Founder and CEO Genevieve Bellaire '11 recently visited the student interns in the Princeton Startup Immersion Program (PSIP) in New York City. She spoke to the cohort about her experience building her startup, Realworld. Her company's mission is to help twenty-somethings navigate into adulthood.
Bellaire also gave the cohort of budding entrepreneurs some sage advice and offered these top three takeaways:
- Focus on the problem, not your solution: When trying to understand whether a concept has "legs," don't talk about what you are building; ask questions to understand the "problem" users face.
- Minimum Designed Product: You've heard of a Minimum Viable Product (the smallest set of product features to test out an idea). In today's marketplace, it is vital to begin with the idea of a beautifully designed product.
- Turn one conversation into two conversations: Interviews are essential to understanding your users. Ask each person you interview to introduce you to another person; this will ensure your network expands and your data set is more diverse. Furthermore, be sure to send that thank you email.
Thank you, Genevieve, for sharing your time and expertise with our interns.
PSIP is a 10-week summer internship program where Princeton students are placed in emerging startup companies to work side-by-side with key decision makers on impactful projects while gaining real-world business experience.