20A - Growing Your Human Capital

·      Domain Expert in my Industry – An old neighbor of mine who is an EMT.

o   He fits the slot as a domain expert because his profession is the first line response for people seeking medical attention immediately.

o   I lived next to him and his family up until I was 16 and interacted with him and his children throughout my childhood.

o   He allowed me to understand the situations in which medical emergency was usually necessary. Many people require the assistance of an ambulance when they are unable to assist themselves or when they are in such a severe state that a family member or friend is able to assist them in a reasonable time. This furthers the unmet need for my app because this enforces the thought that sometimes there are situations in which it’s really not clear whether or not someone like an EMT is necessary for help.

o   I think that including him in my network helps tremendously because he is the next person in line for what my app would be supplying. He knows what type of situations constitute his help and it allows me to shape my questionnaire selection better.

·      Expert in my Market – My pediatrician that I have used since before I can even remember.

o   She fits the slot as an expert in the market because she is in the field in which people go to get a diagnosis for their medical situation and acquire a prescription in order to fix their issue.

o   For one reason or another my parents decided that this medical center was the best fit for our family and she has been my pediatrician since.

o   She gave me information that was helpful in understanding what situations may be false alarms and what situations are warning signs for much worse problems. She is the person that someone would go to if their scenario doesn’t seem incredibly urgent or after being taken to the hospital for a medical emergency to assess further care for this injury.

o   I think that this helps me a lot in my networking because it allows me to get a further understanding on another level of medical situations: situations that aren’t nearly as clear (one of the main reasons for my app), and the follow up after a clear medical emergency.

·      Supplier in my Industry – My sister who managed a CVS for multiple years.

o   She fits the slot as an important supplier in the industry because she has a very close relationship with the pharmaceutical portion of CVS which supplies those who have had medical problems with medication to heal themselves.

o   I contacted my sister who now lives in Savannah, Georgia through my phone. I’ve known her my life as we were raised together.

o   I talked to my sister a lot about what types of prescriptions are needed most and how they acquire these prescriptions. I found this to be one of the less important aspects of my networking because I think this goes a little beyond what my venture is targeted towards. However, I think it is definitely important to get a view of the big picture because this is definitely a step down the line past my app.

o   I think it will allow me to get a further look at the more common prescriptions and base my questionnaires towards what types of injuries would warrant these prescriptions.

·      Reflection:

o   I think this was a really good way to learn a little more about networking. A lot of times people our age are networking for a general purpose rather than for targeted situations and information. Sure, people network regarding their desired field of work after college but, this assignment required us to further pinpoint aspects of our field in order to gain information and access to knowledge that we may definitely not have had without reaching out to experts in the field.