Many of our Zell Lurie Institute students have pursued opportunities to put their learning into action by engaging with internships at startups. In our “Internship Series,” you’ll hear from some of those students about their experiences interning for a variety of companies.
The first in the series is from MBA student Brett Scott, who was a Strategy and Analytics Intern at Chat Sports.
1. What were your core responsibilities for the internship?
I served as a strategy and analytics intern, in which I was responsible for:
- Building out and tracking the day-to-day metrics of the company
- Managing several projects to build tools to better understand and track our user base
- Developing and executing marketing activities to better retain users
2. Were there courses you took through the U-M or programs offered through Zell Lurie that helped you develop skills applied during your internship?
I thought a lot about our Marketing core class during my internship; we are trying to build a brand in a highly competitive industry so we have to think on a daily basis how we position ourselves against our competitors and how we convey our value proposition to potential users.
3. What were the biggest contributions you made to the company during your time there?
I developed and managed a new analytics dashboard that helped Chat Sports track our website traffic, user patterns, conversion rates, and email open/click through rates. Additionally, I managed two technology projects:
1) Built a CRM database to track our user base
2) Built an email sending solution that allows us to now send customized and personalized emails to keep our users engaged.
4. Would you recommend these types of internships as a good avenue for students to pursue to augment their business education vs. those within a corporate or traditional banking firm?
I had a greater opportunity to get hands-on experience managing projects and people than I had ever had. This opportunity allowed me to turn my internship into a full-time job in a leadership position at Chat Sports, after I complete my MBA. If business school is really about building leaders, then working at start-ups is probably one of the best places to get that hands-on experience. I came to business school from management consulting and, while the resources of a big firm provide a lot of opportunities, I think you get a higher level of experience at a smaller company which may be more valuable in the long run.
5. What is your advice of how to get the most out of the internship?
There’s no secret sauce. In my experience, I’ve had success by being good at building relationships and being a part of a team. Not every organization is going to be like that, but if you want to get as much experience as possible out of an internship, you have to be close with who you’re working with.