Georgetown MBA Internship Diary: Stephen A.

And the summer comes to an end

Although my summer internship never "ends" this is the last week I will be working on my business full-time. Next week I'll be at the beach with my family and the following week I'll be helping with new student orientation and getting ready for Georgetown's inaugural leadership residency (read all about Georgetown's unique residencies here). Looking back I can honestly say that this has been the best summer of my life. I took the plunge and started my own business and it has been very rewarding. As a result of my decision to start a business, I have met numerous venture capitalists and legal advisers, interned with a venture capital group, received my real estate license, and worked as a caddy at the Tiger Woods AT&T National Golf Tournament. It has been a most fulfilling summer.

As I look forward to the last year of my MBA I am very excited because I have customized my education with elective classes aimed at building skills in strategy, entrepreneurship, venture capital, management, and leadership. I will be working on my business during school and am excited to fuse my academic learning with a real life venture, of which I am the owner. There are times when I look back and wonder if I should have turned down the internships on Wall Street to start this business, but I guess that's normal. I really have found a love for entrepreneurship/venture capital this summer and will continue working hard to ensure that my career involves work for which I am truly passionate about - in other words, do for the rest of my life what I did this summer.

It's all about the lifestyle for me...

My family, and the time I spend with them, is very important to me. I am married with two children and one on the way. Before starting  business school I made a decision that I was going to be an involved father and husband. I want to be there for the vast majority of every ballet recital, basketball game, science fair, wedding anniversary, family vacation, and every other important event in the lives of my wife and children. That being said, the career I choose will play a major role in the flexibility I have to fulfill the goals I have set. This summer has been so wonderful because as an entrepreneur, I have had the flexibility to spend time with my family that I so desire. For example, we just returned from a 10-day family trip that we planned at the last minute. We drove to New York City for a day, then went to Boston to visit my friend and his family at HBS. From Boston we went to Martha's Vineyard for four days and finished with a three-day stint with my extended family at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. I loved every moment of the trip because I was able to spend continuous time with my wife and kids. During the first year of my MBA, I was away from home often because of the rigor of the program so being able to spend 10 days of continuous time is a dream-come-true. It was the hightlight of my summer.

Gem's of knowledge

I've finished caddying, received my real estate license, and finalized my project with Taradin, the Venture Capital firm I've been interning with. It seems like the summer is really coming to an end. Yesterday, I had lunch with the managing director of the firm to review my summer research and investment recommendation report. He asked me to research a company that makes outdoor equipment for kids and make a recommendation on its viability and potential for investment. I pulled-up my notes from my strategy and accounting classes and put together a fairly thorough analysis. It took me a few weeks to find all of the information and put it into a report, but once finished I emailed the report to the MD and set up a time to meet for lunch. We met and he immediately told me about some formatting preferences he has and gave me some advice for how to prepare a better report, for which I was grateful (he's a lawyer by trade and is extremely picky when it comes to formatting and grammar). Then, he told me that the report was outstanding and that he agreed with everyting I recommended. I couldn't believe it! I was expecting him to rip it apart, but he really liked it! It was such a good experience to see that business school prepared me to think critically, write coherently, and speak passionately to the point that an MD was very impressed with my work. Then, he taught me for one hour how to evaluate a business and what key indicator to look for. It was one of the best learning experiences of my life. He taught me how to spot red flags, how to evaluate a management team, and how to use accounting metrics like EBIDTA to figure out the true health of a business. It was everything I could have asked for in a summer internship experience and I'm grateful that Georgetown prepared me to shine.

Translating my skills

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am interning two days a week with a Venture Capital firm. The head of the firm just gave me a project to research a small manufacturing company that sells their product in outdoor lifestyle stores like REI, Hudson Trail Outfitters, etc. My assignment is to research the company using economic frameworks like competitive landscape, cost structure, competitive advantage, barriers to entry, etc.

Luckily, Georgetown has two of the top economics/strategy professors in the nation in Professors Almeida and Macher (see thier bio's here) and I was able to take classes from each. Upon analyzing my assignment, I realized that I am literally using exact skills I learned in each of the two strategy courses I took from the aforementioned professors. In class, we broke-down businesses and companies based on industry, competition, cost structures, barriers to entry, and other factors. It feels really good to feel so prepared and able to tackle this assignment for this Venture Capital firm. Let's hope it impresses them enough to want to invest in me and my business...

Tiger Woods AT&T National

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm working as a caddy at Congressional Country Club 1-2 days a week so I can bring in some money for my family. It has been a lot of fun (and a great workout) but the most exciting part was the opportunity to caddy in the Tiger Woods AT&T National Pro-Am Tournament. During the Pro-Am a professional golfer plays in a group with three amateurs. They play as a group and the best score on each hole is recorded. I caddied for an older man whose wife bought him a spot in the Pro-Am as a birthday present. He was a decent golfer but was a type II diabetic so along with his bag, I had to carry a cooler full of drinks and food so he wouldn't pass out. The pro in our group was Kevin Streelman. Jessica Simpson's dad was in our group too. At first we got off to a rough start but ended up finishing 11-under and beat Tiger's group. The best part was my player and I had access to the practice facilities where we literally rubbed-shoulders with the pro golfers like Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Rocco Mediate, Tiger Woods, and others. I got to see them warm-up, practice, and interact with other players. I also saw Tony Romo, Jason Campbell, and Antwan Randle El. It was definitely an experience of a lifetime and I hope some of the things I have learned this summer on the golf course will help me win the annual Georgetown MBA Student/Alumni Golf Tournament (see Georgetown's clubs here)

One of the greatest things about Georgetown is its location in Washington D.C. Other top MBA programs don't have the luxury of being located in such a dynamic city. I get to attend golf tournaments, hear CEO's speak, meet with company executives over lunch, and meet people that have a major say in our country's future (Harry Reid attends my church). The location of Georgetown's MBA program far-and-away makes it one of the best graduate educational experiences anyone could ask for. My wife and I are almost positive we will make the Washington DC metropolitan area home post business school.

Creating a logo

I must admit, it has really been a lot of fun living the life of an entrepreneur. I wake up, exercise, eat breakfast, read the Wall Street Journal, play with my kids, and get to work. I don't have to worry about fighting traffic or getting to work on time. I live by my schedule and can prioritize my life accordingly. Obviously this lifestyle has its drawbacks (i.e. lack of security, inconsistent income, etc.) but I feel that my strengths are really being magnified working as an entrepreneur - I love it.

So I've decided to start working on a logo. Brand image (as I learned in my marketing class from Professor Goodstein) is extremely important so I wanted to find a company with lots of experience designing logos. I ended up choosing Logoworks because of their portfolio of logos (and because my buddy works there). I have been going through many revisions with them and am happy with the work they have produced. I'm waiting on the final copy.

I've also been working on getting a website created. This has been a little more complicated because my company is basically the website (think ebay or facebook) and I want to really take my time getting good work. I have been interviewing companies from India mainly because of the cost savings. I've found a few companies that fit my bill and am waiting for the best proposal before moving forward.

This has been one of the best summers of my life so far. Georgetown really gave me the skill set and courage to take the risk and start a company this summer. I feel so happy because I have had so many business ideas over my lifetime but never took the next step. Now, I'm living a dream and hoping that my company is a success.

Gettin' it out there

It's amazing how many resources we have at our fingertips that we don't fully appreciate or capitalize upon. An acquaintance of mine who goes to the same church as I do happens to own a Venture Capital/Private Equity Firm. I asked him if I could meet him for lunch one day to give me feedback on my business plan/idea and talk about his business and what he is currently working on. He agreed, so we met and I pitched him my idea. Well, a few hours later, this meeting turned into a part-time internship for me with his company. We agreed that I will help him analyze new investments and he will give me guidance as I begin developing a detailed business plan. What a great meeting!

Later that week, I attended an alumni networking event for current and past Georgetown MBA's in the US Chamber of Commerce building in downtown DC. The alumni affairs office does a fantastic job of holding networking events designed to foster career advancement. There were over 100 attendees at this particular event and almost every function/industry was represented. I was able to meet three people who can add immediate value to my business goals, one of which I'll be meeting for lunch tomorrow to review my business model strategy. Indeed, it was a great event.

I'm grateful that Georgetown's MBA program focused on teaching useful skills not only for job-search but also for networking and prospecting. I knew networking was important, but after coming to Georgetown I have gained a whole new respect for, and desire to, network. I'm excited to meet the incoming class and further grow my network and friends.

So I've decided to be an entrepreneur...now what?

I feel really good about making the decision to start a business this summer. However, there is a major reality I have to face - I'm a husband and father of two children and I need to provide for them. Normally, Georgetown MBA students can expect to make quite a bit of money during their summer internships (see Georgetown MBA's employment profile here) but as an entrepreneur, I am not expecting my business to turn a profit for at least 18 months. So, in order to be able to pay the bills and take my wife and kids to the movies, I've decided to work as a caddie at Congressional Country Club for two days a week. It's really hard work but the pay is decent and I get to play golf for free once a week. Plus, lots of high-rollers belong to Congressional so there is an opportunity for me to pitch my business to men and women with deep pockets while I clean their clubs and fix their divots. I'm also working on getting my real estate license so I can help people buy and sell houses. I come from a strong real estate background so this shouldn't be too much of an adjustment for me and hopefully selling real estate will allow me to bring in some money while still being able to work on my business.

I'm learning that entrepreneurship is exciting but risky, especially if you have a family for which to provide. I'm lucky though becaues my wife is a trooper and supports me 100%. We feel it is a risk worth taking, so full speed ahead...

The summer has begun, so here I go...

When I came to Georgetown’s MBA program I was positive that I wanted to pursue a career in real estate private equity. I had worked as a Project Manager for Toll Brothers, Inc. doing real estate development and operations so all I needed was an MBA from a top school to add key finance skills to my resume and Georgetown’s MBA was a perfect fit. However, upon starting my MBA, I realized that finance wasn’t as exciting to me as I thought it would be. Instead, I fell in love with my strategy classes and discovered a natural gift within myself for strategy planning and new idea development. As I began pondering what I wanted to do for my summer internship, a business idea popped into my head and my summer internship was born.

 

Lucky for me, Georgetown’s Career Management Department (http://msb.georgetown.edu/prospective/graduate/mba/career_management) is staffed by various highly-capable leaders, one of which, Jerome, sat down with me and guided my on how to pursue my dream of starting a business. Jerome spent time as a management consultant with IBM and even started his own consulting company, so his guidance was from first-hand experience.

 

I know that starting a business doesn’t happen overnight, but I am optimistic that I can make a significant amount of progress this summer. My goals for this summer are:

1.       Write a business plan

2.       Create a website and get a logo

3.       Meet with venture capitalists to get feedback on my business model

 

The summer has begun, so here I go…