Team TMI takes the Sandbox by Storm
The following is Alexis Dent's account of her initial experience in Buffalo Student Sandbox. Alexis is an Ithaca College grad and leads the Miss Information, which creates smart, spirited content for young women as an alternative to online content farms.
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The first week in the Buffalo Student Sandbox was very busy! We kicked things off bright and early Monday morning pitching our companies, learning about the Sandbox, and even playing a little bingo to get to know each other! It’s not all fun and games though; by afternoon we were all sprawled throughout dig working on our companies. So I should probably amend that statement to say, it was still fun, but no games. (Unless you count the game of hangman we played with Team Cartefi to beat some Friday afternoon roadblocks.)
Trying to get a startup off the ground is definitely fun, but it does come with its own set of challenges. You and your team must be incredibly self-motivated, passionate, and flexible. No two days are the same, and challenges are a dime-a-dozen. However, the great part is that we have the Sandbox on our side. Between the Startup CEL program that is tailored to our needs, our weekly lunch-and-learns, and the plethora of resources that we are constantly offered, we could not be luckier.
The Miss Information and our 7 other Sandbox teams have an amazing opportunity to grow our startups free of the disruptions of other jobs and commitments, and Team TMI is proud to be immersed in the first accelerator program in Buffalo. We learned so much in the first week that we couldn’t stop working when 5pm hit on Friday; we all went home and continued to tackle tasks that are necessary for our company’s growth.
We can’t wait to see what week 2 has in store for us as we continue our journey in the Sandbox. The mentorship, learning opportunities, and camaraderie present in this program are far greater and more beneficial than we could have asked for. We still have a lot of growing to do, but we feel like the Buffalo Student Sandbox is the perfect place to do just that.
The Miss Information: For Smart and Spirited Young Women
Alexis Dent, Amanda Limardi, Jillian Weidner
