You’re not going to like this. You’ve paid a lot of money for a fancy education, and now some of the best universities in the world are giving it away for free. You still have to pay to get the piece of paper, but if you’re just looking for the knowledge, then you need to check out Coursera. They’re a Mountain View, CA based startup that is “partnering with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.” So far they’re working with Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, and UPenn. It doesn’t get much better than that. What makes Coursera unique from things like MIT’s OpenCourseWare is that these classes are specifically created to be consumed online.
Internships in Operations
Looking for more internships in Operations? Check out the most recent internship postings in Operations.
Below you'll find all of the companies that we've covered that may offer internships in Operations. You can also look at entry level jobs in Operations.
Guys. If you’re going to land an internship, you need pants. And shoes. And shirts. And maybe even a jacket and tie. Looking good is important, which is why you should outfit yourself in Bonobos like I do. Here’s $25 off your first order. My gift to you.
I have no idea where people went to ask embarrassing health questions before the Internet. I guess you could have gone to a doctor, but it’s really nice to pre-educate yourself before you ask a professional. That’s why there’s ridiculous demand for health-related information online. Everyday Health is a company that has been reacting to this demand since they started in 2002. They are a New York, NY based company that provides “consumers, healthcare professionals, and brands with content and advertising-based services across a broad portfolio of over 25 websites that span the health spectrum.” If you ask Google and embarrassing health question, there’s a really good chance that you’ll end up on one of their sites. In 2010 they were averaging 26.5 million monthly unique visitor, which is just a massive amount of traffic–especially in a niche as valuable as health related information.
There are some things that computers are far better at than humans, like math. There are some things that humans are far better at than computers, like understanding nuance. Then there are a lot of things that fall somewhere in between, but we can be pretty certain that computers will do them better soon enough. One of these things is determining context. This is especially important in the world of advertising. Right now a human can do a much better job than a computer of determine which ads would fit best within the context of a website, but he or she will be much slower than a computer. PulsePoint is a New York, NY based company that is working to give the computer another win over humans with a technology platform that helps “marketers and publishers gain greater audience transparency and deeper engagement across digital channels at an unprecedented scale.”
I think I saw one of the best hockey games I’ll ever see in my life last night. I made the drive from Chicago up to Green Bay, WI to see the heroic Cornell Big Red take on the evil University of Michigan Wolverines in the first round of the Division I NCAA Tournament. I was devastated when Michigan scored two goals in the first minute and thirty three seconds and relieved when the second goal was called off after the officials viewed the replay. In addition to the overturned goal, there was a shorthanded goal, a missed penalty shot, a 5 minute major, a prolonged 5×3 that didn’t lead to a goal, a game tying goal late in the 3rd period (for the bad guys), and an overtime game winning goal for the good guys. I woke up with no voice and an inability to think about anything but hockey, which is why we’re going to take a look at Colorado Springs, CO based USA Hockey today. It was founded in 1936 and has been “the National Governing Body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States” since.” In addition to that, USA Hockey does everything that it can to “promote the growth of hockey in America and provide the best possible experience for all participants by encouraging, developing, advancing and administering the sport.”
The word “results” is extremely common in the business world, but you don’t hear it as much in the non-profit world. That is changing, but I still hear a lot of my friends griping about how ineffective the non-profits they’ve worked in have been. My guess (and hope) is that that’s not a problem at Results for Development Institute in Washington, DC considering that they have “results” in their name. They’re a non-profit organization that “delivers policy analysis, critical information, decision-making tools, and policy advice for governments, civil society organizations, and external funders to use to reduce poverty and accelerate social and economic progress in low and middle income countries.” It’s all about finding the levers that will deliver the highest impact and then finding the right way to pull them.
We’re finally getting our first snow storm of the winter here in Chicago. I’m not traveling anywhere, I don’t have a commute, and I know well enough not to drive on Lakeshore Drive today (this is what happened last year), so I’m excited and watching the weather hoping for a lot of accumulation (even though there are no sledding hills nearby). I don’t have a favorite weather site, so I keep my eyes on a number of them including Accuweather. I guess it’s a bit of an understatement to call Accuweather a site–they’ve been around since 1962 and they call themselves “the World’s Weather Authority.” They’re based in State College, PA (with an office in New York, NY) where they’re stockpiling meteorologists there (the most in any location in the world). They need these weather guys and girls because they provide “products and services to more than 175,000 paying customers in media, business, government and institutions.”
You probably should have already purchased and given all your gifts for the holiday season, but if you haven’t, it’s a wonderful time to get deals. Retailers are eager to grab a few more dollars from all of the people returning ugly sweaters and books they’ll never read, so they’re offering deals. And if you’re looking for deals, you’ll likely end up on some WhaleShark Media properties. They’re an Austin, TX based company that runs “the world’s leading marketplace for coupons and deals.” Their sites include RetailMeNot.com (one of my favorites), Deals.com, CheapStingyBargains.com, CouponShare.com, and a lot of others. I’m not exactly sure what separates these sites from each other, but they seem to do really well in search rankings and that is why they reach more than 265 million visitors every year.
I’m a strong believer in the theory of hipster relativity. If someone has more interesting facial hair than you, wears more plaid than you, or has thicker rimmed glasses than you, then he’s probably a hipster… at least to you. I’m pretty far up the chain (though I do have an affinity for plaid), which means that a whole lot of 20-somethings look like hipsters to me. The only thing I don’t get is where they get all of their cool hipster gear. I often walk by Urban Outfitters, and occasionally step inside. The store is packed with people and filled with what I consider to be hipster merchandise. This confuses me, because I know that no true hipster would shop somewhere so mainstream. I mean, Urban Outfitters, which is based in Philadelphia, PA, is publicly traded, has nearly 200 locations, and also owns Anthropologie, Free People, BHLDN, and Terrain. I guess the only loophole for a hipster shopping at Urban Outfitters is if you liked corporations before they were cool.
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I’m a big guy at 6’3. I typically enjoy the benefits of being tall, but there are disadvantages like having to knee myself in the face on airplanes and not being able to hear a single word that anyone under 5’8 says in a loud room. I’m not so tall that I need to shop at specialty stores for clothes, but I’m just at the point where clothes off the rack don’t fit all that well. I fixed my pants problem with Bonobos, but I have a ton of shirts (button downs, t-shirts, sweaters, and more) that fit beautifully until I start actually moving around–then they somehow bare my midriff like I’m a teenage girl. Nobody needs to see that, which is why I should probably start buying custom shirts from a place like Proper Cloth. They’re a New York, NY based company that makes it “super easy to buy stylish, quality dress shirts that fit.” I haven’t tried them yet, but it’s probably about time that I go custom.
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Back in June we told you about Birchbox, a company that offers a subscription to customized beauty product samples for $10 a month. It’s an interesting model, and it seems to be working out extremely well for them. BeachMint is a “social commerce” startup with a similar subscription model, but a very different approach. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company with four brands: JewelMint.com, BeautyMint.com, StyleMint.com, and ShoeMint.com. I think you can guess what each offers a subscription to. When you sign up they give you a quiz to get a sense of what you like and what you don’t like, and then they start making new recommendations for you every month. It’s a little weird in that it’s structured like a subscription, but you don’t have to buy every month (but it sounds like it’s more of a monthly opt-out than opt-in). I kind of wish they stayed true to their name and would send me to a different beach every month.
Apparently wearing glasses is cool again, especially if they’re what used to be considered dorky. I don’t get it. I’m a contact lens kind of guy. I wear my glasses right after I wake up and before I go to bed, but other than that I relish in the fact that we’ve developed tiny pieces of plastic that can make us see perfectly. You’d think technological breakthroughs like contact lenses and Lasik would be bad news for a businesses that was founded in 1949 to distribute fashionable eyewear, but you’d be wrong. ClearVision Optical was started by a Navy veteran to “serve the independent optometrist community” in Long Island, and it has grown into a “global enterprise, serving optical professionals throughout the U.S. and in 40 countries around the globe.” The Hauppauge, New York based company has been able to grow like this because of its devotion to strong customer service that is centered around helping clients build stronger practices.
When you’re young your biggest responsibility is taking care of yourself. But eventually you get a dog, buy a house, have kids, and even have to start caring for your aging parents. As the responsibilities pile up, many people have to seek professional help to handle it all. I’m not talking about mental health professionals–I’m talking about babysitters, nannies, dog walkers, senior caregivers, and other people who can take on some of your daily responsibilities. Care.com is a Waltham, MA based company that makes “it easier for families to find reliable, trustworthy care for their loved ones.” Care.com does this by providing a closed community for matching up caregivers with people who are looking to hire them. By keeping the community closed, Care.com is able to ensure quality with features like background checks, reviews, and reference.
Yesterday we talked about building stuff. I didn’t really dig into it, but I’m convinced that career success is often about being able to build a defined work product. It can be a real, tangible object that you make, but it can just as easily be a weekly analytics report, great writing, a superb customer experience, or something completely different. If you want to land a job and keep it, you need to be able to reliably deliver a quality product (you should practice this during your internships). And if you can’t (or would rather do something else), you better be able to sell the products that other people in your company are making. That’s what SalesCrunch is all about. They’re a New York, NY based company that “that takes sales from fuzzy art to repeatable process by capturing, measuring, tracking & training the sales process across the organization.” Most people (especially college students and recent grads) have no idea how important and valuable that really is.
Yesterday we looked at Niner Bikes and how they’ve carved out a really nice niche in the outdoor action sports market by building mountain bikes with bigger wheel bases. Today we’re going to look at a company that has built a much bigger business in the same market by offering products that you may not initially associate with the market. Skullcandy is a Park City, UT based company that “markets high-end headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players and other audio enabled lifestyle products.” They target consumers who associate with sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking, so they’ve been able to build a really strong brand identity that has fueled some serious growth. Skullcandy was founded in 2003, and they made the Inc. 5000 this year with 354% three-year growth to $160.6 million in annual revenue. In fact, the growth has been so great that Skullcandy had an IPO earlier this year.
I spend a ton of time outdoors between fly fishing and playing beach volleyball. You’d think I’d have a cooler to take along with me, but I don’t. If I did, it’d have to be one of the models made by Yeti Coolers. They’re an Austin, TX based company that builds coolers that are more durable and keep things colder than any other coolers on the market. Yeti Coolers are built for tough conditions, which is why some of the biggest names in outdoors sports endorse them and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has deemed them Grizzly Proof. You may think it’s cooler overkill, but the market for high quality coolers seems to be extremely strong. That’s why Yeti Coolers made the Inc. 5000 with 613% three-year growth to $13 million in revenue.
I’ve come to accept that I’ll probably never learn a foreign language (maybe I’ll try a new computer programming language one day). I think my crazy high school French teacher ruined me, but I must admit that technology is making the idea of learning another language more and more attractive. The problem with most language learning software is that it can be really expensive? Mango Languages is a Farmington Hills, MI based company that has solved this problem for a lot of consumers. They provide online language learning services mostly to libraries, schools, government agencies, and corporations. That means that they get the guys with deep pockets to foot the bill for the people who are actually learning the new languages. It’s a smart approach that works considering that Mango Languages made the Inc. 5000 with 629% three-year revenue growth to $3.8 million in revenue.
A few weeks ago I told you about a company called Sixthman that gets together groups of music fans and puts them on a cruise ship with their favorite artists. It’s a pretty cool idea that is making a bunch of money (even if it doesn’t sound like my kind of fun). Ludus Tours is another company that organizes group vacations, but they are focus on taking people to specific destinations for specific events. Their main focus is on sporting events like The Olympics, The World Cup, The Master’s, The Super Bowl, and other big events that are preceded with a “The.” However, they have branched out to do other types of trips like Oktoberfest in Munich, Carnaval in Rio, and The Running of the Bulls. They cover all the bases including travel, accommodations, tickets, and all of the other logistics involved with trips like these. San Diego, CA based Ludus Tours serves both individuals and groups, so you can book a tour for yourself or organize a group excursion. They must do a good job considering they’ve seen 1,253% three-year growth to $2.5 million in revenue.
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I’m about to head over to TechWeek to check out midVenturesLAUNCH. It’s an event for new startups to launch and release new products. I figure it’s a good scouting opportunity for finding companies to tell you about. As I was looking over the website for the event, I realized there were a bunch of sponsors that probably have internship opportunities. One that caught my eye was ReTargeter, which is an online advertising company based in San Francisco, CA. Last week we looked at RadiumOne and their social targeting technology. Today we’re going to look at ReTargeter and their approach to targeting. Retargeting is all about showing ads to people who have already shown interest in something. I actually started seeing ads for TechWeek all over the Internet after I visited their site a few times. That’s retargeting. (We covered the topic previously in our post about FetchBack.)
Sometimes during your internship search a company name will keep popping up. You’ll ignore them because of assumptions that you’ve already made about them. Eventually you’ll give them a look, and you’ll realize that you didn’t know as much as you thought about them. That’s kind of how I’ve been with Morningstar. I knew of them well before I started this site. I have a friend who worked for them. They’re headquartered here in Chicago, IL, and they’re big supporters of the local startup and technology scene. They’re one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, and I’ve even had multiple people tell me to write about them. I guess it’s time to take a closer look at Morningstar, which is “a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.” They serve all investors from individuals to financial advisors to institutions, and they do so with a wide range of products that includes services, software, online publications, and print publications.
Some of my fondest memories from my high school years are of my church mission trips. Every summer my youth group would pile into a van, head somewhere within a day or two’s drive, and start helping people–usually by fixing up dilapidated houses. It was a ton of fun, and it was extremely rewarding. Consequently, I’m a strong believer that everyone should be involved in some kind of service work, especially our nation’s youth. That’s why Youth Service America caught my attention. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles.” It’s all about building a commitment to service in the next generation that will continue to thrive as the generation matures.