20A – Growing Your Social Capital

Domain expert in your industry: Sara’s Fresh

1) Who they are and what their background is: Sara’s Fresh is a local food truck that comes out to the farmers market in Sarasota every weekend. They started as selling their products only at the farmers market, but eventually sold to retailers all around Sarasota.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, and supplier), and how the person fills the spot: Sara is filling the domain expert spot because she simply runs her own food truck full of healthy food and acai bowls. Her food truck is similar to mine. She knows a lot about serving to a person’s healthy lifestyle.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person: I used to go to the farmers market every Saturday and I would see Sara selling her bowls and smoothies. I contacted her through email and told her that I wanted to speak regarding an entrepreneurial idea I have.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? Sara gave me insight into what it is like to run a small business and cater to healthy people. Sara helped a lot with my overall business idea and who my target audience is. Since she is an expert in the field, she showed me that big cities are not necessarily the place to do this and she suggested starting out at multiple farmers markets like she did.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including Sara in my network will allow me to connect with people she has connected with to get her business up and running. She showed me the ropes and told me how to go about starting. She said it is not as easy as most people think and that a lot of hard work goes into it.

Expert on your market: A worker of Gainesville’s Grill Fresh.

1) Who they are and what their background is. A worker of Gainesville’s Grill Fresh, Rob, says they source from a local farm and want their customers to eat straight from the farm.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, and supplier), and how the person fills the spot. This spot is filling the expert on my market. Rob fills this spot because he knows grill fresh as well as anyone that works there. He knows all about the background and on how they have came so far in success.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found Rob through walking into Grill Fresh. I asked if I could ask him some questions and he agreed and was happy to answer them.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? Rob gave me insight on what it is like outsourcing from a farm and serving customers directly. He said you have to cater to customer’s needs and desires more than anything and give them what they want, which is very true. Customers are the only way to stay in business Rob also says, so if they want something you give it to them. He also said to keep watch on the loyal customers and try to get personal engagement with them.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including Rob in my network will make my business run smoother and will give me connections to any questions I have about this business. I think meeting Rob was something that could seriously benefit my business.

Important supplier to your industry: Someone who mass-produces vegetables and other food.

1) Who they are and what their background is. Chris is someone that works directly with Grill Fresh through the farm. He works with growing the food that Grill Fresh sells.

2) Which 'slot' you are filling with each person (i.e., domain expert, market expert, and supplier), and how the person fills the spot. Chris fills the important supplier to my industry slot. He fits this slot because he would be someone that could supply me with food for my food truck.

3) A description of how you found the person and contacted the person. I found Chris through meeting with Rob at Grill Fresh.  I asked if there was anyway I could contact the people they get their food from. He said that Chris was coming in later to drop food off, so I came back and asked him a few questions.

4) The nature of the exchange you have with the person -- what favor did they do for you? What is the return expectation? Chris gave me all the information I needed regarding outsourcing from a farm and how it would work with me if I had a food truck. Chris told me that my idea was great and that I would need to find a local farmer or could even use the farm that he works on. He told me pricing when it comes to outsourcing the food from a farm and that allowed me to think of what I will need to price my goods at to make a profit.

5) How will including this person in your network enhance your ability to exploit an opportunity? Including Chris in my network allows me to better figure out pricing and how it is going to be expensive to start a small business no matter what. With all the stuff that goes into start up, buying food to begin is a large investment. I want to make sure I have enough food right in the beginning so that my customers are happy.

Reflect: This experience allowed me to meet new people and learn how to interact with people all interested in what I want to do. This experience differed greatly from any networking event in the past because this one is specific to what I want to do. I found that I had a lot in common with these people and it made it easy for me to talk to them. I am very happy I met these people and it made me start to think my food truck could be potentially a real business that I start up with my sister in the near future.

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1)   You? I am Amanda Rosenberg and I am in the business school at UF pursuing a degree in Finance and a minor I Entrepreneurship. I am very involved in the UF Club tennis team and Greek life on campus. I have lived in Sarasota, FL my whole life and plan to move back there after college because I love it so much. If I were to start this business, it would play a role in my life with my whole family. I would make it a business mainly between my sister and me because we have the same love for food and being healthy. This business would play a large role in my life.

2)   What are you offering to customers? I will fit the customers unmet needs by squeezing in a healthy lifestyle to their busy days. The Fresh Food Truck would be a truck that serves out of a small window with a menu including pictures of what it offers. The customer comes up to the window orders a base, vegetable, and protein. The chef begins grabbing the items and calls their name when it is ready.

3)   Who are you offering it to? I am offering this service to big cities rather than small ones because people in big cities commonly have the busy work schedule. People that care about their health in these cities, which will be a lot of them, will use the Fresh Food Truck. All my customers are busy, enjoy being healthy, and want quick tasty food. Also, people who are in the trendy world, because my health food truck would have an unforgettable environment.

4)   Why do they care?  My customers care because they want to feel and look good. My customers enjoy and healthy lifestyle, but don’t always have the time to keep their healthy lifestyle on track. With Fresh Food Truck, these people will benefit from healthy food that makes their self-appearance better. With healthy food, people will feel as if they look better and are doing better things to their body. People will eat here rather than home because it simply is fast and affordable.

5)   What are your competencies? What sets my business apart from other healthy food places is the fact that it is the most fast healthy food place there will be. Also, my business is set apart from other food trucks because it is healthy, trendy, and tastes good. Many food trucks offer unhealthy items, but mine will offer healthy items that people know the ingredients of.

Do these items fit together? I believe for the most part my components fit together. The what, who, and competencies fit together and will work for the business, but the “why do they care” might be pushing it. Many customers will prefer to spend no money and simply eat at home. Many other customers will try to make the same items we offer at home, which will take away from our business. I believe that with good reviews and constant service, my food truck will be able to succeed.

Feedback Memo:  I was told I needed a better “why do they care” section or to make an experience where my customers could eat home. I was also told that there are some healthy food restaurants and that they could be similar to mine. I believe my target audience is for people more “trendy” than places like Panera and I need to reiterate that. By fixing a few things in my why do they care section and who I am offering it to, I will have adjusted all my feedback and improved my idea napkin drastically. Overall, I kept my target market in mind this time.

18A – Create a Customer Avatar

Prototypical Customer Story:

My most typical customer will have the hobbies of yoga, working out, eating healthy, and working long days. My customer will have an average priced car of any color, such as an Acura or Volkswagen. My customer will watch TV shows, such as, dancing with the stars, this is us, desperate housewives, property brothers, and so on. My customer will watch these shows because they are shows that common millennials watch, especially women. My customer will or will not have children. My customer will have recently had children that are young or not have children at all. My customer will like books that many millennials read, possibly about healthy life styles and positive life styles. My target customer is of the age 18-30, anywhere from college to in the working class. My customer will feel young and involved in society.

In common with me:

With my avatar, I have a lot in common. Of course I thought of my idea because it is something that interests me.  I also have all the same hobbies as the typical customer, such as, working out, eating healthy, and yoga. I believe that when entrepreneurs think of ideas, they first think of them because they are related to their problems and something that would interest them. I think it is not a coincidence that I have a lot in common with the avatar. I came up with the idea of a healthy food truck because it is something that I wanted and something that interests me.

17A – Elevator Pitch No. 2

1)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LExXWoNFJpo

2)   On my last elevator pitch, I received a lot of feedback. I received all positive feedback, which made me happy. Almost every person said they wanted my service to become real. I did not though, that my voice was a little monotone and the way I presented myself could improve drastically.

3)   In my new elevator pitch, I completely changed my voice and the way I used hand gestures. Instead of looking bored, I tried to sell the audience by using hand gestures and changing my voice to sound convincing and thrilling. I want people to like my service as much as I do, so I sounded interested. I want people to think that I am completely invested and excited for my service, so they can be the same.