I'd +1 shadowing. A couple years back, I had an idea and wanted to understand the business/industry a bit deeper first. I got an intro to a friend of a friend,

I'd +1 shadowing. A couple years back, I had an idea and wanted to understand the business/industry a bit deeper first. I got an intro to a friend of a friend, asked to shadow him for the day, added a $100 Ruth Chris gift card to sweeten it, and then spent the day wit him. Here are some of my questions: - What keeps you up at night? - What drives you nuts? - Where do you lose the most money? - Where do you make the most money? (careful with this one, might be considered suspicious) - When he took a call and ended up chewing out the other end, I asked what the guy should have done instead, how much that might cost him, whether that would risk customers, projects, etc, and some related things. I ended up trying some basic ideas in the space - none worked out - but I learned a ton about an industry, a business, and a genuinely good guy. It was well worth $100.