"I worked on three projects this summer focused on founding, or funding, high tech startups that will have a profound impact on the future health of people, places, and the planet. We had an early partner in the Alzheimer’s diagnostics space that wanted to launch a digital diagnostics platform with Newlab Venture Studio (NLVS). I helped build materials defining the boundaries of the partnership that will be used for NLVS’s broader corporate building process. This was an important exercise to pin down the NLVS approach to equity and other contractual decisions, such as buyout rights. My second project was diligence on frontier sectors/technologies. Topics included ketosis tracking, reusable menstrual hygiene products, flow batteries, and the future of car dealerships, among others. I also performed diligence on a set of mobility companies for investment (as opposed to venture building). We screened these mobility companies for their impact on electrification. Lastly, I supported two NLVS portfolio companies with market research, go-to-market strategy, and pitch creation. AppliedXL implements computational journalism to uncover critical state changes in clinical trials. Long-term, they intend to monitor infrastructure and climate and Spiro Devices, which developed a low-cost bridge ventilator.

Prior to CBS, I was a mechanical engineer at an electric vehicle startup, and then I worked on the building technology team of a structural engineering consulting firm. In sum, I had a highly technical background and lacked any hard business skills. Therefore, it is fair to say that I have applied nearly everything that I have learned at CBS to my internship! First and foremost, I applied skills I learned in various venture capital focused classes to perform diligence and create memos on a range of opportunities. I also shared my understanding of the VC perspective to advise AppliedXL as they prepare to raise their first venture round. I confidently dove into 10ks thanks to the core accounting class and performed some basic free cash flow valuations using corporate finance tools. I thought back to our core strategy class to evaluate the competitive dynamics of the sectors and companies that I was researching. Lastly, I applied lessons from Managerial Negotiations to negotiate a follow-on contract to continue an in-semester internship.

One of the main challenges that I faced during my internship was formulating and communicating my own opinion on investment opportunities. Prior to CBS, I worked at a structural engineering consulting firm where my work was checked thrice before making it into a client’s hands. This was due to the immense liability associated with construction projects. At the beginning of the internship, I was hesitant to express my opinion and preferred to state facts about an opportunity and leave it open to the reader’s interpretation. Over time, however, I began to develop my own voice and distill facts into a perspective, which I learned was highly valued by the team. I am still wary that my analysis can have profound effects on investment decisions but I am more confident in my abilities to evaluate opportunities and present them for review.

My goal for this internship was to explore a different venture studio model (after interning at Create Venture Studios) to determine where on the entrepreneurial spectrum I would like to devote my time. I learned that I greatly enjoy being a facilitator as opposed to a pure operator or investor. In other words, I most enjoyed working with portfolio companies in an advisory role. I also enjoyed the diligence process, particularly when reviewing findings with the team to gain a new perspective after hours of heads-down work. Lastly, I learned that there is no formula for venture building. We can create frameworks as guidance, but every startup is unique and needs to be treated accordingly. This requires flexibility and creativity, which are two muscles I aim to exercise frequently."