And Now, a Word from Our Interns

I’m so lucky to have been one of the four interns who joined CincyTech this summer. We came from three of the region’s major universities: the University of Cincinnati, Xavier University and Miami University. And we learned a lot, working both here at 1819 Innovation Hub in Cincinnati and sometimes even remotely (I worked from Europe for a time).

CincyTech is a venture capital organization with a passion for transforming undeniably better ideas into world-class human health and digital companies in southwest Ohio. CincyTech has another passion: connecting curious and motivated students to startups on campus and in the classroom, offering meaningful projects that build pathways to professional opportunities. If you’re a student interested in this field, I definitely recommend checking out CincyTech Students, which has a repository of information that you might find helpful.

Now, a little about us:

Brooke Bollinger

Investment Analyst Intern

Tell us about yourself? I am a rising Junior at Miami University studying Entrepreneurship and Biomedical Engineering. At Miami, I am on the Startup Weekend organizing committee and I also work in a lab doing metabolic engineering research.

What’s something interesting you’ve learned in your internship? Something interesting that I have learned during my internship is that early stage companies pivot frequently as they develop and often take a very different course than they initially planned.

What’s something surprising you’ve learned in your internship? Throughout my internship, I have been surprised by the large quantity of amazing new ideas and innovation that is occurring in the Greater Cincinnati area.‍

What’s your advice to someone in your field? My advice to someone in my field is to get connected with as many people in the community as possible to share new companies, ideas, and resources or simply to gain support throughout the investment process.

Duncan McClure

Accounting Intern

Tell us about yourself? I’m from Cincinnati and I’m a recent Xavier graduate, now going for my Master’s in accounting with a focus in finance. One of my professors got me interested in venture capital and now I can’t stop thinking about all the talent and funding Cincinnati has to offer.

What’s something interesting you’ve learned in your internship? I am a long-term intern (1 year+) with plenty to look forward to, but in the couple months I’ve been here, I learned a lot about the huge impact of our seed deals on company value and how we look for highly disruptive tech and life science products to maintain our high return on investment.

What’s something surprising you’ve learned in your internship? I was surprised by how open and collaborative our team environment is here. Inside the office and in virtual space, I feel comfortable talking and working with people in every function of CincyTech at any time.

What’s your advice to someone in your field? Be willing to try new things and get a variety of experience early in your accounting career. I thought I was going the usual route with the CPA and Big 4 public accounting, but I learned there are plenty of opportunities with smaller, newer companies and the venture capital industry is growing fast.

Jalal Sylvester

Investment Analyst Intern

Tell us about yourself? I am currently an incoming second year student at the University of Cincinnati. I am majoring in business analytics.

What’s something interesting you’ve learned in your internship? One thing that I learned during the internship that is interesting is the sheer amount of start up companies here in the US and the entire process they all go through in raising funding.

What’s something surprising you’ve learned in your internship? One thing that surprised me about this internship is the sheer amount of research that is done on markets as a whole to help evaluate potential fits for CincyTech.

What’s your advice to someone in your field? I would give it to always explore possible avenues and be open minded.

Kenzie Trout

Social Media Marketing Intern

Tell us about yourself? I’m a rising senior at Miami University studying Emerging Technology in Business and Design with a focus in Media and Culture and two minors in Digital Innovation and Marketing. In addition to my internship at CincyTech, I’m also interning at Curology as a Social Media Community Intern and just spent the past four months abroad interning with Talkwalker doing internal branding projects!

What’s something interesting you’ve learned in your internship? Something interesting I’ve learned during my internship is how different companies have drastically better engagement and overall performance on different platforms.

What’s something surprising you’ve learned in your internship?I was surprised throughout my internship at how much CincyTech fosters a learning environment for students in the Greater Cincinnati area, such as University of Cincinnati and Miami University.

What’s your advice to someone in your field? My advice to someone in my field is to get experience! Go out and help build smaller businesses social accounts and take advantage of online learning opportunities.