MEDIA, Pa. - Nicky Grantland, a fourth-year business student with a focus in analytics at Penn State Brandywine, has gained hands-on experience with an internship at Agent23.
Agent23, based in Reading, sells customer service artificial intelligence (AI) agents to different businesses. As a business development and marketing specialist, Grantland finds potential clients, builds dashboards to analyze data, and conducts research for competitive analyses.
He said the most apparent parallel between his internship and his studies at Brandywine is a key business analytics concept: Using data to back decisions.
“A big part of my job has been building a lead list of manufacturing companies in Berks County, which is basically organizing a lot of information into something useful,” he said. “When cold-calling wasn't working, my boss and I looked at what was and wasn't getting responses and changed our approach, which is exactly the kind of thinking my major teaches.”
After working in a professional setting, Grantland said the concepts he sees on a slideshow during class feel much more real now. He is able to apply his learning material to his internship and learn more in both the classroom and on the job.
Last semester, Grantland enrolled in MGMT 425: New Venture Creation, a 400-level business course designed for students to create their own business design. The class had several guest presentations by many speakers sharing their business testimonies.
Grantland spoke with one of the guest speakers after class. The speaker then connected Grantland with a mentor who owns Agent23.
"I messaged his mentor and the next time we spoke, he told me that he had an internship opportunity at his company, and I immediately accepted,” Grantland said.
For Grantland, the biggest benefit is seeing the internal mechanics of a business in its early stages.
“Working at a startup lets me see how businesses operate from the inside,” he said. “I get to watch how a smaller company makes decisions, finds customers, and adjusts when something isn't working. I am fortunate to be able to learn from my own mistakes early and develop skills necessary for business.”