Johanna Molina, The Intern Group | Creating a Market and the Upside of Investing as a Founder [Ep. 41]

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Not every product or service is sold the same way. There are some for which the consumer’s purchase implies a higher level of risk and, therefore, requires greater trust in the company. This is usually the case with educational products. To talk about the challenges of creating trust in your product and, as a result, increasing the number of potential customers, we invited Johanna Molina, Director of Impact and cofounder of The Intern Group, a platform that connects students and companies to enable international internships, remote or in person.

The Intern Group helps students from more than 100 recognized universities, such as Princeton, the London School of Economics, and Tec de Monterrey, land internships at more than 3,000 organizations such as governments, multinational corporations, NGOs, and startups.

Johanna launched her company when startups were not yet “sexy” and shared lessons with us from both sides of the table, since she also supports other startups as an angel investor.

What You Can Learn Today

Creation of a completely new market
The move from bootstrapping to fundraising
Angel investing as an entrepreneur

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Youtube Timestamps*

The Intern Group’s Market Creation and Trust

[1:22] - How did Johanna arrive at the world of startups?
- A childhood tied to entrepreneurship
- From Social Communication to Finance
- Experience working in investments
- Studies and work in London
- A brief story of David Lloyd, her cofounder
[4:12] - What is The Intern Group?
- Great social impact
- Closing the gap between talent and opportunities
- +3000 companies affiliated globally and 120 partner universities
- +2000 young people in professional internships
[6:57] - What was the process of building The Intern Group’s MVP like, and how did they get their first customers?
- A YouTube video, a Facebook page, and a Twitter and PayPal account
- Selling a product they did not yet have
- Campaign to recruit foreign volunteers for the 2011 U-20 World Cup
- Success of the MVP and Startup Chile
- A virtuous circle of help and collaboration
[10:37] - What frictions have mainly kept more young people from doing an international internship, and how have they prioritized product development to solve them?
- Internships not being mandatory, and different lengths of university studies across countries
- Experience required even for a first job
- Travel costs, settling in the other country, visas, etc.
- Integrating young people into a community
- Cultural exchange in virtual settings
- New partnerships every day and paid internships
[14:06] - Which friction, once resolved, most increased the size of the accessible market?
- Being in person before the pandemic
- Trust in order to be able to scale
- Validation thanks to customers
[15:21] - What role did the lack of trust play in their first sales, and what actions have they taken to scale trust in their product as they go into more countries?
- Differences by country
- Ambassadors at a global level
- Alumni achievements and the reputation and quality of the program
[17:44] - How does Johanna see the post-COVID market evolving, and how is The Intern Group adapting its offering?
- Growth of students in higher education from 240 to 600 million
- Roadmap focused on the periods before, during, and after university
- Importance of employability in education

From Services to Technology: The Intern Group’s Experience

[20:17] - At what point do they decide to bet on a more scalable, technology-based model?
- The most tech non-tech startup
- A company with a remote team in 16 countries, 70 cities
- Actions because of the pandemic
- Next partnerships and future potential
[23:10] - What has moving from bootstrapping to raising capital meant at the organizational level?
- A non-traditional startup
- Investors who believe in The Intern Group’s story
- Mindset of the founders and of the team
[25:21] - How have they handled the expectations that come with having investors after bootstrapping?
- Sustainable growth
- Entrepreneurs also have to choose the investor

Founding and Investing as an Angel

[27:03] - Why did Johanna decide to start investing in startups, and what was her first investment like?
- The natural evolution of the entrepreneur
- Capital, mentorship, and moral support
- ANDI’s Entrepreneurship and Acceleration Chamber
[29:20] - What benefits does being an entrepreneur bring to the angel investor role?
- Empathy, compassion, and experience
- Her role as a woman entrepreneur
[30:51] - Learnings as an investor that helped Johanna in her role as an entrepreneur
- Future of the region’s startup ecosystem
- Varied learning thanks to a flexible investment thesis
- Mutual acceptance between entrepreneurs and investors
- Importance of reputation
- Saying “no” and the reactions to receiving a “no”
[34:00] - The process of learning to invest in startups
- Watching other investors
- The value of time invested in startups and the importance of their impact
- Investing is more art than science
[36:33] - What is a good team for a startup?
- A real problem that is big for the world
- Humility, hunger to learn, and a willingness to unlearn

Tweet Round

[38:05] -
- Recommended books: The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, by Melinda Gates, and The Values Compass: What 101 Countries Teach Us About Purpose, Life, and Leadership, by Dr. Mandeep Rai
- Changes in Latin America’s startup ecosystem: entrepreneurs with a global mindset, and VCs focusing on team and traction more than on university degrees
- Founders to interview: Cristina Muñoz, of Proyecto MOMS, and Samuel Urquijo, of Keybe

Episode Mentions

You can follow Johanna on LinkedIn, The Intern Group’s social networks, and her podcast “How to be the difference”.

Founders to interview: Cristina Muñoz, of Proyecto MOMS, and Samuel Urquijo, of Keybe

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