Assignment 20A

The first person I met with was a family friend that I’d been out of touch with for years, his name is Rahul. Rahul has worked in textile manufacturing for numerous years, both working with the materials directly and as a coordinator of supply. He is an industry supplier because he has worked with numerous companies who make products very similar to the bag I want to sell. I contacted Rahul by calling him from the number I’d had for him years ago, and I was lucky enough that he hadn’t changed it in the years we’ve been out of contact. I agreed to look over my elevator pitch video at lunch. I didn’t have to do anything in exchange for Rahul’s help since he was an old family friend, but I offered to lend him a hand in his office as a volunteer for a few days. Rahul will help me exploit opportunities because he has decades of experience with the materials I will be using and can provide valuable insight as to what I should use.

For my second person, I had to call around to various bag/luggage companies in an attempt to get someone to talk to me. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure a meeting with Liam, he was willing to look over my idea napkin and send me back feedback. Liam works as product director for a medium-sized luggage company and is an expert on my market. When Liam returned my idea napkin with feedback I offered to come and assist him, like I did for Rahul, however Liam didn’t need any help, but instead asked that send him more about my product because he wanted to see how it developed further, so I will be sending him more about my potential product in the coming weeks. Liam will help me exploit opportunities by being someone that I can discuss market concepts with, to make sure I’m headed in the right direction.

Finally, for my third person, I found Linda from my research into local companies who sell bags and luggage. She is actually one of the designers for their small luggage company, but also one of their salespeople. She is a domain expert for my industry because she directly understands what customers want out of a bag, as well as the challenges that would be faced in designing a bag. She agreed to meet with me very early one morning, before work. We met in her office at 7:00am one morning and discussed product details and feasibility. I also showed her my idea napkin, as she seemed very interested in my idea. As a return for her advice and guidance, I stayed until noon that day sorting and filing paperwork for her, to help her get caught up. Including Linda in my network will give me access to someone who knows the products extremely well, as well as the best ways to go about selling directly to customers.

This experience was slightly different in that I had to find people with specific roles within the industry, and getting them to agree to talk to me or see me was very difficult. I feel like I learned a lot about networking though because now I understand the work that goes into finding people like this. It will also change how I participate in future networking events because I am much less nervous and uncomfortable about the idea of networking, and also because I understand how much effort and work goes into networking on your own and will take full advantage of any networking situation I am presented.