Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations Commons^™

Understanding Covid-19s Effect On Commerce Through Machine Learning, Madhav Parthasarathy '21

2020 Intern Reports

During these trying times, the novel virus has taken its toll on the economy. As a result, there must be a method to prevent any further loss in revenue for grocers especially. I started this project off, by researching the topic and its previous applications. As the virus is quite new, I was made to improvise a solution using machine learning. After finding a certain amount of data, I was able to utilize machine learning in order to predict the sales through certain periods of time. Due to Covid-19, there had been an extreme disparity in the sales of grocery …

Website And Communications / Development With Iagc, Nathan Joseph '21

2020 Intern Reports

This summer, I completed a summer IMSA Internship with the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC), a non-profit aimed to provide quality education to students across the state. During this internship, I worked independently and remotely due to COVID-19 with some assistance via email or Zoom from my business mentor to complete a variety of tasks for the IAGC. Some of the endeavors that I took part in were creating website pages. Particularly, I worked on a page promoting social and emotional support for students, a page promoting and acknowledging the excellence gap, and a page answering commonly asked questions …

Marketing & Website Visual Development To Enhance Communication For Iagc, Makayla Zheng '22

2020 Intern Reports

In the Business Context portion, the general description of the industry and organization are detailed. I interned for the Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC), a nonprofit organization that works in the field of education, helping to promote the development of gifted and talented children across Illinois.

In the Business Project Description section, the work I contributed to IAGC is exhibited.During this internship, I largely partook in the marketing aspects for IAGC. I mainly worked with improving the IAGC website to increase organization and visual enhancement allowing for easier accessibility for users. The Exhibits portion consists of visuals from my …

Graphic Design Internship, Jonathan Gao '21

2020 Intern Reports

I have always been my own boss. From self-learning graphic design, starting in third grade, to practicing graphic design for clubs and organizations under my digression. I have been lucky enough to work for mainly myself and, when working for others, have had to cater to exclusively my taste—my experience in doing graphic design for teams has in the past been limited to making a design I like, requesting approval with little to no necessary revisions, and finally sending the design to its final destination.

Working with the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce this summer was my first time practicing graphic …

Social Media Marketing, Christo Ekimov '22

2020 Intern Reports

Hespr is a mental health startup that believes that mental health is both a personal journey as well as a community one. Hespr is building an application that incorporates this idea using a guided journal, which facilitates the personal journey and a social platform to foster the community journey. It has a strong back-end which uses a variety of algorithms to calculate the emotions of the user. It combines all this with a sleek and functional UI. They focus on creating positive change in the world along with reimagining the way mental health is perceived and treated. As a marketing …

Safestart Medical: An Innovative Hit Solution To Never Events (Wspe), Shikhar Gupta '22

2020 Intern Reports

SafeStart Medical is a health information technology company offering a healthcare system, or electronic health record, that reduces dangerous handoff and communication errors, reduces delays and cancellations in the operating room, and empowers the patient as an active member of their care team. SafeStart is an automated and digitized revenue cycle management tool that improves perioperative patient safety, quality of care, and patient throughput. They specifically aim to prevent the occurrence of Never Events, preventable and serious medical errors that occur at an alarming rate. As an intern at SafeStart, I performed research on clinical topics such as Never Events …

Marketing Experience: Analysis Of Competitors, Kaylee Zhou '22

2020 Intern Reports

Hespr is a start-up that focuses on promoting mental health by providing an app for the community. While the app is still in its early access program, Hespr's development team has been working diligently to improve various aspects and features. Throughout my internship, many tasks and projects were completed, such as user outreach, graphic design, written reports, and research. The objectives of this business project involved gathering information on how to analyze competitors and their marketing strategies efficiently and how to identify competitors' strengths and weaknesses effectively. My internship has provided me with valuable findings, leading me to conclude that …

The Value Of Visual Marketing As A Tool To Gain Consumer Interest, Shivani Venkatraman '21

2020 Intern Reports

This year, I interned for the company SWAMR HR, their parent company being ThoughtWave Software and Solutions. SWARM HR is a company in the IT Industry, and I worked in the Marketing and Sales Department as an Inside Sales Intern. SWARM HR’s product, SWARM HR, is a workforce automation software. It helps businesses migrate to managing their employees full-time electronically, with modules for HR, ATS, and Accounting/Payroll. The business area I researched for my project was Visual Marketing. This area was one I got to explore in my internship, as I helped come up with newsletter content, infographics, and types …

Internship With Coursestars, Aakash Kumar '21

2020 Intern Reports

The plan of the company was to rework some parts of their website to automate submissions by employees and to attract more clients. The company I was interning with was CourseStars, a company that prides itself on finding excelled tutors to serve students. However, the project had a lot of complicated parts due to privacy issues and company policies.

First, the company needed to ensure that there was an easier way for them to give out tutor applications and publish tutors’ information on their website. The second issue was to drive tutor’s to work with CourseStars and make it easier …

An In Depth Look Of Marketing At Xenwork, Amanda Chen

2020 Intern Reports

Xenwork is an Information Technology service company that offers an array of solutions for its business clients. Emphasis is placed on its one of a kind software development as well as algorithms to help improve the technological side of its clients. With the ever growing market in technology, Xenwork is constantly looking to improve in any way it can.

Xenwork places a high value on customer service and marketing. Therefore, it takes an extra step to reach out to potential customers with personalized scripted messages. In addition to reaching out to potential clients, Xenwork also makes sure to be updated …

Analyzing Pricing Models In The Context Of Mental Health Markets, Edward Zhang '22

2020 Intern Reports

In today’s world, mental health is becoming an increasingly important issue. To address, this the crossroads between technology and healthcare has become more and more apparent, with many mental heath apps seeking to help consumers on this issue and reduce stigma.Hespr is one of these companies, and although in early stages of development, has a large potential to make a lasting impact.By researching pricing models and business models in the mental health software industry, this report hopes to provide insight on how these business practices can impact business finances, and ultimately have greater implications for decisions at Hespr. By using …

Marketing And Design Applications In Website Development, Amanda Chen

2020 Intern Reports

Are there universal guidelines that ensure the efficacy of a business website’s design and marketing appeal to consumers? Through the field studies of competitor businesses of private tutoring company CourseStars, LLC. as well as research journals confirming the significance of behavioral economics working hand in hand with user experience website design, we determined that the best course of action was to rebrand the CourseStars website to reflect a personal connection its tutors can make with their students. The general principles to make a “good website” are ease of use, trust, transaction security, and behaviorally, using consumers’ cost-benefit analysis and their …

Assessing Integenerational Programs Through Market Research, Rohit Kartha '22

2020 Intern Reports

Intergenerational is an adjective that describes something that involves or affects several generations. Intergenerational programs are programs which increase interaction and exchange between people of different generations. There are several benefits of intergenerational programs. Some include generating a sense of purpose for the older adults, reducing a sense of isolation for them, as well as members from each generation learning new skills. Most importantly, younger generations better understand the aging process and learn how to face their own aging more positively. As time progresses, more and more people are understanding the benefits and importance of intergenerational collaboration and as this …

How To Increase A Company's Social Media Presence, Eunice Kim '22

2020 Intern Reports

The project pursued in this report is called “How to Increase a Company’s Social Media Presence.” In this context, “social media presence” will refer to how frequently Hespr posts and is active on Instagram, the levels of engagement on posts, and types of content uploaded. As the title suggests, this project will focus on factors that facilitate the growth of Hespr’s social media presence, as well as factors that may hinder progress.

Summer Internship Report, Isabel Chen '22

2020 Intern Reports

“Baby boomer,” “millennial,” and “Generations X and Z” are all familiar terms referring to the different Western cultural generations beginning from the late nineteenth century. And as they all signify a period of time in history, there are an array of associated ideas, beliefs, and traditions that come along with each. This research paper serves to explore how design and social media platforms can best cater to audiences of all generations, taking into account the differences in interests, opinions, and tendencies of each. Through observations and studies, it’s most effective to approach the audience in an attitude that is equally …

Civicly Envolved Intership: Working On The Candidate Profile Screen, Patrick Hultquist '21

2020 Intern Reports

Going into any situation, I think I’m always a little overconfident. This was no exception. I had previously made an (unimpressive) app, had talked to people before, and knew how to work with a team; so this would be all the same, right?I thought going into this that I would probably do something around 80%working and 20% learning. The very first day I realized how wrong I was. I learned that in this internship, I was going to, well, learn. At first, I felt kind of bad; I mean, I knew barely anything and had to be taught from the …

My Internship With The State Representative: An Overview, Nathan Tamez '21

2020 Intern Reports

My name is Nathan Tamez, and I am a Junior (‘21) at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. I am currently thinking of going into Engineering (most likely Automotive or Mechanical). Honestly, I did not know what to expect when I signed up for the internship program, but what I heard from friends and the internship coordinators reassured me that there would be many opportunities to meet people with experience and to expand my network. Just as I expected, I was able to meet plenty of people, and even establish a connection with the Aurora Collective,a conjunction of businesses based …

Web Developing With Block Bins, Rajan Savani '21

2020 Intern Reports

Block Bins is a compost collection company based in Chicago that creates food scrap drop off points using shared bins, providing an inexpensive solution to people who want to compost their food scrap. This service is enabled with a website, automation, and data collection & analysis, which were developed and improved over the course of this internship. The goal of this project was to improve the current website with an updated front-end that uses modern web frameworks and a revised back-end that is better tailored to the Block Binsuse-case. These improvements would reduce reliance on third-party software and developers, and …

Venture Capital And Marketing With K8 Ventures, Rosario Picone '21

2020 Intern Reports

K8 Ventures is a venture builder studio, with investments in a diverse range of industries. K8’sgreatest skill is developing companies in-house, starting at Stage 1, what they call “an idea written on a napkin,” to Stage 5, which is a successful business already established in the market. Because K8 is investing in early-stage companies, they typically are able to take a larger share of equity in their developing companies. This allows them to take a managerial role in the company, thus taking some of the traditional risks out of venture capital. Over the past year with K8, they have provided …

Easy-To-Use Augmented Reality In The Mobile Industry: An Internship Experience, Abhi Vinnakota '21

2020 Intern Reports

This report details the work and research I have completed over the past few months with BUNDLAR. This company is a startup located in startup incubator 1871. BUNDLAR is currently developing their augmented reality mobile app that will launch in the near future. Over my time with them, I helped with market research. My research was focused on the Augmented Reality industry and performing competitive analysis on other AR companies. With this research, I was able to provide BUNDLAR with valuable recommendations and insights that helped shape their development around the target audience and industry. In addition, I also focused …

Safestart: Simplifying Technology For Seniors, Melissa Myint '21

2020 Intern Reports

Our project is nonprofit and aims to help seniors understand how to use technology in their daily lives by creating videos that are simple and easy to follow.As in this day and age seniors are afraid to use their smart devices other than the basic call function which can prevent seniors from receiving the benefits associated with the use of apps that could track their medication, allow them to video call, and etc. These seniors are therefore being left out from the increasing digital society. In order to accomplish this goal, we are creating instructional videos on the uses of …

Wesolv: Mba Job Analysis, Xiaofan Li '21

2020 Intern Reports

WeSolv is a startup that focuses on bringing the most qualified candidates to prospective hiring companies by designing and utilizing case challenges to accurately assess the candidates’ skill sets. The case challenges consist of several activities (presentations, research, etc.) that the candidates must execute, which measure their fit for potential jobs. For the past academic year, the company has provided information on how to obtain insight on their system metrics and to better understand the process of choosing their assessing skills. Since desired skills in candidates are fluid throughout time, the company needs to constantly ensure that they have the …

Building The Coursestars Brand, Melena Braggs '21

2020 Intern Reports

The main purpose of this project was to build the brand of Course Stars, a small tutoring business based in Illinois. This brand building was done through Facebook and Instagram, and the project lasted from November 2019 to March 2020. In that time, the analytics from Facebook and Instagram were tracked and analyzed. While there was a slight increase in the amount of interactions from the sites combined, there’s still few followers on Instagram. Marketing on social media is generally helpful, but in this project it did not make a large difference.

Developing An Accurate Method And Algorithm To Identify And Match Tutors With Their Respective Students, According To Intellectual Level And Teaching Style, Vasanth Ramesh

2020 Intern Reports

Course Stars, LLC is a quality tutoring service focused on helping high school college students excel in specific college courses, or standardized tests, through the help of experienced tutors (who have taken those specialized courses before). The unique aspect of Course Stars is that our tutors are all specialized in their own college courses and have their strengths in specific standardized testing aspects. The focus of our business project for Course Stars is to create a method for analyzing and matching a specific student in need of tutoring with their respective tutor. This matchmaking will be based on the student’s …

Marketing Internship, Alejandro Carrillo '21

2020 Intern Reports

Qooley is a company focused on providing the best travel experience for tourists by connecting them with knowledgeable locals in the area they are visiting. The purpose of this business project was to help Qooley develop their marketing techniques and to increase the number of people that viewed their product. The business project included creating a pipeline of possible partners, finding out which categories are the most liked, creating social media content,and analyzing the Qooley website. Over the course of six months, the company provided portunities to gain experience in market research, website design, and composition, and how to connect …

Safestart: Simplifying Technology For Seniors, Savannah Pagan '20

2020 Intern Reports

Within our project, my partner and I aimed to fulfill the goal of simplifying technology usage for senior citizens. Seniors are often left behind in terms of technology, often because no one has taken the time to sit down with them and explain how to utilize their devices. There is a need to be technologically fit in today’s society, and by educating older generations on these topics, we can move them forward into this technological age. We went about addressing this problem by creating a series of interactive, informational videos that go over the basics of everyday technology, such as …

Using Social Media As A Marketing Tool For Scholarships, Brooke Bolsinger '21

2020 Intern Reports

Scholarship Assistance Fund is a nonprofit organization with the mission of supporting local students (Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mt. Prospect, Prospect Heights, and Wheeling) that aim to achieve a higher education. The focus of the business project involved a few different parts, primarily being social media management, but also included other graphic design projects, website management, and grant research. Throughout the six months of the internship program, Scholarship Assistance Fund began to utilize social media in their process of marketing to students, on top of their outreach to schools and printing of physical posters. Along with this, they began to …

Dealerfox Data Visualization, Zoe Berthold '21

2020 Intern Reports

Dealer Fox is a start-up that provides data visualization and consulting for advertisements of car dealerships online to help increase efficiency of sales. The business project was to streamline the process of data visualization, from collecting the data to presenting it using Infogram.

Business Project Final Report, Elasia Rodriguez '21

2020 Intern Reports

The STEM Pathways Project Team and I work with the Center for Innovation and Inquiry (IN2) on implementing the College and Career Pathway Endorsements program (CCPE)through the Post-Secondary Workforce Readiness Act (PWRA or PWR act). I am the lead intern, Elasia Rodriguez, and the rest of the project team consists of Gloria Wang, Jaelynn Abdullah,and Aryan Gandhi under the advisory of Betty Hart. The focus of the project is to assess IMSA’s courses and offerings and how they can assist students in college-readiness and prepare students for the future of work. The CCPE program is a planned high-school pathway that …

Wesolv: Business Project Final Report, Doreen Xiao '20

2020 Intern Reports

WeSolv is an innovative technology platform with a driven mission to advance equity in the career hiring field. WeSolv works with companies from Salesforce to Pinterest, to identify key skills companies prioritize for certain positions to create personalized Case Challenges for MBA students. These Case Challenges measure presentations, deliverables, and teamwork to see how students would actually perform in the job to ultimately reduce bias in the hiring process.