Viralogy

Contact: jessicamah [at] jessicamah.com
Twitter: @jessicamah
Websites: http://jessicamah.com/, http://internshipin.com/, http://www.indinero.com/
Student: CS student at UC Berkeley
Passions: “Lots of things!  Building web applications that solve problems, building model rockets, participating in model united nations, among other things.”

It really boggles my mind.  I thought that I started my entrepreneurial journey early when I started a company my 4th year at UCLA.  Since I’ve been doing these interviews, I’ve met countless young entrepreneurs that started their first company when they were young teenagers!

Jessica Mah, founder of Indinero.com, started her first company when she was 13!  Throughout the interview, I really picked her brain to see if she really understood the startup life; I am very happy to say that though she is very young, she has an incredible knowledge about entrepreneurship that every young entrepreneur can greatly benefit from.

I’m going to meet up with her this June 2nd when we both speak at a YPulse conference moderated by Guy Kawasaki.  Should be super fun!  This summer she will be working on Indinero.com, and if she succeeds, she’s not going back to school!  Now that’s a devoted entrepreneur.

Wish her the best of luck and enjoy the video!

How to learn PHP in 2 hours: Tsag.com

Conversation Breakdown

1:06 - Where did the idea for InternshipIn.com come from?

Jess and her friend Ariel were sharing business ideas over lunch and Ariel had an idea about a site that would help students find internships a lot easier.  Jess liked the idea and together they decided to build the site over the course of 2 weekends.

2:12 - How did you market and get students aware of your product?

There were two sides to it:

1. Companies need to be on the site so that students will use it
2. Companies need to see other companies use the site so that they feel like their potential internship pool is being taken

Jess used the API from Simply Hired to populate the site from the very beginning

3:20 - How did you get featured on Tech Crunch?

You have to have a compelling story.  Jess’s story: “Undergraduate students launched a website with less than $500.”

3:56 - How did you get someone to actually sit down and write an article for Tech Crunch for you?

Jess reached out to a UC Berkeley alumni who used to work at Tech Crunch.

4:32 - How much traffic did you get from being on the front page of Tech Crunch?

Jess received 10,000 + views over the course of a couple of days, but the conversion rate was very low.

5:40 - In your opinion, why do most startups fail?

Most startups fail because they don’t build their product.  You don’t need a lot of money, man power, or other unecessary things.  People think too much and do too little.

7:00 - How many times have you failed before?

The key is to fail for completely different reasons.  Jess’s first company failed because she didn’t handle her finances well.  Jess’s Facebook App company failed because she didn’t solve a problem.

8:54 - Do you plan on graduating?

Jess has a grant this summer for Indinero.com, which means she doesn’t have to go back to school.  If she succeeds, she doesn’t go back to school; if she succeeds, she just goes back to school.

9:53 - What is your Big, Hairy, Audacious goal in life?

Jess wants to build a company that sincerely helps other companies succeed.  Secondly, after she succeeds in the startup world, she wants to dive into the world of philanthropy.

11:07 - What is the X-Factor that allows a young entrepreneur to succeed?

It comes down to 1 thing: Your ability to learn lots of things very quickly.