Engaging with StartupsMBACM Entrepreneurship Team

January 2019

Agenda

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• “How to Approach Startups”

• Scenarios for Startup Interaction

• 2nd Year Panel

• Q&A

• Appendix*

*Appendix includes:

- Sample cover letters- Interview prep advice- Some sample interview questions- After the interview advice- Startup compensation data- Thoughts on your digital brand

Be a user (of our product)!

Alumni Quotes . . . .

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Have Conviction!

Every startup is different…so be thoughtful

in your approach.

Be willing to do anything…to roll up your

sleeves!

Surprise me with how much you know (but with

humility).Have an

MBA, don’t be an MBA!

“You can work at any start-up you want . . . “

• If you are serious and focused• Commit to what you really want• Your weapon of choice = Genuine Domain Insight

How to Approach Startups

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Find your niche…

• Be passionate about target sector / area / product(s)• This creates a competitive advantage• You’ll ramp faster in areas that actually excite you

• Mine your background • Industry before school• Extra-curricular / outside-of-work passions + activities• Structure your Wharton activities towards your goal

How to Approach Startups

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You have no idea where your start-up job will come from• Embrace this truth and adapt• Any conversation can have impact, can lead to something • You will soon be more connected than people you’re meeting, so

connect them to each other

Practice Patience• Iterate – don’t swing for the fences first time up at bat• Add value to whomever you’re meeting at each step of the

process – make it easy to intro you to others• Don’t ask for a job!

How to Approach Startups

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Scenarios for Startup Interaction

1. Networking with Alumni or “warm” contacts

2. Making connections through VC firms

3. Contacting the startup directly

4. Actual Job Postings

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Scenario 1: Alumni or “Warm Contact”• Find common ground

– Alums both MBA & Undergrad

– Other MBAs at company

– Prior company / industry

• State purpose of meeting

– Advice, information, research

– Career path and questions about his/her role are fair game

• Make it easy for them to say yes

– Offer specific dates/times

– Plan ahead: Don’t ask to meet THAT week or talk TOMORROW

– 15-20 minutes, phone chat, or near their office, etc. 8

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HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THIS EMAIL TO WHARTON ALUM?

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Hi XXX,

I hope you are doing well!

By way of introduction, I'm a second-year graduating Wharton MBA student and former Bain SF consultant searching for jobs out in the Bay Area area post graduation. This past summer and into the fall I had the opportunity to work with [STARTUP X], where I managed a strategic project to diligence and onboard a new optical lab (they partner with several across their supply chain) as well as explored opportunities to acquire or build the capacity in-house. I loved the operational/strategic work I did there, as well as the size of the company, and am looking for a similar role.

I noticed from LinkedIn and the Wharton network that you were at Stitch Fix leading operations, and was wondering if you had a few minutes to chat sometime in the coming week about the company, culture, and any potential opportunities?

Let me know and I hope we can connect soon!XXX

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REVISED EMAIL TO WHARTON ALUM

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XXX,

I'm a second-year Wharton MBA student and was excited to discover on LinkedIn that you (a fellow Wharton/Bain alum) head up Operations at Stitch Fix. I’m also interested in pursuing a career in operations (ideally at a growing e-commerce startup – last summer I did an ops internship with [Startup X]) and it would be helpful to hear your advice on a transition from consulting to startups and learn more about your role at Stitch Fix.

I’m typically open Mon/Wed after 1pm PT if you have 20-30 min free in the coming weeks.

Thanks and look forward to connecting soon!

Best,XXX[insert LinkedIn profile]

PS – I’m taking a fascinating Ops course now and thought you’d find this article interesting -maybe relevant for potential warehouse challenges at Stitch Fix.

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Recap…

1. Fewer than 150 words

2. No mention of jobs anywhere (subject or body)

3. Connection / your ask goes first

4. Don’t delve too deep into your background (this is not a cover letter)

5. Offer specific availability / make it easy for them to say yes!

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In those cases when job of interest exists, you may mention in the email but best saved for the conversation.

Additional Info available:Enterprise Recruiting Resources page

Quick Advice on Informational Meetings

• Have an “agenda,” but be prepared for anything

• Informationals can shift to feel like interviews and vice versa. Prepare!

• Bring your sector/product knowledge (even ideas) to the conversation

• Probe on “project work” if conversation goes well

• Get referrals! 12

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NO SUITS!

Post-FRP reminder

Scenario 2: Connections through VCs

• Research portfolios in advance

• Have specific ideas for companies of interest

• Get intro’ed (if possible) or find a “warm” contact

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SAMPLE EMAIL TO “VC REP”

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Dear VC Rep,

[Warm connection] notified me that [portfolio company] may be looking for talent. I’ve been a huge fan of [portfolio company] since it launched out of Penn and am continually impressed by their product assortment from local designers.

I’ve got 5 years retail and merchandising experience and am currently getting an MBA at Wharton while consulting for retail startups and pursuing ideas in fashion tech [link to blog]. I’d love to chat about [portfolio company] or simply talk about entrepreneurship at UPenn and/or elsewhere.

I don’t have classes Tuesdays or Fridays, if an upcoming time on one of those days works. Additionally, though I have limited information on [portfolio company], I included a few thoughts below. I'm sure it's suffering from a lack of internal knowledge, but wanted to include a few bullet points in the off-chance that something sparks a compelling idea.

Connection / ask first

Uncover problems you can help solve

Mention traits/skills they seek

Be a user

~150 words

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Scenario 3: Contacting the Startup Directly

DO

• Show you…

• Care about the product / company / service

• Know and are willing to adjust to the start-up culture

• Have skills/experience that can be leveraged for their goals

• Get creative – use videos, infographics, social media, research projects, etc.

DON’T

• Mention constraints – e.g. I am only available for 4 weeks in August…

• Use business jargon – e.g. too many words ending with “-ize”

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Don’t ping us because we are a hot startup. Be humble, be thoughtful, be a user. Have an opinion and ask really good questions.

- Startup Founder

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SAMPLE EMAIL – TEEING UP PROJECT IDEAS

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I’m a Wharton MBA student with 6 years of education experience looking to transition into the startup space. I recently took the User Experience course at GA, and started thinking about the experiences your team is creating. I’d love to talk about how I might be able to help.

When I worked at Uncommon Schools, we combined user data and feedback to deliver an engaging professional development experience to teachers. This approach seems in line with “Stop Talking, Start Making”, and with the impact GA aims to make through programming.

Among other ideas, I’m interested in chatting about:• Creating a framework for workshop leaders to deliver content

that fully engages attendees; • Using attendee data and post-session feedback to better

inform workshop delivery; • Expanding GA classes to cities with young start-up cultures,

like Philly, and/or to cities where young entrepreneurs are part of revitalization

Connection / ask first

Uncover problems you can help solve

Mention traits/ skills they seek

Be a user

~150 words

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Sent to Founder when GA when it saw still series A/B

Scenario 4: Startup job postings

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• Some postings deliberately vague

• Looking for passion/knowledge

• Personality - will you fit in?

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Strategy for Startup job applications:

• Track postings by posting date (not deadline)

• Assume they evaluate on a rolling basis

• Due proper research to strengthen your app

• Apply in within 10 business days

Name of Initiative

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Name Your Internship

Want to join Dolls Kill but don't see the right posting? Tell us what we're missing... who are you, what role should we create for you, and why can't we live without you? Be specific, and convincing :-)

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Name them

REQUIREMENTS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Name them

Posting from 2014 (company founded in 2012)

Uncovering Needs / Pitching a project…

When there is no job posted or if posting is vague…

• Use prior research and LISTEN during networking conversations

• Be ready to offer ideas on how you can contribute / help solve problems.

• Ask them about projects their team doesn’t have time to tackle.

• Find project ideas: • Examine other startup job postings

• View Resume Books and Offer Directory – read project descriptions at other startups

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“Too much general interest & the volume of informational interview requests is huge. Have an idea of what you could do for us.”

- Startup Founder

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Interview Preparation

• Know yourself / be thoughtful about career (how does this opportunity fit into your career path? do you have realistic expectations about the experience you’d gain in the role?)

• Think about the product / have a POV (start using the product or get feedback from super users)

• Scrappiness– you can’t teach this! (be armed with examples of times you did whatever it took to get a task done, regardless of whether it was in your job description)

• Interest in company-building (don’t shy away from this – they expect it coming from an MBA; this combined with a collaborate nature and good energy, makes you desirable)

• Homework is often required (can range from data analysis in SQL/Excel to preparing a deck that will be presented to your interviewers)

• Be prepared for the unexpected (can range from being given an exercise on the spot to CEO/founder coming into interview)

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Go into interviews with a mindset of having something to prove. Dispel stereotypes right away (be creative, hungry) in a pleasant way.

- Startup Founder/CEO

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Don’t be surprised if you get homework during interviews.

Examples:

Here’s data set, please mine for insights and outline for us what you uncover.

Draft a white paper on how you would approach partnerships in the travel vertical.

Panel of Second YearsReflection on recruiting with startups last year

Amee Shrimanker (Interned at Rocksbox)Anuj Khandelwal (interned at Burrow) John Pennington (interned at Circle) Will Holtz (Interned at Grove Collaborative)

Parting Thoughts • Immerse yourself in startup culture – attend meetups, education sessions,

conferences, etc.

• Don’t be afraid of rejection – it’s a numbers game, so embrace it as a sign of progress.

• Put time on your calendar for networking/recruiting – to bring structure to this.

• Read stories from last year’s PWE Startup Internship Award Fellows:

• https://entrepreneurship.wharton.upenn.edu/startup-internship-award/

• Application Deadline: Early June 2018

• Attend Spring Networking Expos coming – NYC (February) and SF (March)

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Engaging with Startups

Appendix

More email best practices

• Append LinkedIn profile to signature

– Assess your LinkedIn profile – does it speak to your target ecosystem?

• Make your subject line matter (know your audience)

– Friend of Jane Doe’s from Wharton – time to chat data analytics?

– Marketing analytics guru – ready to pitch in at BaubleBar

– Your Recent [Article/Story/Interview] blew me away

– Really impressed w/what you're building - a few thoughts + want to chat?

• Time of day matters

– Friday’s are black hole day for emails. After noon on Fridays it disappears.

– Sunday nights or Tuesdays / mid week is best for emails.

• Follow up (always) 24

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Venmo is looking for incredible people to join its incredible team. You can focus on areas like Analytics, Engineering, Business Development, or ??

Pitch your interest and ideas to us by applying here.

What we're looking for:-Tell us how you use Venmo or why you think others should.-Provide us with links to relevant blogs/websites, GitHub, and Linkedin profiles.

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Another Sample job

Posting from spring 2012 (Venmo acquired Braintree August 2012. Braintree acquired by Paypal 2013.)

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I am passionate about the product

I have relevant

skills and experience

I am willing to work

hard and have fun!

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I can adjust to startup

culture

I am willing to learn and I work hard

I have relevant skills and

experience

I am passionate about the product

Sample Cover Letter (for vague/no posting)

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Introduction. It is difficult for me to get a full understanding of Curalate because I am without access to your service. However, below I have listed some observations I have made about Curalate through the course of my research as well as some questions and recommendations related to the company that may or may not be simplistic or redundant given that I am an outsider. Value Proposition. Images and visual data may be the next “frontier” in the drive to analyze the information available online, and with the growing popularity of Pinterest and Tumblr (among others), Curalate alone provides a valuable service to companies and marketers that enables analysis of the visual web.

• Question: Could content-based image retrieval or image recognition services like kooaba enhance Curalate’s analytic power by allowing Curalate to find and track images other than those that are re-pinned? Or is the technology still too immature and unreliable?

• Recommendation: Though it is clear that Curalate plans to extend beyond Pinterest to other social media outlets, could the drive for analyzing the visual web extend across the internet? Images are posted everywhere, like personal blogs, discussion forums and fan sites, and Curalate could track the proliferation of images across the internet to help marketers analyze who is posting references to their products.

Potential New Customers • Question: Would governments, intelligence agencies and big data aggregators like Palantir benefit from

Curalate’s algorithm of tracking the virality of pins? At the least, Palantir might want to add Pinterest its network of sources and Curalate can help with that.

• Recommendation: You mentioned a university sports team using Pinterest in a recent tweet. I have heard that some universities are starting to use social media to attract students. Curalate could help schools to understand how Pinterest might help their marketing efforts and how Curalate could help the school measure the success of its Pinterest campaign.

Marketing and Customer Experience. The blogs and press pieces I have read about Curalate are genuinely excited by the service and what it offers marketers and brands.

• Question: I noticed some of the press pieces, while glowing, noted that the sign up process was not instant. Though this was more like a footnote that was excused by the fact that Curalate has a small team, it might be preferable to have an instant sign up process. Is this something that could be possible to implement? (If it has not already been implemented—things are changing so quickly at Curalate!)

• Recommendation: Your “Monitor Keywords” tool seems to be a powerful exhibition of the strength of the Curalate platform. Especially if the account set up process takes time, customers could benefit from seeing a real time demo of the keyword monitoring process that they could try before signing up.

• Recommendation: Could Curalate provide a free/open Pinterest brand monitoring platform that would either list the top trending brands on Pinterest or provide broader industry categories for the brands (so Curalate is not giving away proprietary data for free)?

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My name is Alex Kubo and I want to connect with consumers by making a sale less about the transaction, and more about the interaction. Representing Square, that is exactly what I can do. After spending the five years before I joined the Wharton community working in the energy industry, driving petroleum production and refinement projects through conceptualization, funding, development, execution, and startup, I felt an uneasy mix of accomplishment and emptiness. I contributed to providing the world’s economy with the energy it needed to grow. But who gets pumped to go pump at the gas station? Did my friends and family get excited about the new product I was helping to launch? Did anybody? Through my time at ExxonMobil, I gained an appreciation for the grind and the hustle that it takes to deliver a technically complex project on time and on cost under the scrutinizing watch of the client. But I lacked a creative outlet and I felt out of touch with the end consumer. I came to Wharton with a desire to shift my career to gain a deeper connection with the consumer and deliver products that excite, energize and enable people. I believe that Square’s unique product line is the ideal mediumfor me to redefine my career and contribute to the growth of the company.

While my professional experience did not provide fulfillment from a moral perspective, it did provide me with the hard skills necessary to drive complex project scopes forward. When ExxonMobil’s asset management teams came to us, they brought their problems and a need for safe, reliable solutions. My multi-disciplinary team was responsible for selecting concepts, securing funding, engineering, procuring, and constructing the projects, and ultimately delivering these solutions on schedule and on cost. Combined with my undergraduate education in mechanical engineering and integrated product development, this professional experience can be applied effectively to the Product Management Intern role at Square.

I will collaborate with team members from multiple functions much like I seamlessly sewed together and led teams of engineers, operations personnel, and management representatives. Bolstered by new knowledge and abilities acquired through my entrepreneurial management and marketing concentrations, this technical understanding, leadership, organization, and innate drive form a uniquely well-suited skill set to manage Square’s product line. Furthermore, through my undergraduate work as a writing and communications tutor, my publication on youth entrepreneurship in Turkey, my role as a member of the Wharton Welcome Committee responsible for marketing Wharton to admits, and my current experience learning how to pitch effectively, my ability to communicate and translate technical developments into business impacts is robust.

In summary, while I bring the utility of structured, analytical thinking colored by creativity, the ability to learn quickly, and the innate self-starter attitude and work ethic required for the internship, I also offer a deeper connection with the objectiveof Square. I look forward to speaking with you further about this position and to helping Square continue to grow, beginning with my work as the Product Management Intern.

Sample Cover Letter (sent to Square in 2016)

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Sample Startup Interview Questions

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Category QuestionsKnow Yourself / Fit

What three words would you use to describe yourself? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? Give an example of a time when you had to develop a skill very quickly. How

did you do it? Would you approach it the same way again? What is something you’ve done with very few resources? On spectrum of “collaborative” to “independent” where do you fall? Give an example of a challenge you faced and how you overcame it? What is most important to you? Money, title, or responsibilities? How would you react if the business strategy drastically changed? What sorts of things would you be interested in doing in your role? What is something you want to do, but haven’t done yet? Why? What are you really good at? What are you passionate about? Why marketing? [or fill in function] Why would you NOT accept a job here? What’s your biggest fear? What do you do for fun? Teach me something new!

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Sample Startup Interview Questions

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Category QuestionsCompany / Industry

In your words, what is our value proposition? How would you describe our product? What do you like? What

would you change? Who do you consider our competitors? Who are greatest threats? What are the biggest risks for the company? What other companies are you looking at? What is the most interesting trend in technology right now? What's your favorite start up right now? What are your favorite / least favorite apps? Why? Who is our customer?

Technical Knowledge

Sell our product to me Tell me about when you used data to drive decision making. How would you describe your technical skills? Take the next 5-10 minutes to explain a system to me. Use the

whiteboard. If you were redesigning the UI for product X, how would do it? How would you measure a promotion like giving away a free

product to new and existing customers?

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After an Interview

• Send a thank you note to EVERYONE. Not just the CEO/Execs.

• Thank you notes should be concise and reference the specifics of the conversation.

• Where appropriate, send something substantive related to the conversation.

• Examples:

• You bonded over your mutual passion for subscription box services: Send them a link to a new one you just discovered.

• You didn’t nail a brainstorming question: Send additional ideas.

• They expressed a need for an SEO strategy: Send some thoughts on how you’d approach it + some specifics (keywords, etc.)

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Data” Wharton MBA Accepted Start-Up Offers Base Salaries

Series A11%

Series B5%

N/A23%

Series C14%

Angel8%

FounderFunded

10%

Series D11%

Series E16%

Post IPO4%

Class of 2019Intern Offers by Stage of Company

N=103

As of September 2018

Class of 2019, Internship Monthly Median

$5,600

25%: $3,900

75%: $8,000

Range: $0 to $11,600 / month

Class of 2018, Full-time Yearly Median

$125,000

25%: $118,750

75%: $145,000

Range: $70,000 to $215,000

Article: “13 Ways to Prove You're the Ideal Startup Candidate—No Matter Where You're Coming From”The Muse

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1. Demonstrate How You Can Solve the Company’s Problems2. Showcase Your Passion for the Company’s Mission3. Make it Clear You’re in for the Long Haul4. Demonstrate Your Ability to Perform More Than One Role5. Explain Your Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations6. Push the Boundaries7. Mention Your Side Projects8. Show Your Entrepreneurial Spirit9. Don’t Hold Anything Back10. Prove it Through Work History11. Prove it in the Process12. Show That You Love a Challenge13. Show Your Passion

Reminder: Manage Your Digital Brand

• Before reaching out to start up company contacts / VCs, make sure your digital brand reflects the personality you want portrayed to the entrepreneurial community

• Key considerations:

• What pops when your name is googled?

• How does your Linked-In profile portray you?

• Do you have followership via Twitter, a blog, etc.?

• What are you writing about?

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Reminder: Always include the link to your LinkedIn Page in your email signature.

Digital Brand Case Study

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