Growing My Social Capital

1-1: Who they are and what their background is
I interviewed Alex Rotham, co-founder of Continental Pools in Miramar, Florida. Alex has been in the pool service industry for 6 years, and his team has taken care of my pool for 3 of those years.

1-2: Which “slot” are you filling
Alex filled the domain expert in my industry slot.

1-3: A description of how you found the person and contacted the person
I’ve spoken to Alex a few times over the years regarding various matters regarding my pool. I called his cell phone and asked for some time to speak about this topic, and he was ready right then and we spoke at that moment over the phone.

1-4: The nature of the exchange
I spoke with Alex about my pool pump automation idea, and asked him how feasible he thought the solution was. At first he seemed dismissive, but by the end of the chat he seemed to be more receptive.

1-5: How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
Alex is in the pool industry, and could actually be a service provider or a reseller for me in the future. He also has good contacts and that has already helped me with this assignment.

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2-1: Who they are and what their background is
I had a quick conversation with Juan Reyes, who sells chlorine tablet distribution devices. He’s been in the pool service industry for 9 years.

2-2: Which “slot” are you filling
Juan is filling the market expert slot.

2-3: A description of how you found the person and contacted the person
My first contact Alex got me in touch with Juan.

2-4: The nature of the exchange
I spoke to Juan about how I might go about selling my device in Florida. He warned me of potential patent issues but ultimately gave me really good advice.

2-5: How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
Juan knows how to get a pool product on shelves and into pools. This was a critical earning experience for me.

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3-1: Who they are and what their background is
Angela Rincon is a supplier of chlorine tablets in South Florida. She’s been supplying pool tablets for 2 years.

3-2: Which “slot” are you filling
Angela is filling the supplier slot.

3-3: A description of how you found the person and contacted the person
I got her contact info from Alex and called her.

3-4: The nature of the exchange
Angela was short with me but did let me know that I "have a tough time ahead of me".

3-5: How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity?
Knowing her perspective is helpful to anticipate challenges.

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Reflection:

This was a hard core exercise where I had to face the music in my target industry. I was exposed to extremely relevant feedback from folks in the know. I do feel empowered from the experience, feeling I really do have an unmet need that hasn't been fully defined yet. In the future I'll have more confidence when speaking about my product to folks who can legitimately challenge its feasibility.

Week 10 Reading Reflection

This chapter was something of a refresher for the accounting courses I took last year. Just as it was then, debits and credits stood out to me.

This chapter confuses me slightly when it comes to debits and credits in accounting. I get the concept, but it feels counter-intuitive. With that in mind, I would ask the author 1) what is an easy way to remember a rule of thumb for the basic debits and credits system, and 2) what does the author feel is the reason the system feels counter-intuitive to myself and some of the peers I've spoken to about it?

I do not feel the author was actually wrong about anything in the chapter.

Elevator Pitch No. 3

My third elevator pitch was an interesting one. I was traveling for work again and my best opportunity was at LGA, so I went for it. I took advice from my previous pitch and shortened the pitch, not including all the technical details I included before that made it run so long. That advice stood out as important. It wasn't all that surprising but I took it to heart. I do still need to include the technical details, because that's where all the glory is, so I made reference to a fictitious website.