Speaking of interns, below follows a blog from one of our four eminent interns at DNX this summer: Lauren Shoemaker. She joined us as a marketing intern, but she excelled fast and exceeded all our expectations! By the end of her internship, in my point of view, she had become a fully contributing member of our team. We wish Lauren a great last year in college ahead, and the best of luck (though this young lady probably won’t need it). Truth be told, perhaps selfishly so, I wish to see her back here at DNX someday. What a rockstar lady! Enjoy the read.
Introduction to VC
Growing up, my parents both had small businesses of their own, and eventually I worked with both of them. In addition, I worked at a startup the previous summer and got a taste of the fast-paced world of entrepreneurism. These experiences are what drew me to the VC world. It is so fast-paced and touches upon so many different aspects of business, I find it fascinating.
Introduction to the future of technology
This is why I accepted an internship with DNX Ventures this summer. During my marketing internship with DNX, I not only learned about the inner workings of a venture capital firm, but I also learned about each of the portfolio companies across many sectors. I learned about the future of business and technology, individuals who think differently and go against the grain, and the people who believe in them to invest and carry the associated risk. I learned technicalities about sectors that were completely foreign to me, such as cybersecurity and SaaS, that I never would have otherwise.
International business at a cross-border firm
One of the things that sets DNX apart from other VC firms is that it is international, with offices in both Silicon Valley and Japan. I worked with so many amazing people from various backgrounds, was on calls and at events with people from Europe to Japan to South Africa. Learning about how a cross border company’s operations are different from and perhaps at times more challenging than a typical firm gave me great insight and experience with strategic thinking.
Marketing key learnings
This was a marketing internship after all, and I learned so much more in these three months than a textbook could ever teach me. Some tasks like blogging, paid advertising, and A/B website testing were experiences I’d never had before and I was so excited to take a swing at. Other areas like event planning, presentation preparation, and urgent business-impacting marketing research projects I was able to do at a scale and depth much deeper than ever before. And the skills I enjoy using, like Social Media content planning and graphic design, I was able to continue to strengthen. I learned in depth about the specific area of marketing a VC firm to entrepreneurs and I also learned how to market events. I now have a clearer understanding of how marketing touches so many aspects of an organization.
Event planning experience
I was involved in event planning in many different areas. My duties and experiences ranged from webinar setup and backend configurations, presentation creation and editing, script writing, paid advertising, social media promotions, in-event operations, and post event blog writing and analysis. I was involved in 3 lead generation webinars and one of DNX’s largest annual events, the B2B Summit Online, and learned so much about what it takes to organize a large, international online event through these experiences. My learning did not stop there, these in-depth presentations on technical subjects taught me about many industries I had never before learned about.
Working with each team member
One of my favorite parts of the internship was collaborating with each member of the DNX team in some capacity. Learning about each member’s position, career path, and education was an amazing resource, providing me a good view of how a VC is run and how each member works together. Every single person I worked with was absolutely amazing and so welcoming to me as a new member. I am grateful for the advice and teachings the team gave me.
Projects
To give you an idea of what I worked on during these three months with the DNX team, here is a list: Case Studies, Blog Writing, Blog Structure Strategy, LinkedIn Post Creation, LinkedIn Posting Strategy, LinkedIn Advertising, LinkedIn Personal Account Recommendations, Lead Generation Event Planning, International Event Planning, International Event Execution, Presentation Creation and Script Writing, Content Editing, Competitive Marketing Analysis, Website Marketing Analysis and Improvement Recommendations, Website A/B Testing, Graphic Design, Portfolio Company Updated Cataloging, Notion Page Updates and Structuring, Pitch Observer, Portfolio Management Observer.
Well dear readers, I hope you enjoyed the read! If you want to give Lauren a boost, please make sure to follow DNX on LinkedIn - she did a great job analyzing and improve our social media presence and help improve reach to the right audience. I plan to let her know the increase of followers in a few months from now, so please follow us!
Last but not least: best of luck ahead to you, Lauren. :)