1. Ranjeet Suthar
He works for a car rental company in India. He fills up the slot of domain expert since he has experience about how a company similar to my business idea runs. Before I came to USA, me and my friends had rented a car from their company a couple of times for trips and that’s where I met him. He helped me get a rental car for a cheaper price during my second visit and just asked me to contact him whenever I or any of my friends or relatives need a rental car. Rental car companies aren’t quite as popular in most parts of India as they are in the USA. Thus, his experience can be precious since he knows how to manage such a company with minimum resources to maximum profit.
2. Travis
He is a graduate student who has done research on companies trying to sell products/services targeted for college students. He fills up the slot of market expert. He also coincidently happens to be a out-of-state student which is a major part of my potential customers. I met him through one of my other graduate friend at the cricket club at UF. He can help me analyze a good strategy to sell a service to college students.
3. Venkatesh
He owns a car dealership and fills up the role of the supplier. He is a relative of one of my good friends and I got in contact with him through that friend and contacted him saying that I need his help for a college assignment. He said he would be happy to help in any way possible and that if I ever go on to actually implement my business idea on a large scale, in exchange of putting advertisement about his business on the rental cars, he would be happy to sell the cars for a cheaper price along with paying a reasonable amount for advertising.
This activity has helped me develop better confidence at communicating. Most of my networking experience in the past had been majorly with people of my own age. So this was a new and really good experience for me.
Hi Tarang,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about the connections you made. I can definitely relate to you in the sense that most of the networking I have done has been with people my own age. Sometimes, it is hard to venture outside your comfort zone, but as an entrepreneur, it is something you must inevitably do. Although an entrepreneur is the spearhead of the venture, it is much harder to do things without the help of others. Great post!
Hi Tarang,
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have a great circle of connections already! It is important that your targeted network will benefit your business in some way and it seems as though all those you have mentioned will pay an important part in your business one way or another. Once we are out of college and you actually end up starting this business, it is important to make connections with anybody ranging from any age, so I'm glad that you were able to get out of your comfort zone. Great post!
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ReplyDeleteHi Tarang,
ReplyDeleteYour experts seem to be knowledgeable and great sources of information. Already having someone who can give insight into how to run the business, and any details that you may not have thought of or found a solution for, is beneficial. I agree that this activity was new compared to other networking assignments, and demanded a different demographic and way of contacting them.