Growing Your Social Capital

Domain Expert

  1. Ron Schwartz, Owner/President of Ride Green Scooters
  2. Ron Schwartz is an entrepreneur in Winter Park, FL (my hometown) who started Ride Green Scooters in 2009. He successfully owns and manages the company to this day.
  3. I found the information online that he was the owner of the company and I called their store to try and get into contact with him but he was not at the store that day.
  4. I spoke to a sales associate to try and get into contact with Ron Scwartz but he was not there. I asked the associate if I could talk to them about my idea and luckily they said yes. They said it would definitely be a different venture than the one they have in Winter Park because it's not as big of a college town, but that I have a strong market in Gainesville for the scooter business.
  5. If I were able to actually get into contact with Ron Schwartz, he could help me understand what it takes to specifically operate a scooter service.


 Market Expert

  1. Annabeth, a student at UF who commutes to class using the RTS bus system.
  2. I was unable to find anyone who has done specific research on commuting students who hate wasting time, so I picked someone from my customer base.
  3. Annabeth is one of my friends who I know well, so I just asked her if she would help with this assignment.
  4. We met up on campus and I asked her opinion on my idea. She said that she would be interested in a service like mine because she has to commute back and forth from campus a lot on certain days of the week, but not all.
  5. I think it's important to personally know your customer base as much as you can, so connecting with potential customers like Annabeth can help me understand my market more.


 Industry Expert

  1. Philip McCaleb, Founder and Owner of Genuine Scooters LLC.
  2. Philip McCaleb is a Chicago entrepreneur who founded the Genuine Scooters brand in 2002.
  3. I found the information online that Philip McCaleb was the founder, owner, and former CEO of Genuine Scooters. 
  4. I couldn't find any personal contact information for Philip McCaleb other than his LinkedIn profile, so I messaged him on there on Monday. However, I have yet to receive a response. 
  5. If I were able to have Philip McCaleb as part of my network, I would be able to better understand the supply side of the scooter industry and how that all works. It would help me in my own search for suppliers. 

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2017 at 2:05 PM

    Hey Olivia,

    I think you did a really great job expanding your social capital in this assignment. I think all of your sources would be excellent resources for expanding as a company and making networking connections. I think the most impressive source would be Philip McCaleb. Getting into contact with the founder and owner of Genuine Scooters could be a major plus for you in the future. Great job!

    ReplyDelete

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