SoarTriangle Internship Experience Liza O’Connor Innovation & Entrepreneurship 150-Hour Experience Reflection

Creativity & Entrepreneurial Competencies Creative competencies: Created content for social media platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Wordpress Brainstormed high-level strategy for SoarTriangle’s social media based on long-term goals Entrepreneurial competencies: Learned about branding and marketing through mentorship sessions Learned how to create a pitch deck and presentation techniques Networking skills Witnessed early-stage startups grow throughout a three-month period

Technical Competencies Technical skills I learned during this internship include the following: How to use social media management tools such as Hootsuite Search engine optimization Google analytics Financial valuation for startups

Collaboration Collaborated with: SoarTriangle startup founders Helped create customer discovery surveys Offered feedback to business plans Helped work on their marketing strategies SoarTriangle staff and founding members Helped create a high-level social media strategy Attended goal-setting meetings SoarTriangle mentors Interacted with mentors at weekly sessions

Overall Reflection Key Takeaways: Overall, the key things I took away from this internship include the following: Introduction to Durham’s startup community Since my internship was located in the American Underground, I got acquainted with many different people and companies from Durham’s startup community Provided networking opportunities with key players in Durham and Duke’s startup community Learned about different startups in the community Entrepreneurial skills Biweekly mentorship sessions taught me about different aspects of entrepreneurship including social media management, branding, marketing, and financial valuation Pitching SoarTriangle’s goal was to prepare the startups in their cohort to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists in order to receive funding, so I learned a lot about how to create a pitch deck and how to deliver a pitch.