1
The industry expert that I contacted
is Tom Carroll. He is the founder and CEO of NiteRider. He started the company by
accident in 1996. He was an avid surfer that wanted to be able to surf at night
when the waves were best. His solution was to create a small, light, waterproof,
and portable light. He realized not too long after that the light would also be
a great help to cyclists looking for alternatives to the weak lights they had
been using. I discovered him while I was researching the market for my product.
I initiated our correspondence after calling the office number that he had on
the Facebook page. My conversation was about what he thought about my product.
I hope to exploit this relationship with an integration of my technology into
his bike lights.
The market expert that I
contacted is J. Lucas Elrath. He has worked for several years as a project manager
overseeing testing, benchmarking, and hazard testing of bicycles and bike
equipment. I found this person by looking up on google for people with a set of
skills. I initiated contact with him through the email he had on his website. I
mainly asked him about what the chances were that a product like mine could
survive in the market. He told me it was a good idea that has potential, but he
would need a pitch before he could say anything more definite. By having a market expert like him he can tell
me how to best position my product to yield the most success.
I found a supplier for my industry
but was unable to contact the head of the company. It is a speaker driver manufacturer
in Taipei, Taiwan. They make all different kinds and sizes of speakers. I would
use exploit this relationship to see if they could make me a small high frequency
focused speaker.
This experience will definitely
change how I approach networking events in the future. Like was said in class,
you can’t just start handing out business cards to everyone. You need to form
the relationship first. That will be the thing that I focus on from here on
out.
No comments:
Post a Comment