This is the last week of my summer internship at Forex social network Currensee (www.currensee.com), so I thought I’d write down some reflections on the experience. I have to admit I had no idea what to expect when coming here way back on June 1st. I was hoping for a great first experience into the start-up world, more particularly into the world of internet software start-ups. What I got was just that: a fun, fulfilling, and interesting experience at this growing start-up. Here is the pic of the team:
I was a Product Management Intern for the summer, working for the director of Product Management. In most companies, product management means owning all aspects of the product, tracking and prioritizing features and bugs, and generally working with engineering, marketing, and management to set a vision and direction for the product. At Currensee, all that is true. But because we are a start-up operating with a relatively small staff, there was so much more to do! Added in was helping to qualify and solidify business relationships for a major upcoming product launch, recruiting partners for our product marketplace (where we sell 3rd party products), doing random tasks at a frantic pace when the CEO or founder needed something, a whole lot of statistical data analysis, and just being ready to take on anything if it came up. Phew! And all that in just 10 weeks!
My main summer project was performing a detailed analysis of trader behavior. I really got to “geek out” on this one. Nothing but Excel pivot tables, correlation, regression, and just plain fun statistical analysis. We ended up with a ton of great information to help Forex traders become more profitable, and to help us at Currensee better understand our customers. And we even will be publishing the results in a white paper and releasing the information in forthcoming blog posts, so stay tuned.
On a personal note, it was great getting to know everyone here. Everyone gets along well, yet each person is totally unique in their own way. It is amazing how many personalities coexist within this little 20 person start-up. And, with six other interns this summer, it got pretty crowded in here! In the large cubicle area where I sat, there were up to 10 of us at any one time, sitting around any open desk space we could find. But we always were laughing and enjoying our time together.
I really am grateful for the experience here, and I have high hopes for what Currensee will become. The start-up world is challenging, fast-paced, and rewarding. It was a lot of fun, and also great to see my work appreciated.
Last but not least, the free snacks in the kitchen and frequent cupcake pickups from Lulu’s will be greatly missed!
We had fun too - here is a pic of a bunch of us running the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge race in July:
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