Female Founders Conference application

Please tell us about something you've achieved that you consider an indicator of your ability.

From January to June 2013, I led client application development on a five-person team. We successfully shipped a version one product online and to the Google Play store.

Our team sought to leverage both geolocation and demonstrated user preference (e.g., past attendances, etc.) to provide students with a more effective mean of finding relevant, on-campus events. Preexisting methods relied heavily on mass blasts, which often proved too impersonal and created an overwhelming flow of promotional content from campus groups and departments. Our solution provided a centralized web portal for promoters to place content, and a mobile app for students to receive content catered to what we gathered about them.

This idea was incubated for my senior project at Stanford and is, by far, my most hands-on experience with entrepreneurship to date. It demanded end-to-end vision - from knowledge and rational capture, market awareness, brainstorming, need finding, and rapid prototyping; to agile development, team communication, and incremental documentation.

However, what impressed me the most about the process of shipping something real was my personal development. My four teammates were smart, highly capable men whom I respect, but I learned how to refrain from allowing this respect to diminish my own perceived value on the team. I learned, despite my natural introversion, how to communicate effectively and with authority on behalf of the team.

I have achieved modestly in the past, but I need to keep striving and learning in order to reach my founder dream.