As my first week at Industolutions comes to an end, I feel as though I have learned so much about business and start-ups. On my first day, Jim (the CEO and Founder) gave me a background on his career in chemical engineering and how he always found it a challenge to get quick access to a solution to an issue regarding a certain project. Despite other businesses having already solved the issue that Jim was confronted with, they have also completed case studies that share how to complete it. The issue that Jim was dealing with was where to find these solutions and case studies. The resources are all out there, however it takes a great load of time and patience to find these solutions. Jim shared with me a quote from a famous economist Ted Levitt that said “people don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want the quarter inch hole.” Jim created Industolutions to be the largest online database that is filled with B2B case studies from any industry you could possibly think of (Industolutions is Ted Levitt’s quarter inch hole). I always compare it to IMDB, which is the largest online database for movies, television shows, and actors. Google is great, but it is also overwhelming and provides billions of search results and no easy access to the solution itself.
My very first project is to help build “Solution Sets” for the lighting industry. My job is to organize and weed through the case studies that simply had nothing to do with lighting. This helped to make the search results more accurate for a user who is looking for a solution relative to lighting. The work is a bit tedious because it involves a lot of busy work, but also makes me appreciate how much work is involved in start-up companies and the tasks that must be completed in order to prefect the user’s experience with the site. I appreciate the tasks that Jim provides me with because it is actual work that is vital to his company and he knows that I would gain educational value from it that will help me in my business studies.
Jim is also aware that I am a marketing major, therefore he is allowing me to be involved in the marketing projects for Industolutions. He has a marketing agency called Brafton who designs Linkedin Ads as well as infographics for Jim. They are currently working on a quick 90 second animation as well, and Jim and I will review the script for it next week. On Thursday, Jim allowed me to join in on his weekly conference call with Brafton to gain a better sense of what they do and their projects for Industolutions. That was my very first conference call and it was great to understand the process and how important the communication was between Jim and the Brafton agency.
Another one of my projects that I just started on was to learn more about influencer marketing, which is becoming extremely relevant, especially for B2B companies. Jim is planning on using this form of marketing and is currently having me help him with getting a better understanding of it and connecting it with Industolutions.
Overall, I feel that I have learned so much regarding business, start-ups, and marketing that will become so relevant in my future business studies. Jim’s work ethic is incredibly impressive, as he pretty much does everything for Industolutions. I sometimes wonder if he even sleeps at night, however I truly admire his passion for his creation. I am very pleased with the tasks Jim has assigned to me because they are vital for Industolutions and are relative to my major, therefore an excellent learning experience for me. I am really excited to see how these next weeks will unfold.
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