Brandon McNabb (ESTEEM '21)
Do you remember the first time you were able to ride a bike? Do you remember that exhilarating feeling of freedom when you took off the training wheels and rolled clumsily down the street? For many, this milestone marked the beginning of a lifetime of memories. They continued to use the bicycle as a vehicle for exploration, for transportation, for entertainment, for challenging themselves, and even for making new connections.
SRAM, a bicycle component manufacturing company based in Chicago, recognizes the power of the bicycle. Founded in 1987, SRAM and their family of brands has risen to the forefront of the cycling industry by creating innovative products to help improve people’s lives and help them chase their dreams. This past year, I have had the opportunity and the pleasure of working alongside SRAM for my capstone project.
The focus of my capstone project revolves around creating a data measurement solution for cycling events. Every year (at least before COVID-19), SRAM will attend a variety of cycling events all around the world to engage with riders and the cycling community. However, SRAM was struggling to quantify the value of attending these events, as well as the impact they were delivering to riders. For my project, I have created a strategy to solve this problem by developing a simple solution to capture and analyze event performance. To guide my recommendations, I utilized data collected from 50+ internal and external stakeholder interviews, as well as results from a survey distributed to 250+ riders.
What I value most is the people that I surround myself with. It is why I chose to enroll in the ESTEEM program, and it is the reason why I chose this capstone project. It has been wonderful getting to collaborate with and learn from so many incredible and talented people at SRAM. I also have loved the opportunity to speak with riders whose extreme passion about cycling is contagious. It has been an amazing journey so far, and I have learned so much in such a short period of time. I cannot wait to bring these experiences with me as I take off my own personal training wheels and start my career in June