Fast-growth startups are always looking for high-quality talent. It’s without a doubt the single most important ingredient to a company’s success. At Seedcamp, we work hard to help our portfolio fill out their team with the relevant skill sets and expertise. One way of doing this is a programme we started with the London Business School back in 2014. Today, the Seedcamp LBS Internship Programme matches students with Seedcamp portfolio companies, helping students apply their classroom knowledge to real-world problems and giving companies access to high-quality talent from one of the world’s leading business schools.
This year, we were thrilled to have matched 13 students with ten Seedcamp portfolio companies based in all corners of Europe (the benefits of a remote world). Two of these students are second-year Gene Barrett and first-year Nina Cardelus. We asked both to share what a typical day at their, albeit virtual, offices look like.
Gene Barrett
Intern at Weavr, an embedded banking provider that makes it quick and easy for any business to integrate financial services within their platform.
7:30 a.m
1. My alarm goes off and I begin my morning routine: Drink a glass of water
2. Throw in my AirPods and listen to The Daily by the New York Times while walking to a local coffee shop (Ok… Pret…)
3. Drink my morning coffee while writing down three things I’m thankful for and three things that I aim to accomplish today (a modified version of morning pages that works for me)
8:30 a.m
I start my work day by checking Slack, reading my email, and scanning my to-do list. The majority of my morning emails are typically daily news briefs from sources such as The Economist, PitchBook, and Term Sheet. I shamefully admit that I am probably oversubscribed to these at this point, but as an intern in a new and exciting industry, I use these sources to keep up to date on trends, competitors, and upcoming events.
Finally, I organize my day and decide on the first set of tasks I’ll work on by reviewing my to-do list. Although it seems like the list grows faster than it shrinks, I find that managing my tasks in a spreadsheet helps me understand what I’ve accomplished and what I need to close out before the internship ends.
9:00 a.m
I join the marketing and sales team stand-up led by Daniel and attended by team members located in the UK and Germany. The meetings are focused on executive-level updates (e.g., growth plans, organizational updates, feedback from seed investors), sales and leads tracking, and a round-robin on the top three things everyone on the team aims to accomplish. My three things are typically focused on closing out milestones, meeting a new Weavr team member, and reviewing my project with leadership. I really enjoy these calls as I get to hear recent success stories where the team is focusing their efforts and how I can help, and so much more!
10:00 a.m
Following the marketing and sales team call, I dive into the work tasks I need to accomplish that day. I am supporting the marketing and sales team with a go-to-market project, researching the verticals within their addressable markets, identifying the most attractive and ready-to-serve verticals, and developing a go-to-market strategy. Example tasks are as follows:
1. Creating a market evaluation framework and scoring model
2. Researching and populating the framework with market data
3. Summarizing the model’s output and go-to-market success factors
As Weavr uses Google Workspaces, I am proactive with sharing my work via Google sheets/slides/docs and highlighting review comments or questions when needed. The team is very responsive with reviewing and providing feedback, so this experience has helped me learn how to drive projects forward with collaboration tools.
12:00 p.m
Get out of my flat for some fresh air, lunch, and a walk through Hyde Park with my wife and our dog, Rocky!
1:00 p.m
During the afternoon I typically continue work started in the morning, meet with a Weavr team member, and have a 1-on-1 call with my manager.
My goals for meetings with team members are two-fold:
1. Sharing updates and getting feedback on my project: most of the team has a decade + of experience in payments and/or fintech. I use meetings with them to get a sanity check on the work in general and ask specific questions when I can leverage their expertise.
2. Building a working relationship: my project is only ten weeks but I hope our personal or professional lives cross paths again!
During the 1-on-1 call with my direct manager, Olivia, I share my research results and discuss next steps on the project plan created in Asana. Additionally, she helps provide context into how I can align my work with the sales and marketing strategy. This conversation helps me move my work forward and prepare for review meetings with Weavr’s CEO, Alex Mifsud.
6:00 p.m
At 6pm, I wrap up work by sharing my latest project files and then I switch over to completing London Business School coursework. My courses complement my internship, including electives on topics such as the Future of Work and Managing Growing Businesses.
Nina Cardelus
Intern at Jelly, the all-in-one platform for chefs in professional kitchens
6:30 a.m.
My alarm goes off, I wake up and I go for a run in Hyde Park if London’s lovely weather allows it. When I get home I shower, have my breakfast, and get ready for the day.
8:20 a.m.
I live on the west side, so I take the Central Line to Bank and then walk to the offices, which are located on the top floor of a building in Bermondsey St, the nicest street in the London Bridge area!
9:00 a.m.
When I arrive at the office, I first check my email and slack messages. Every day at 9.15 we have a 15-minute call with the commercial team to discuss how we are doing in terms of sales and lead generation. As the company scales, we continuously monitor and test our growth channels to optimize them.
9:30 a.m.
Once a week the commercial team meets again for a weekly sales experiment. We first discuss the previous week’s actions and if they worked, we establish them as new best practices. Following this, JJ, the founder & CEO, brings up one topic that is currently not working and each of us takes a few minutes to brainstorm ideas to improve it. We then vote and discuss the most liked actions and test them during the following week.
10:15 a.m.
Following the morning calls, I get to work on my tasks. One of the best things of working in a start-up like Jelly is that I have a chance to work on different projects from different areas. Some of my projects include defining a strategy for referrals as a growth channel, shipping a survey to gather product feedback, or preparing the company for its next fundraising. As the company grows, we continuously run A/B on most of our tasks to define best practices – e.g. how to maximize the number of respondents on a feedback survey?
1:00 p.m.
Lunchtime. We usually go for a walk and grab lunch at any of the numerous choices in Bermondsey Street and take it to the office. The office is next to a small park so we might decide to eat our lunch there when it gets warmer.
1:45 p.m.
Shortly after my lunch, I get back to work. I usually meet with Tom, Head of Product, or Nic, Head of Commercial, as part of my projects.
5:45 p.m.
I have a weekly catch-up with JJ to discuss the highlights of my week and any upcoming projects.
6:15 p.m.
I head out now! My evenings during the week are spent grabbing a drink with friends or co-workers, catching up with work from the MBA and cooking dinner.
Applications for the Seedcamp x LBS Internship Programme open back up in December. Keep an eye out on the LBS Careers website for more details. Reach out to kate@seedcamp.com if you have questions about the programme!