LSE Graduate Starts Her Own Business: Alumni Career Mentorship

#engagementstory

LSE GRADUATE WANTS TO START HER OWN BUSINESS

By MAX LEISTEN

Navigating career possibilities can be both exciting and overwhelming. A 29-year-old woman working as a data scientist at Bytedance in Beijing, after earning her MSc in Statistics in 2017, is feeling this mix. She’s always dreamed of starting her own business but now feels stuck as her career becomes more specialized.

Many professionals worldwide face this same challenge, struggling to balance career growth with entrepreneurial dreams. She’s looking for advice on whether to pursue starting a business and what the key to entrepreneurial success is.

When I started Protopia a mentor told me that “the best gift you can give an entrepreneur is another entrepreneur.” And that is what we did with this question — connected her to other founders within the LSE community (oh, and it worked like magic!).

Keep it simple!

Max

The "ask"

I’m a 29-year-old female, graduated from MSc Statistics in 2017. I’m working as a data scientist at Bytedance, Beijing office in China. I’ve always dreamed of starting my own company since undergraduate. (though I am not sure what kind of business). But I’m now stuck in a situation where it seems the further I walk on the current path, the less likely I’m going to start a company.

Maybe I’m wrong. But it seems I only get more and more professional in a very specific but narrow field. Do you think it’s a good idea to start a business? What is the most critical element of entrepreneurial success? Thank you!

The "give" (1 of 4)

Hi Hope you are well. I graduated from Msc. Theory & History of IR. I started my own company back in 2020 during the pandemic. Although I knew the general theme of my business, I was unsure of the entire process. However, over time, I slowly began to understand the entrepreneur field.

Of course the entire story is much lengthier. So perhaps if you are interested we can schedule a call to discuss the same. I will also be happy to help you with your ideation process. You may reach out to me. Hope this helps!

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