Industry Internship
Small Business & Technology Development Center
The Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) is an economic development agency that provides business counseling services to startups and small businesses across the state of North Carolina. They assist with acquiring funding, strategy creation and decisions, management, and much more. The Technology Commercialization Consulting summer internship program was established to provide more in-depth service to technology-based companies.
Internship Experiences
I worked full-time for 11 weeks, splitting hours between two SBTDC clients - both biotech startups. Early conversations with the clients allowed us to design projects that would answer their most important business intelligence questions or address key needs to build strategies. Over the course of the summer, I met with each client at least one to two times per week to update them, receive feedback, and adjust course if needed. Additionally, I met with SBTDC team members and fellow interns weekly to collaborate and receive feedback on each other's projects. Project areas included target market evaluation and identification, venture capital funding, and competitive landscapes. I concluded each project with extensive deliverables (detailed below), presentations, and key recommendations. I also created a LinkedIn network for alumni of the internship program to build community and bring everyone's diverse knowledge and experience base together for future reference.
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Key experiences and learnings:
Creating business model canvases
Conducting key opinion leader interviews
Interfacing with company leadership
Market sizing and analysis
Competitive landscape research
Startup funding ecosystem
Venture capital dynamics
Internship Outcomes
Key Deliverables:
Client 1: Analysis of potential markets, competitive landscape, strategy recommendations
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Client 2: Potential Investor database, competitor database, strategy recommendations
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SBTDC: Client business model canvas presentation, final presentation, weekly progress reports/timesheets
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Total: 400+ hours of consulting, 20+ hours of training and advisement from SBTDC staff, 4 presentations, 10 deliverables
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