Pitching Yourself to Startups...6. Carve out your niche •You will soon be more connected than many of the people you’re meeting, so connect them to each other •Don’t ask for

Pitching Yourself to StartupsMBACM Entrepreneurship Team

January 2018

The Startup Perspective

MBA Career Management

2

“Stop spending time reaching

out to startups [MBACM]…

instead, spend ALL your time

teaching students the right way

to approach them”

- Partner, First Round Capital

The Startup Perspective


3

“Just saying, I’m smart and I

can be useful is not enough.

Founders are 1000% over

allocated, so thinking about

what a MBA can do for 8 weeks

is sort of priority #0 :P”

- Principal, Forerunner Ventures

Agenda


4

• The Pitch or “How to Approach Startups”

• Scenarios for Startup Interaction

– Warm contacts

– VC’s

– Direct to startups

– Job postings

• Interviewing – What to expect?

• 2nd Year Student’s Recruiting Experience (“Fireside Chat”)

• Parting Thoughts

• Q&A

1. 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

• Have an MBA, don’t BE an MBA

How to Approach Startups


2. Find your niche…

• Mine your background –

• industry before school

• extra-curricular / outside-of-work passions

• Top employees and candidates will have deep domain

expertise in a particular sector

• Structure your activities with this goal in mind



3. Like what you do as a competitive advantage

• You’ll ramp faster in areas that actually excite you



4. You have no idea where your start-up job will

come from

• Embrace it and adapt

• #3 will super charge the serendipitous situations

you find yourself in



5. 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



6. Carve out your niche

• You will soon be more connected than many of the

people you’re meeting, so connect them to each other

• Don’t ask for a job!



Scenarios for Startup Interaction

1. Networking with Alumni or “warm” contacts

2. Making connections through VC firm

3. Contacting the startup directly

4. Actual Job Postings

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Scenario 1: Alumni or “Warm Contact”

• Find common ground

– Other MBAs at company?

– Prior company / industry?

– Undergrad?

• 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, near your office, etc.

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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


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.


test

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.

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

• Follow up

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Quick Advice on Informational Meetings

• Have an “agenda”, but be prepared

for anything

• Probe on “project work” if

conversation goes well

• Get referrals!

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NO SUITS!


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


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


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


Scenario 4: Startup job postings

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• Deliberately vague

• Looking for passion/knowledge

• Personality - will you fit in?


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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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I am

passionate

about the

product

I have

relevant

skills and

experience

I am willing

to work

hard and

have fun!


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

Uncovering Needs…

When there is no job posted or

if posting is vague…

• Use prior research and

LISTEN during networking

conversations

• Read job descriptions on

startup job boards

• Leverage MBACM Resume

Book 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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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 – vague/no posting


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Henry Hund

3514 Lancaster Avenue #320

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

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)?


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


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.

Startup Sample Interview Questions

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Category Questions

Know

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!


Startup Sample Interview Questions

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Category Questions

Company /

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?


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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Parting Thoughts

• Immerse yourself in startup culture – attend meetups, education sessions, etc.

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

progress.

• 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 the Enterprise Recruiting Lab – Weds, Jan 24, 5-7 pm, 2401 Walnut

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

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

Chat with 2nd year, Alex Mansfield

Reflection on recruiting with startups last year

35

Q&A


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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Digital Brand Case Study

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Wharton MBA Accepted Start-Up Offers: Base Salary

December 2017

Class of 2018, Internship Monthly Median

$5,200

25%: $2,500

75%: $7,00o

Range: $0 to $13,333/ month

Class of 2017, Full-time Yearly Median

$122,500

25%: $116,500

75%: $133,750

Range: $95,000 to $150,000

Documents

Pitching Yourself to Startups...6. Carve out your niche •You will soon be more connected than many of the people you’re meeting, so connect them to each other •Don’t ask for