Marshall’s Senior Project – Mid week update

I’m actually starting to feel a little swamped by all the projects I’m working on. The difference between working here and school is that all of the deadlines are kind of natural and it’s not like someone will say “finish this by Friday” instead it’s like, there is a project that will require information about these five companies, and there is meeting about said project Friday, and so that information needs to be ready before then. I’ve found that in situations like these no one will tell you to have that information prepared by Friday, they tell me because I’m an intern, its your job to know. I do enjoy seeing how everything is connected in such a systematic way not just within the partnership but throughout St. Louis. Just like with a robot or any complex system. When on component isn’t functioning properly it sets off a chain reaction the same thing applies to the economic activity in the St. Louis region, everything that people are working on here has an impact somewhere else. It’s not like you don’t see the fruits of your labor if I want to know how my work is affecting change I can watch the local news. I think people work harder when they see their work pay off, that’s why people enjoy teaching so much(Teachers feel free to confirm or deny this in the comments) but that’s a book not a blog post. This week I’ve been mostly focused on the anchor tenant search. For all 5 STLVW incubators I’ve made a list of companies who could potentially serve as anchors this list has been sent around to the I&E team and a few other people. They gave me suggestions for some more potential anchors. In the case of Helix the newest incubator the partnership has already decided that it would like to work with a particular company and that is all I’m allowed to say on that topic.  With the other four though, my job is to look at the ” Best Practices Report” I put together which describes the different roles anchors play, and determine how each prospective might fit into the program as an  anchor. For example and SBDC(Small Business Development Corporation) can offer support to the other companies in the incubator and those services can  justify them receiving subsidized rent. Other anchors would serve as a way to sure up revenue so that we can serve smaller more volatile clients with a greater deal of confidence knowing there is still a revenue stream. My other project, the one I started today, is doing prep work for the I&E teams trip to Amsterdam, too bad I don’t get to go. The team is taking a trip to the Next Web Summit in Amsterdam. It’s massive start-up summit were investors and other groups like the partnership look for clients. To prepare for this the team needs the most up-to-date information about St. Louis and and it’s economic advantages it offers start-ups. This is a good example of not being given a deadline. I know that Ginger has a meeting the CEO Thursday afternoon(thank you shared calendar) and she always meets with me on Thursdays so I will need to have some of this done by then.

One thought on “Marshall’s Senior Project – Mid week update”

  1. As one of your teachers, I will say that it is extremely gratifying to see the level of work you’re doing right now for your project. Having been your teacher for a number of years, let’s just say that the pay-off is sometimes a long-term one:)

Leave a Reply