Growing Your Social Capital

Interview 1 (Slack)
1) I interviewed Brian, a Customer Experience Agent at Slack who's been working for the company for a few months.

2) Domain Expert: Slack is a well-known professional messaging system that already offers very similar features to my proposed idea.

3) I've used Slack at a previous job, so I went up on the company's website and submitted a message through the 'Contact Support' section. I provided my name, background information about the assignment, my business idea, how I've used Slack before, and a request for someone to answer.

4) Brian said that my idea is quite solid and that the company has already implemented some similar features. Slack allows you to set a Do Not Disturb feature on your profile, as well as setting up a notification schedule. The company doesn't have an emergency notification feature, and he seemed quite intrigued by the idea. He offered the opportunity for me to reach out further if I have any follow-up questions, or if I have any other ideas I want feedback on.

5) I've received real feedback on my idea and was completely unaware that Slack already implemented some similar features I was proposing in my business idea. Since he offered for me to follow up, I can take that opportunity to further develop my idea, or come up with new ones.


Interview 2 (Social28)
1) I interviewed Abigail, the Assistant Property Manager of Social28 for about two years.

2) Market Expert: Social28 is an apartment complex that targets college students, some who are working part-time, which is part of my target segment.

3) I am familiar with some of the managers at Social28, so I emailed Abigail directly. I provided my name, connection to Social28, background information on the assignment, the business idea, and a request for feedback.

4) Abigail loved my idea. She personally is always checking her email after hours, even checking her email right before she goes to bed. She stated that she feels the stress of conducting work at home, so if my product were to hit the market, she'd enjoy it. She offered the opportunity for me to reach out further if I had any more questions for her to answer.

5) Since she works for a company that targets virtually the same segment my product is targeting, I've gotten a better idea of how my product would resonate with the target segment. Also, I can contact Abigail as a follow-up if I have any more questions or inquiries pertaining to this topic. I am quite familiar with the company, so the relationship I have with Social28 can be used as leverage in my professional network.



Interview 3 (Monday.com)
1) I interviewed Bianca, a customer service employee who's been working with the company for about six months.

2) Supplier: Monday.com sells their product specifically to large companies and employees, a similar market and industry my product is targeted towards.

3) I've used Monday.com before at my job and personally as a student, so I reached out to them via a tech support request. I provided my name, the background of the assignment, my idea, and a request for them to answer.

4) Bianca responded rather quickly, which pleasantly surprised me. She gave me good advice, stating that she liked my idea, but the usefulness of the product will ultimately depend on the culture of the company. She added at the end of her email saying that she'd be more than happy to help out more if needed.

5) Once again, I've gotten some real and constructive feedback from a company offering a similar product to my target market, so I can use this interaction to further help my idea, or possibly even get a job in the future.

Reflection
This experience will shape how I participate in future networking events positively. I was genuinely surprised that I received a rather quick response from Slack and Monday.com because those are both large, established companies. I didn't think I would get a legit response, but both interviews went very well, and each person was more than happy to help out. I did try to provide a paragraph praising the product because I have used both products, which I think helped me considering I am genuinely familiar with both companies. Social28 was also quite helpful, but because I am familiar with some of the managers, I was not as surprised that the company offered to provide feedback. Because of the quick and helpful responses, I will not be as scared to reach out for networking opportunities in the future.

This experience differed greatly from other networking experiences in the past because all of these interviews were conducted through email. I have only been to a small handful of networking events, but they were all in person. Conducting the interviews over email was a little impersonal, however, I still felt the interviews were genuine since my request was quite unique. Overall, I am glad that this experience was different, and that it went well.