopez probably did not interpret this as a favor, as he naturally enjoys active conversations with students and seeks to spread knowledge with others. But theoretically, yes, he did me the favor of sharing his opinion about my business opportunity. In short, he emailed back to me that this course will experience heavy doubt from University of Florida officials, because he already understands how difficult it is to implement new courses into a large university, especially from an outside third party. Also, he mentioned how my company would have to either pay big money to use an internet server or acquire the resources necessary to meet the demands of all the students taking the course. He concluded that this idea is not completely useless, but questioned how I would go about incentivizing my product to UF.  

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

            With the experience, expertise, and knowledge that Professor Lopez possesses, his opinions carry great value, especially considering how he is naturally curious and eager to help students.

Market Expert: Virginia Fuillerat, Director for The Honors College at Miami Dade College  

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Virginia is the Director for The Honors College at Miami Dade College (Wolfson Campus). As the director, she oversees up to 150 students in this two-year program, helping with registration, academic and career advising, counseling, mentoring, and honestly anything you need as a student. While I was student at The Honors College, I became very close with Virginia (as most people do) and reflected on her opinions very seriously. For perspective, my relationship with Virginia feels more parental and loving, because she genuinely cared about her student’s wellbeing, not simple academic performance or how many schools you are accepted into.

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: Since 2003, Virginia has served as the Director for the Honors College. In this job, she tracks the growth of her students, collaborates with professors for Honors College specific courses, and ultimately reports to Dr. Eduardo Padron, President of Miami Dade College. Therefore, she is the most influential market expert I could find for my idea, as she has applicable experience working with teacher and university officials to turn ideas into reality.

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

By being a student of The Honors College. After two years filled with many ups and downs, I didn’t “find her,” I simply tried to recall someone with expertise that would work within my opportunity. I sent her an email with my second elevator pitch attached and provided a brief description of my business opportunity.  

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

Similar to Professor Lopez, there isn’t much of a favor going on with Virginia because of our strong relationship, although there is always the expectation to donate back to The Honors College -- once their graduates become successful and can afford to do so (helps to keep the program alive). In her reply, she mentioned that there are many layers attached to this business idea, and how it is essential to at least be employed in a university for a few years -- to gain credibility and exposure to how higher education operates. This insight was something I had yet to consider, though it clearly makes so much sense. Also, she shared that I should first propose this idea to some of my past professors and then work my way up to university officials.

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

Once again, it is the intuition, passion, and experience Virginia possess for her job that makes her such a valuable asset to exploit my opportunity. After analyzing her reply to my business idea, I realized there are countless aspects of the education system I would have to understand completely before seriously considering this opportunity.  

Important Supplier: Emilio Gonzalez, Network Systems Administrator, CenturyLink, Inc.

1) Who they are and what their background is.

Emilio, a good friend of my father’s at CenturyLink, works primarily with implementation of servers, switches, firewalls, routers, and security. It was very challenging to find someone within Canvas, my most relative competitor, to contact as a supplier in my industry. With that being said, Emilio does have years of experience of communicating with buyers who use CenturyLink’s servers and internet services, and therefore I believe he was most relative example of a supplier I could locate for this segment.

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

Important supplier. As mentioned before, Emilio specializes in sales and implementation of CenturyLink’s internet services to other businesses (a B-to-B interaction). Although he does not sell products directly to University of Florida, he understands how sales to other large businesses function and how to effectively communicate with them to maintain their trust.

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

I have known Emilio since I was young, as my father has stayed in the same business for quite some time (even through two buyouts). Throughout the years, I visited my father’s office numerous times and talked to Emilio in almost every occasion, outside of the office as well. Therefore, we have a solid relationship, based off the closer relationship Emilio has with my father. For Emilio, I retained continuity for this assignment and sent him an email with my second elevator pitch attached along with a brief description of my business opportunity.  

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

This interchange is perhaps the closest to a favor in comparison to the other two experts, though it is still in the boundary of helping a friend with little expectation of return. Furthermore, I do not believe Emilio expects anything in return because we go back many years and there isn’t anything truly beneficial I could offer him either. Emilio was the only person to share that this opportunity is too far stretched, since it would take many years to accumulate the necessary computing power that comes along with thousands of students using your service. He did mention that it will be most practical to utilize their software and charge a fee based on weekly or monthly usage, as opposed to a strict 30% asking price per credit hour, per student enrolled.  Both insights were intriguing because they were fresh takes on something I have been working on the entire semester. In close, he also told me that hiring a third party to operate internet functionality is optimal, so I could maximize resources in a service you know will work efficiently.

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

Emilio has a vast network of customers and relationships in a business that, for example, would be providing Canvas with the firepower and resources to meet the demands of the hundreds of thousands of students depending Canvas software. Although he does not directly sell to universities, he carries experience that could help develop/market my product to where it needs to be.

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?

This experience will help me with “targeting networking” in the future because for this exercise, I had to effectively articulate what my opportunity was and how I plan to implement this idea. Without this proper background of my opportunity, of which were the results from prior assignments, they would either not understand my strategy or provide useless feedback based of my inaccurate information. This experience did differ from past networking experiences because I have always been trying to sell myself when networking, and for this assignment, I was essentially selling myself and my opportunity. Overall, it was amusing to read their perspectives and realize what parts of my opportunity I need to fix or completely take out.