23 Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     Andrew Bustamante: He is a pretty valuable resource, seeing as he is my in when it comes to health related services. Talking to him definitely helped me understand the demand better, and I appreciate the fact that he is willing to follow up with me about the app idea.

2.     Dr. Meera Menon: Another example of social capital, the doctor has given me insight from the other side of the curtain as well, proving to be a valuable resource when it comes to defining what we can and cannot do with the application.

3.     Mrs. Sudha: A great connection, though she has not been able to give my idea enough attention for me to be able to list her as a valuable resource.

4.     People Skills: One of my greatest assets, the way I am able to interact with, understand, and respond to individuals, even if I have just met them, is something that will be put to good use with the app. Though these are soft skills, it seems as though they aren’t as common with people as they should be, making me stand out.

5.     Communication skills: Another form of human capital and soft skills, my communication skills, paired with my people skills will set me apart from the rest. I am able to build off other people’s thoughts, personalities, and ideas and I believe this would help my put together a great team for the purpose of making this service possible.

6.     Parents Willing to Invest: A form of financial capital, the fact that my parents would be willing to fund my app, while amazing, would be better received if it was someone who is not related to me personally. This resource also is not that rare, I feel as though there are a lot of people, students in this class included whose parents would be willing to invest.

7.     Connection to computer engineers: I know enough fellow students at UF, as well as others including my mother, who would be able to put technical effort into making this service a reality. While its great as an idea, I would need people to help implement those ideas and this is where this social capital would come in handy.

8.     Knowledge and passion for health administration: This is what started me on this adventure, and gave me the idea in the first place. Though it started and propelled me, there are plenty of other who share my major so its not that rare or inimitable. However, I’m sure it will only serve to push me further on this journey.

9.     Dedication/Perseverance: I know that once I set my mind to something, I make sure to get it done to the best of my ability, often going as far as involving other people to get multiple perspectives. I know that this is increasingly important in this field, as there is such a large percentage of ideas that get thrown away just because people don’t want to commit to it.

10. Connection to Health Professionals: I have the privilege of being connected to multiple professionals because of how many family friends we have that are in health related services. I feel as though I would be able to talk to anyone I needed to get to, in the different paths of health services whether it be administration or physicians.

I think my top resource would be my “soft skills” My competency when it comes to interacting and communicating with people as I prove myself to be competent will be the number one driving force behind the success of such a service, should I pursue it. Even if I had everything else but did not have this set of abilities, I feel as though I would be nowhere. I know that this is the ability that will  bring everything else together and set things in motion.