As we approach our final deadlines for Capstone (wow!) and start focusing on our final presentations, a few of my fellow ESTEEMers share their thoughts on what has most surprised them thus far.
Anthony Plochocki – Clyne Electrophysiology
“How much I’ve learned about the hoops and ladders in the medical device industry. As I’m still conducting validation interviews, my advisor and I are still deciding between an invasive or non-invasive approach to a device. We have the science behind a device, but we’re still deciding how we can best care for patients.”
Audrey Shannon – McDonald’s, Text Analytics
“The most difficult aspect has been my main contact person got promoted and switched teams. Another team within McDonald’s formed, so there has been a lot of merging and moving of people and information. I’ve learned in corporate America things can change really, really quickly. When the new team was formed, we merged ideas, decided on one idea, and then decided to investigate other solutions. Through it all, however, I was able to use my Capstone interviews to network, which expanded my career options and added a silver-lining to what at times was a stressful situation.”
Farai Musariri – Diagenomix, Molecular Diagnostics for Colorectal Cancer
"The company had to change names, dissolve and re-incorporate, which wasn’t difficult but a bit of a roadbump. Our go-to market strategy also changed. But we’re still making progress, as our hiccups have been operational stuff. Our research is developed enough for clinical use, so now we’re in need of a partnering lab to do all the lab work and samples. This will change our channels the most going forward. But overall everything is working well.”
Katie Shannon – Lead Testing
“How the original assumptions are very different from what I’ve found through interviews and research. I’m also thrilled about how respected and utilized my research is to the team. In September, I was terrified to talk to people on the phone, and now there’s no anxiety at all. And my vocabulary with regards to industry terms has grown.”
Sam Cowdery – Stache
“We’re designing a business analytics & money management app for independent contractors, everyone from experienced consultants to Uber drivers. Profitability per project is a super important metric for independent contractors. One big issue is most don’t know how much to charge for an extension of a project. The other big consideration is most don’t know how many deductions there are for independent contractors, so when it comes to taxes they could be saving a lot of money. We want to fix that and make it streamlined and easy for independent contractors as we move toward a gig economy.”