20A - Growing Social Capital

Expert in the Industry

I know a friend from high school who's father owns a series of Chevron gas stations in Cocoa, Florida. I texted my friend Dhruv and was able to talk on the phone with his dad for about 10 minutes. Agitish Patel is a local Brevard businessman who owns three Chevron gas stations and two Holiday Inns for over ten years. Mr. Patel did me the favor of describing the industry and what portions of revenues come from gas versus convenience stores. He said it would make sense to prioritize cash customers as they make more money off them due to not paying credit companies for their accounts receivable management. In the end, Mr. Patel was just better able to inform me of the specifics of the industry so that I can better formulate my next steps. Having this expert in my arsenal allows me to always have respectable information from someone who will continue to work in the industry firsthand.

Expert in the Market

My roommate of last year's father was an engineer who invented a more efficient, high powered fan device and was able to sell it off for a considerable amount of money. Mr. Danny Parker has lived in Gainesville for the last thirty years (also lives in Cocoa Beach sometimes as well) and knows the ins and outs of pitching an opportunity to Gainesville clients. Mr. Parker is not specific to my industry, however he faced the similar obstacles with his opportunity when it came to seeking clients in our specific area. I found this person because my past roommate and friend, Wade Parker, had told me about his dad's success in the past. We talked mostly about the struggles that can happen when pursuing an idea like this because "traction is everything". He thought the best way to go about my opportunity would be to simply set up meetings with local owners or pitch it to them if they were in the convenience store. He informed me that building a basis of gas stations that could test the success or downfalls would be very important if I ever wanted to expand the opportunity in a big way. Having this person in my network will help me with my marketing skills and securing a few locations to test my product. 

Expert in Supply

He's not really an expert in supply but he does stock the beer beverages at the gas station right near my apartment. Last Wednesday, I went in to the gas station to get a 12 pack and met a guy putting away drinks in the freezer part. His name was Anthony and I talked to him for a minutes while he was stocking. Anthony works for Anheuser-Busch and has been a stocker/delivery driver for a number of years. He told me that for big ticket items like beer and chips are more nationally contracted so every gas station has these people coming from corporate. He said that other smaller items might be more at the discretion of the local gas station franchise but the others are staples for the company. He said that any item like mine would be at the discretion of the franchise unless it was 711 because he said he knew they were more strict. Anthony is a decently valuable asset to my opportunity because he was able to inform me about the viability of implementing my product at the local gas station level.

This networking assignment was somewhat similar to ones I've done in the past because it was either spontaneous interactions at the gas station or using prior connections. I was fortunate to know two different friends with parents that have somewhat valuable information thats relevant to my opportunity. I believe this assignment was beneficial to my networking skills as I got to practice my skills and collect information thats important for my opportunity.