Pig-E-Bank
Written by Arthur Willson, #WakeEntrepreneur and Summer Intern
Rental insecurity affects nearly one in five Americans. That is why I am spending my summer in Alexandria, VA interning in business development for Till Inc., a company passionate about financial innovation for the residential real estate industry. It’s exciting to work for a company that’s just six months old because nothing is set in stone. Tuesday, we realized our sales process was over complicated, so we changed it right there on the spot. This company flexibility was one of the reasons I chose to forgo a traditional corporate internship and work for a startup instead. Additionally, I firmly believe that you should seek experiences that best prepare you for what you want to do. The exposure to all areas of business I get working for a startup is unparalleled. When you only have a handful of employees “that’s not my job” is never uttered. My aspirational career title is serial entrepreneur and working for a startup going through the growing pains of the first year of business will provide me with a unique perspective and skillset for when my future companies do the same.
Two weeks in and I have already been a part of many critical projects concerning business development, most of them revolving around Till’s brand. Branding is more than just a memorable logo, good branding increases the value of a company, provides employees with direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier. I have been a part of mission statement brainstorms where we are attempting to embody Till in a powerful sentence or two. We believe the investment in this process will inform many of our visual identity standards down the road. Arguably the most customer facing representation of this work is our website and currently our site is just a MVP. Drawing on skills I gained working on my first startup SimpullCork, I have been working to revamp the website through process flow mapping the current site, conducting customer interviews (#BreakThatRock @ProfCohen) to develop new features, and UX design. In order to have a visible website you need a good domain name, and similar domains to point to your sight. Luckily, I bring a lot of domain acquisition experience courtesy of the man, the myth, the legend Professor (Greg) Pool. I have also been drawing on skills I gained back in the day in my high school (#GoSabresBaby) graphic design class to create new promotional materials for Till. Finally, I have been analyzing the competitive landscape surrounding Till; finding out what unique value propositions other companies bring, how much capital they have raised, etc.
Greg and I discussing the feasibility of building a rocket in his backyard.
I’m excited to live the hustle life for 8 weeks and experience all the highs and lows that come with it. I want to get a sense of what it takes to grow a business from the ground up and how to strike a proper work/life balance even when the allure of work. work. work. work harder than is humanly possible until eventually my startup stands out and venture capitalists back dump trucks full of money up to my apartment is so tempting. Speaking of VC’s, Till raised $1.25M in seed capital. I am looking forward to learning how to allocate capital to the parts of the business that will scale it fastest and saving funds on things that are more optimization moves down the road. Also, learning how to maintain great investor relations will be greatly beneficial to me.