6 months of failure

In college, I spent 6 months trying to land a summer internship. After getting rejected from over a hundred companies, I almost gave up. Then, I landed a role at an a16z-backed startup.

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The best part is when I first reached out, a recruiter rejected me stating that there weren't any open roles. That was no reason to stop trying! I cold messaged the VP of sales, got him on the phone, and convinced him to create a role for me.

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Here's how:

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1. I spent 20 minutes of the time listening & asking questions to understand his needs:

• "What are your quarterly goals?"
• "What challenges are you facing trying to hit those goals?"
• "What's something that needs to get done that never does?"

2. After each reply, I dug into his answers to understand exactly what he meant and try to identify the root causes of problems.
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3.  I spent the next 9 minutes sharing why I would be the right person to solve those problems.
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4. I spent the last minute asking if we could set up more time and finding time on our calendars while I had him on the phone.
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5. I emailed a follow-up right after and shared a few specific things I could do to solve his problems. (Shared below)

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There's no reason YOU can't try this too!

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Feel free to reply if you have qs (:

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-Kareem

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