If I were CEO of JUMP Investors for a day, I would change the level of involvement I have with the remote interns. I think it’d be extremely beneficial and an awesome experience if the CEO sat in on meetings with us and gave his input into our research. There’s not a lot I would change about the organization, since I haven’t been exposed to much of the behind-the-scenes operations of JUMP since I am a remote intern. However, from what I heard, it seems like an awesome company with an extremely tightknit staff. Mattie always talks about how she and her fellow interns this past summer still talk all the time and visit each other all over the country, which exhibits the emphasis on positive co-worker relationships and a supportive work environment at JUMP. I am curious to see the office, however, and learn more about the day-to-day processes and schedule of the CEO of JUMP. This internship is vastly different from my past internship this summer, since I wasn’t going into work every day and conversing with my boss daily. This internship has allowed me to do my work on my own time, which is extremely helpful with balancing this with schoolwork during the semester.
Month: November 2016
Overcoming Obstacles
I think that a lot of the obstacles that I have faced so far during my internship have to do with working remotely. It was a hard transition from working in the NYC office every day and interacting with my colleagues to working on the projects on my own from school. My job involves testing implementations that someone else has built and so obviously sometimes these projects break. While it is my job to just find the points where the projects aren’t working, sometimes it is a problem that could easily be solved by talking to the project owner a few desks away from me. This has not really inhibited me from doing my job, but makes the process seem a little more disjointed than when I was physically in the office.
Another way in which this has been an obstacle for me is because our WalkMe implementations are built on a variety of different websites. Sometimes it isn’t obvious how the website works or how our product is there to help. Once again, this comes down to not being able to ask the actual builder of the project for some more specific directions.
In order to combat these issues, I have had to become better at communicating with my colleagues, even if it is over Google Hangout Messages. I have come to realize that everyone is so willing to answer questions over message because they would rather have the project tested properly. Since realizing that reaching out over message is not at all awkward, I have been able to obtain answers to questions and work more efficiently even from afar. One of my coworkers even emailed me some extra resources to help me understand the project further and that was a great help! I want to ensure that I am delivering the same quality of work to the company remotely as I was when I was in contact with everyone so learning how to be communicative about difficulties I was having has been really important for me.
Looking Back
My experience at the University of Michigan prepared me for my internship because this university has matured me. It has allowed me to look at something that I once looked at with shame and embarrassment as a struggle that proved my strength. It has allowed me to find the courage to speak up about my battle and to help others in their own fight. If I had not opened up and let go of my secret, I would still be fighting the same war inside my head.
At the university of Michigan, I realized that everyone had their own weight on their shoulders. People all around me were struggling, it was almost normal. But, it shouldn’t be. Poor mental health is a problem that many struggle with, but that does not make it okay to mitigate the severity and seriousness of the situation. Having been a part of such a large university, I’ve discovered how to let my voice be heard when it feels as if you’re just one tiny person in a giant crowd. I have utilized both my writing and social skills that I have developed over the past few years here and expanded my horizons. I made connections with people who were willing to speak up and I helped spread their story through social media and the internet. It’s a constant reminder that there are people who understand what you are going through and that no matter what you face, you won’t have to face it alone.
As far as surprises, the only real surprises I encountered through this internship were the scary statistics. The percentage of college students who struggle, the ratio of student to counselor, and the average wait time to see a professional…Shocking to say the least. I really hope to see these statistics change in the near future. It’s honestly frightening.
Blog 4: Changing Perspectives
With a remote internship, it is difficult to get a detailed first hand understanding of a company’s culture/environment. Therefore, my encounters with ‘stache media’s culture has not changed since my first blog post. Some new observations I have made are realizing how hard my supervisor works and how big of a workload she has. I do not know the exact number of interns, but I know it is somewhere between fifty to 100 people. Her job is not only to keep us informed, and run the weekly phone call, but she also has to answer all of our questions and provide us with a clear weekly assignment sheet.
My preconceived notions have slightly changed. I now have a greater appreciation for my supervisor as I have a stronger understanding of what she has to do on a week-to-week basis. There is a lot of volume she has to handle, from talking to numerous labels, managers, and artists to summarizing what they need to us. The Google doc we all share is a great platform to assign tasks and having us submit through box is a great system to see our assignments.
I think the culture at ‘stache media is great and it seems like an enjoyable environment to work. I am excited to hopefully meet with my supervisor and other employees when I visit the office in New York City over winter break.
Blog 3: Overcoming Obstacles
So far most of my tasks have been online marketing and promotion, using social media platforms to gain mass exposure. Each week we are assigned new artists to advertise, or another cycle for a previous artist. I’ve gotten good feedback from my employer, and other music fans who commented and/or liked my posts as well as messaged me privately. I try to post on different platforms and use as many outlets as possible to get the best results.
Recently, we were given a new task and I was slightly concerned as it was something I had never seen before, an assignment I had no previous experience with. Rather than promote online, we were assigned to market via hand-to-hand. Hand-to-hand distribution entails passing out marketing tools to students on campus, and visit popular local stores and shops and ask to hang physical materials. For this task, we were sent door hangers featuring an artist’s new single. To accomplish this task, I went to specific libraries and classrooms as I figured that’s where the most student traffic would be.
I personally did not love this specific task but that is because of timing. Rather than post online, which is very convenient and less time consuming, I had to go around campus and pass out materials, which took a lot of time away from my studying. For this assignment, the timing was unfortunate because I had an exam and paper due; therefore, spending a considerable amount of time on this task made the task unenjoyable.
Knowing what I know now, I definitely would have handled this task differently. The main thing I would do differently would be to plan earlier. I would have printed out a campus map, including all the buildings and stores, and strategize where to go based on my classes and where I would be on campus. This was I can maximize my time and be as efficient as possible.
Changing Perspective
Working in a operations culture has changed my perspective on what makes a good event. At the beginning of this experience, I thought that “wow” factors had to be part of events or something that is particularly entertaining or amazing. But after watching the association that takes place before and after the Games, I think that events that strike a cord with people are because they create an atmosphere conducive to interaction. For example, the Glick Field House has couches in front of screens so people can watch football. This is more enjoyable for people on a football Saturday than any singer or entertainment we could have hired.
At the beginning of the experience, I also thought that events should be really inclusive. They should be extremely organized and that the timeline should always be followed strictly. For example, sometimes speakers were scheduled for a specific time and sometimes that wouldn’t happen. At times, the speakers spoke longer or for less time depending on how the audience was responding. So, I learned that its okay to have a flexible schedule and, to a certain extent, let things happen naturally. Working the Game Days showed me that a little organized chaos and designing the event for your target audience go a long way to planning something everyone will enjoy.
JUMP at Michigan
Although JUMP’s headquarters stands hundreds of miles from Ann Arbor, I am fortunate enough to have direct contact with the intern team at the University of Michigan. The four of us, led by Mattie, who previously interned with JUMP last summer, are able to share experiences and insights. Having a community of fellow interns has proven to be a tremendous asset. My team members have both helped me to navigate difficulties I have faced, as well as to help me develop innovative methods to make my work easier. The intern team has also served as a resource for airing my own ideas, giving me the chance to reap solid feedback and fine tune my ideas.
JUMP’s team has made my work plausible at every step in the process, and I am excited to continue working with everyone.
Initial Impressions
My introduction to JUMP has been marked by excitement and appreciation. I am impressed by the firm’s efficacy in organizing work assignments remotely, and I am eager to start contributing to the business. My projects revolve around the development of an in-house venture. Compiling data and supplying feedback on prototypes, I am helping to develop a beach travel app. The product concept is an intriguing one and I am excited to continue working on it, as well as with JUMP’s incredible team.
Overcoming Obstacles
One of the obstacles that I have faced doing Team Blue was learning how the Game Day process is organized. The first Game Day can be a bit overwhelming because there are a lot of moving parts and many different roles people occupy. So, it can be a bit confusing to understand how everyones’ roles complement each other and fit together. For example, some people are working with recruits while others are doing things for the events that recruits attend. Others have to make sure that all tickets are accounted for and scanned. This season was unique because there were 5 home games in a row at the beginning of the season. It was a rigorous schedule ,but with each game I understood the process even better.
After the game, there are things to do as well. For a few of the games, we forgot to complete a certain task. Instead of getting frustrated, we made sure to do it all the following times. I learned that it shows more to handle the situation differently next time than to get frustrated or dwell on the mistake. Another obstacle we faced was distributing food to some of the recruits at the game. It was kind of a disaster because we had no system for knowing who ordered what and we struggled with finding a way to get the right order to the right person in a noisy, crowded, and busy environment. Game Days have been fun ,but they have also been one of the most challenging parts of the experience.
Changing Perspectives
Since I started working for JUMP, I have noticed a significant shift in how I look at the world around me. Aside from building a more comprehensive understanding of venture capital and of business in general, I have also observed a spark in my fascination with entrepreneurship and innovation. I have always considered myself to be a curious individual – and my parents never fail to remind me of how many questions I would ask as a child. However, I think this inquisitive quality really took full form at JUMP. From sitting in on pitch meetings to developing the marketing plan for our app’s Kickstarter campaign, I was constantly challenging myself to think outside of the box.
Continuing my work for JUMP at U of M, I am noticing that this curiosity is growing even stronger. More and more I am finding myself looking at the things around me and asking, “how can this be improved?” or “what is this missing?”. Just the other day, my friend had old jeans laying out and asked if I wanted to cut them into shorts for him (apparently, jorts are coming back). Later that night, I started playing around with the remaining material and ripping apart the denim. Before I knew it, I had made bracelets and choker necklaces out of the jeans. My friend and I posted a picture on social media, wearing the amateur jewelry, and by the next morning I had received over 5 texts from various friends asking how much it would cost to buy one of the pieces. The business woman inside of me was ecstatic! I am not sure if I would have had this experience if it wasn’t for JUMP reigniting my entrepreneurial spirit, but I’d certainly like to think it had something to do with it.
UC/ALA 225 - Summer Vocation 