Deep Planet

Lusya Manukyan, St Peter’s College, BA Biological Sciences, Final year undergraduate, Remote working

Work Projects

As part of the Summer Internship Programme I joined the business development team at Deep Planet, a global AgriTech start-up, for a 4-week Sales Internship. The goal of my internship was to run a series of sales experiments and to make strategic recommendations for the company's sales process based on the insights from these experiments.

Over the four weeks of my internship, I completed 5 outbound sales experiments, researched over 100 companies and organisations, helped set up the company's CRM (customer relationship management software) and participated in 2 discovery calls. Although I had some prior experience in business development roles, this was my first experience in sales.

I was able to quickly assimilate into my new role due to the continuous support and mentorship from my supervisors at Deep Planet. They helped me learn about the technicalities of business development through one-on-one meetings and by being available to answer my questions any time. This swift learning experience meant that I was also able to adjust quickly and contribute to the growth of my host organisation.

Daily Life

This was my first internship completed remotely, so I had to make sure to create a working environment where I could fully immerse myself into work while enjoying the process. Despite a big time-zone difference, my supervisor and I were able to have daily one-to-one meetings during which I updated him on my progress, asked any questions I had and planned the work for the next day and beyond. Working from home may seem liberating as you get more control of your time and are not confined to strict office hours. However, it also has its challenges as you have to coordinate your work with the people living with you and make compromises.

To ensure smooth working process, I had to find the quietest room in the house where I could also get a stable wifi connection, ask my family members to be quiet and not use much broadband when I had my Zoom calls. It was a bit strange initially but after a couple of

days, it became routine. I made sure to allocate an appropriate amount of time to work, but I also planned breaks during the day to exercise, rest my eyes from staring at my laptop screen for hours and enjoy the company of my family at lunch. Working from home was certainly an interesting experience and although in the future I would like to have the chance to go into the office, this experience was good practice for time management and discipline.

Lasting Impressions

I would not be exaggerating to say that I enjoyed every minute of my internship with Deep Planet. Starting from the interview stage of the application process and later joining as an intern, I was welcomed very warmly and felt like a part of the team. For a long time I had wanted to gain experience working in a start-up - I felt that the dynamic environment of a start-up would suit my skillset and personality to have a real contribution with my work, and would allow me to take on responsibility and gain an insight into a broad range of functions.

When I read about this internship opportunity on the Careers Service website, I thought it would be the perfect fit for me both in terms of the role and the goals/activity of the startup. And my experience confirmed this. I had a wonderful time, learned a lot from very experienced professionals and, thus, made a big step towards my career ambitions. And all these positive experiences culminated into an offer for a full-time position for which I am beyond excited and grateful.

What advice would you give to future interns?

If you are not sure whether you should apply, remember that there are very few, if any, programmes that such a simple application process for as exciting opportunities as the ones offered on the Summer Internship Programme. So definitely have a look and apply!

Final Year Undergraduate,BA Philosophy, Politics and Economics,Remote Working

Work Projects

Deep Planet is a start-up founded out of Oxford which applies machine-learning models to satellite imagery to help farmers operate more sustainably. As a Marketing and Research intern, I had a variety of tasks over my four-week internship. First, I took time

to understand how the company's products worked and where they were headed. I then reviewed the blogs on the company website, researched given blog topics, and wrote and posted 5 marketing blogs on the company's website. I also researched relevant industry publications to reach out to for guest blogs. I was involved in design and I reviewed the company's investor one-pager, product brochures, and pitch deck and updated their design and content.

I was also involved in social media and social media strategy I set up a company Instagram and defined a social media strategy for the company going forward. I assisted the Market Research intern with his reports, leading on competitor research for different sectors. In my final week, I researched for and created a company marketing strategy from scratch, which has been subsequently used by the company.

Daily Life

This internship was remote, seeing as this company normally works remotely and I was in the US while most of the others were in the UK. I had a video call with my supervisor every morning for the first week of my internship, and then every 2-3 days after that. We also had one virtual team meeting, where people shared what they'd been working on, and two virtual team "experience exchange" days, where each junior team member created a short workshop to teach the rest of the team something relevant to their work. Working from home was great and my day was roughly based around when I was scheduled to call someone, but besides that I could complete my work whenever suited me best.

Lasting Impressions

I really enjoyed interning with Deep Planet. I was given lots of responsibility from the get-go, my supervisor provided me with all the support I needed, was very open to feedback and was open to adjusting my tasks so as to help build my skills as much as possible. Everyone else at the company was also very willing to hop on a quick call to collaborate on tasks or discuss ideas. As the company was quite small and in relatively early stages of development, my internship provided a great opportunity to learn about the basics of business strategy and start-ups. Overall, I feel like I got a tremendous amount out of just four weeks!

What advice would you give to future interns?

Try to get as much as you can out of your internship experience by going above and beyond on tasks and asking to join in on client calls, team meetings, etc. where you can. It's also important to always take notes, especially when you're doing a remote internship which means you can't just walk over to the next desk to ask your supervisor to explain something.