My project was to help the company build a solid business plan and investor presentation for the owner to raise capital in the near-term. The project was critical for the organization because the founder, Brett, has extensive design and fashion background but little business background. The need for capital is exacerbated because of the COVID-19 crisis, similar to any other small local business. The company has done fairly well in the past few years, but its growth is limited by scale and limited resources. Therefore, a successful financing round would unlock huge potential for this business.

My CBS education was extremely important for me to succeed in this project. Not only did I use knowledge learned through Accounting and Corporate Finance to understand and analyze the company’s financial situation, I also applied the strategy frameworks learned through class to formulate the business plan and position the company for fundraising. Since the company had a complex sourcing model, both domestically and internationally, I relied on the insights from Supply Chain Management to advise Brett on how she should structure her own supply chain. Mostly importantly, the leadership training I gained at CBS truly prepared me well to function as an advisor to the company and influence the owner’s decision.

The entire internship was virtual, and Brett was the only one running the entire company. She was extremely busy with all aspects, from selling to designing and packaging. Therefore, I needed to be very proactive in getting time with her. In addition, I organized meetings in very structured ways. We always knew what we needed to discuss going into the meetings, and knew what the next steps were coming out of them. This setup also helped Brett as a designer to be focused on the issues at hand.

My goals going into this internship were two-fold: 1. gain experience working in a startup environment; and 2. get exposure to the retail and jewelry industry. I achieved both aspects fairly well. As expected, a startup environment is highly fluid and less structured as compared to my consulting internship. While I was able to be very nimble and adapt every day, I still found that I would prefer to work in a more structured environment. Such self-realization is extremely important for me at this stage of my career. On the other hand, I was able to gain valuable insights about the retail and jewelry industry. The high gross margin allows the company to focus more on building sales channels and carry out marketing campaigns. Besides the goals I had in mind, I was also able to get a better understanding of how investors evaluate companies. Taking the perspective of investors helped me understand some problems the company is facing and better develop strategies to address these issues.