Fall 2015 Edition of Inspired Magazine.pdf

ENTREPRENEUR
You Are Never Too Young to
PICC Your Entrepreneurial Path
Hannah Conley, 20
Senior
PICCPerfect’s Operations
Manager and Senior at
Babson College
We began working heavily on PICCPerfect during the
spring semester of our Junior year at Babson College.
Starting a business while being students is time
consuming, challenging, exciting,
and (thankfully) rewarding. We are
PICCPerfect and we make fashionable
and functional medical accessories for
people undergoing long term treatment
for chronic illness. Our first product is
the PICCPerfect PICC line cover. Emily
Levy is our CEO, Yousef Al-Humaidhi is
our CFO, Maria del mar Gomez is our
Marketing Director, and Hannah Conley
is our Operations Manager.
PICC (peripherally inserted central
catheter) lines are a long term IV
treatment used to treat a variety
of illnesses including cancer,
endocarditis, gastroparesis, Lyme
disease, bone infections, and countless
others. PICCPerfect is a fully functional
PICC line cover that stylishly provides secure and
sanitary protection of the PICC line and allows for on-thego
treatment.
Being responsible for the operations of a business takes
discipline and a serious time commitment. Between
classes, homework, and attempting to have a social
life, any and all free time is dedicated to the business.
Thankfully, we have a strong team dynamic. We put a
lot of effort into PICCPerfect, making sure we are happy
when working on the business. We would not be here if
we were not passionate about the company’s mission
to help people with chronic illness, but we also take
the time to have team bonding time outside of the work
day. We have had a picnic, cooked countless dinners
together, had movie nights etc. Because of the Babson
San Francisco program and the Summer Venture
Program at Babson, we have not only worked together
but also lived together, and we knew we had to keep
things fun if we were going to spend most of our time
together.
We are constantly challenged as young individuals to
accomplish things we would not otherwise accomplish
if we were not working on a startup. This is very
exciting. We won First Place at Purdue University’s
entrepreneurship competition called The Big Sell
granting us over $22,000 in cash and prizes. We overfunded
our Kickstarter, which raised $13,200 to pay for
our first round of production which is now available for
purchase on our website www.piccperfect.com . We will also be a part of the
WIN (Women Innovating Now) lab at Babson College this
fall. The WIN lab is a year-long residency program and
accelerator for women at Babson working on a business
at any stage.
Typically, we are the youngest team at business-related
events we attend. While being undergraduate college
students makes us feel like we have to work a little extra
for credibility sometimes, being in college also provides
a vast amount of resources. Experienced professors are
always willing to help, which we are continuously thankful
for. Departments like Babson College’s PR department
have helped us from the beginning, and the College
hosts many networking events, which are great for our
building our networks.
All in all, we would not have wanted to start this business
any other way. To other students and kids out there, if
you have an idea you’re passionate about, do not be
afraid to start your business. You are never too young to
be an entrepreneur.
30 Inspired
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