The StartUp Experience

My Internship StartUp Experience at ZIWO

At the end of the first year of my Bachelor’s degree in finance, I worked as an intern for ZIWO for 6 weeks. My startup experience was great, and the main purpose of this experiment was to discover the corporate environment and process of running a business. It seemed important to me to know more about this world in a startup environment in order to understand the construction of a company since I am particularly fond of the entrepreneurial spirit and always on the lookout for new ideas & concepts.. ZIWO was the perfect startup meeting my expectations as it is a new generation cloud center software provider always looking for developing new features and integrations.

 

The StartUp Experience Begins

From day 1 in the company, the open environment allowed me to quickly integrate and feel a sense of belonging within the company. Very rapidly, responsibilities were entrusted to me. The involvement of everyone in each event of the growth of the ZIWO product brings a gratifying effect that, I think, is the most important learning of being in a startup vs. a bigger organization.

The compact size of the team allowed me to establish close proximity with the founders who gave me extensive knowledge of the sector of Information Technology and a more precise vision of the strategy of the company.

I worked on a hackathon project, preparing a video presentation and a report, which allowed me to better understand the operation behind this contact center platform.

https://www.ziwo.io/hackathon/

Learning Everyday

I discovered different features on LinkedIn to search for potential clients and explore partnerships with universities which I could then directly interact through email. This learning will certainly be of use to me for the continuity of my studies and my future jobs. I also got the opportunity to work for a week in the financial department.

Thanks to the close-knit network of fellow employees I was able to discover different career profiles and the work responsibilities of each one of them. Being able to attend meetings, I uncovered the overall strategy of the company, its placement and its unique features that differentiate ZIWO from its competitors. In the tasks I performed, I had a chance to touch different sectors of the company and to give an account of those who pleased me and those who suit me the best.

Passion

The state of mind that reigns in ZIWO is a mix of passion and work and all the employees wish to contribute to the new features and be involved in the development of the product which in my opinion relates best to the work I have achieved.

Overall the takeaways have been many. Besides getting hands-on experience in the workings of a company, I got to understand the drive and dedication it takes to run a successful StartUp organization from every one of its employees. I wish to get a chance to work in a similar corporate environment in the future where the idea is to work towards improving the life of every individual working for and with the company through technology, innovation, creativity and a positive approach towards the future.