Meet Dan Pointer, Fledging’s Brand Manager!
We’ve talked about Dan before. He’s worth talking about again because now he’s accepted a full time role as Fledging’s Brand Manager and we’re rather proud of the first intern to convert to a full time team member. Keep reading to learn more about Dan!
Remind us who you are and where you’re from
Well I’m originally from Dallas, Texas. I took a meandering route through school, graduating back in December 2019 from UAB. My degree is in Finance, with a concentration in Investment and Institutions, and a minor in Computer Science. I’ve really been intrigued by the intersection of business and technology. My career path as a Business Analyst is drilling even deeper into that intersection. A traditional BA path sits between the stakeholders and the technology team and focuses on opening communication to ensure achievement of strategic objectives.
Currently I also have a lot of marketing exposure in my role now through growing fledging.net. Throughout my work I’m defining the business’s requirements and then meeting or exceeding those requirements and documenting the whole thing so that we can do it all again better and faster.
What were the most interesting things you learned in your other experiences?
Be humble and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. I’m always working on this. Have an open mind and reach out to people, putting yourself in a situation that might feel uncomfortable but that expands your network. I used to be overly conscious of how I was viewed when I reached out.
Have you ever had someone tell you no when you tried to reach out?
No. I’ve been ghosted before but I’ve never had anyone overtly decline or have a poor experience once I did reach out and make the connection.
What was your most interesting lesson as an intern at Fledging?
Flexibility. My original role was Operations. With my data analysis background, I pivoted into analytical projects, which landed me in my current role as a Business Analyst. It’s cliche but in a startup you wear a lot of hats. We all do this on the team.
For instance, I’m responsible for our proprietary eCommerce platform that supports fledging.net, marketing and PR with Kickstarter, I run our Twitter, I’m building interest in the tech reviewer community, and I do most of the complex and strategic analysis for the company such as figuring out how many upgradable MacBooks are in the market or how to improve our production process (my actual “role”).
What’s the most interesting thing about working at Fledging?
It’s the challenge, right? We’re an oxymoron in some ways because we’re a hardware startup, in Birmingham Alabama, in the year 2020. None of that is status quo. Everyone is SaaS or something like that and not a lot of it is in Birmingham. This challenge really motivates me to grow my skill set every single day.
What’s the most challenging thing about working at Fledging?
If you wear a lot of hats then you have to be very vigilant in managing your bandwidth. I certainly have a “put my head down and work” mentality, and I’ll sometimes take on projects that I probably should decline. If I want to do something new, I have to hand something else off. This really pushes me to raise my own ceiling.
I read once that the Olympic athlete and the novice face the same challenge every day: trying to get better.
What made you say “yes” to Fledging when we offered you a full-time role after your time as an intern?
The people. I have a great relationship with pretty much everyone on the team. From the moment I was accepted as an intern to the moment I made my decision to become a fulltime employee, I fell in love with the team and the culture. We have a really modern work-life balance in a technology company. Working through school, I worked another job while interning at Fledging. It was a very full load. The prospect of getting to focus on one thing, Fledging, was really enticing.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I play on an ice hockey team sponsored by Samuel Adams Beer, which is owned by the Boston Beer Company. We play down in Pelham at the Pelham Civic Complex. We’re the Sam Adams Brewing Team. Come check us out.
Want to learn more about Dan Pointer, Analytics, Twitter, Kickstarter, Operations, Internships, or Fledging?
Ask them at [email protected]
Interested in joining the team?
Check out our Careers page or send an email to [email protected]