Katherine Olives
Most of my first internship was spent in a dark closet, filing documents that were older than I was. It was a checkmark on my resume, a job to prove that I had “office experience,” and while I learned more than I expected, it certainly didn't inspire me to create change for that organization.
Zahn interns, on the other hand, are encouraged from the start to become intrapreneurs at the startups, social enterprises, or innovative companies they work for. Often, they'll own a specific project for the summer, like perfecting a prototype, re-branding the company, or researching market trends. So not only do Zahn interns gain “office experience” and build upon their current skill set, but they learn invaluable lessons in leadership, problem solving, creativity, and passion.
That's why we think it's important for students in the Summer Internship Program to hear from young founders. Because entrepreneurship is a way of life, a mindset, and you don't necessarily have to start your own company to be an entrepreneur.
Yesterday, we invited Zahn alum Adam Price, founder of Homer Logistics; former Zahn Director Haytham Elhawary, founder of Kinetic; and Zahn internship partner Danielle Cohen-Shohet, founder of GlossGenius to speak on a panel about what it means to be an entrepreneur, and why entrepreneurship comes in many different shapes and sizes.
Adam admits that he always had an entrepreneurial mind. Whether he was trying to rent iPads to cars waiting to cross the US/Mexico border or mobilizing a lawnmowing empire, he had dreamed of creating change since a young age. But he went on to college, studied aerospace engineering, and received job offers at prestigious companies. He decided to work for a smaller firm, which, he says, was the best decision he made. It allowed him to see the many aspects that go into running a business, and eventually led him to his own entrepreneurial venture.
“I've learned more in the past few years of running a startup than I would have in any graduate school,” said Adam. “One of the most important things I've learned is how to manage people.” And Adam needs to manage a lot of people. Homer, a third party logistics provider in the restaurant industry, replaces the need for restaurants to manage an internal delivery team and allows them to specialize solely on what they do best, cooking great food. Homer combines custom software with cutting-edge operations to create the most efficient delivery solution available. Their workforce has grown rapidly from a just a few friends on bikes to an army of 300+ delivery personnel.
Danielle took the opportunity to learn about more than just what she was working on day-to-day, as her previous work experiences at a major firm also taught her how she wanted to build strong management processes for her own company. “I learned a lot of industry-specific knowledge, but I also walked away having learned a lot about managing people, something I can use in any industry”. When she left, she went back to an old love, coding, and discovered the idea for GlossGenius, a personal assistant app for your beauty business. “My advice to everyone is to go after what you want to do,” said Danielle. “Don't worry about barriers to entry, everyone has those. Find your niche sector of the market and build your business there.”
Haytham Elhawary wasn't worried about barriers to entry when he broke into the human performance equipment realm, especially since it's a relatively new field. Kinetic builds wearable devices to reduce the incidence of injuries in industrial workers. “We think of these workers as the backbone of our economy. When they are injured, businesses are injured, families are injured, and the economy is injured,” said Haytham. Starting a business was one of the best experiences he's ever had, but he realizes that it might not have ended up that way. “When I started, I just wanted to start a company,” said Haytham, “in hindsight, I realized that you shouldn't be obsessed with starting a company. Instead, become obsessed with solving a problem and see where that takes you.”
We're excited to see where this summer takes our Zahn interns — dare we call them “innovaterns” — and will keep you updated with their stories and progress.