I joined Rumor as an intern in January 2022 and spent my first few months helping with internal projects and research for our venture studio. Team members at Rumor quickly became my friends and mentors, our scheduled 5-minute Slack huddles quickly became long, protracted catch-up sessions, and I found myself becoming Rumor’s own little Product Hunt—I became fascinated with the ability to build products ground-up.
A little over a year later, I’m still fascinated by what we’re able to build, the problems that we’re able to solve, and the talent we’re able to find, cultivate, and bring together in order to create value.
Rumor has helped me find (a) simple solutions to overlooked problems (b) that actually need to be solved, and (c) deliver them as informally as possible, starting with a very crude version 1, then (d) iterating rapidly.
Let’s break it down.
1. Simple solutions to overlooked problems
School inadvertently promotes conformist thinking over individual thought and my time at Rumor helped me think independently through first principles. When I was tasked with validating Balance Bunny as an idea and exploring the Fintech space, I had to talk to potential users and/or friends and think deeply about whether there was really a need for this. The general idea is that when you’re building something new, don’t just do something everyone agrees is a good idea. You have to do something that seems like a bad idea to most people, but is actually a smart move. Applying these concepts to Balance Bunny, we didn't just follow a popular trend. Instead, we took an idea - a platform for financial management and personalized advice - that may have seemed unconventional. We validated it not by general consensus but by seeing the potential that others might have overlooked. When I did an initial PMR sweep, for the first time, I wasn’t looking for head nods. Rumor very quickly taught me (1) the value of simplicity + (2) the benefit of positive and negative feedback.
2. That actually need to be solved
One of my main tasks at Rumor is to manage fivepm, the brainchild of Rumor and LHBI. Fivepm offers around-the-clock presentation design for startups, VCs, and enterprises. A large part of my job here is to understand the needs of a client, communicate them to our team of ultra-talented designers, and work closely with both to coordinate the (often rush) delivery of a clean, opinionated, and pixel-perfect deck. Here, we’re figuring out what needs to be solved and driven through this deck—does our client need to raise funds, sell products, explain complex ideas, or hire great people? Each deck tells a story, and my job is to make our storytelling experience as persuasive and strong as possible. The only way to do this is to ask our clients all the right questions and equip our designers with the tools and information needed to create really incredible, clean slides.
3. Deliver them as informally as possible, starting with a very crude version 1
When I started off as an intern, I was obsessed with taking all the time I could to perfect each task. Almost 1.5 years later, I’ve learned to not delay getting started, and let my V1 be as simple and barebones as possible. This might mean that our V1 is a scrappy Google Doc or a Notion page. Working at a studio often means being a part of several projects at once, and learning to move quickly (and sometimes, crudely) has helped me gain vast breadth + depth in experience.
4. And then iterating rapidly
We often work rush timelines, and so moving quickly is key. This means I needed to gain the ability to ask for, understand and apply feedback frequently. To me, school has been a non-iterative experience: you study for an exam, write the final, and get a grade back. Then, you move on to your next year. And you’re done. At Rumor, I’ve learned to immerse myself in an iterative experience: there’s always room for improvement and with a solid team like ours, the possibilities are endless.
My time at Rumor has helped me grow into a more experienced professional, but also a deeply empathetic human being. I’ve learned to identify with, appreciate, and relate to clients from vastly different industries, backgrounds, timelines, budgets, and needs. Most importantly, I’m excited to continue building with our team of talented, kind, and empathetic people.
