Al-Ameen Abolare felt stuck in his content marketing career. Looking for something more exciting and impactful, he switched gears to product marketing and found the Motherboard Internship Program, which would turn out to be exactly what he needed. Here's his review of his internship experience as a Product Marketing Analyst at Motherboard.
I've been a content marketer for over 3 years, working across different industries. From discovering 'content marketing' to leading a digital agency's content team, I've helped companies establish their online presence. However, I wasn’t content with the effect I had as a content marketer. I wanted to play a more significant role in a company's success, so I turned to product marketing, which offered greater control over a product's trajectory. I immediately started taking courses and searching for opportunities to build my skills. When I came across Motherboard's internship call in the African Product Marketing Pioneers (APMP) community, I decided to give it a shot.
I was excited to begin the application process. Motherboard seemed like the kind of workplace I was looking for. I had worked on a number of projects to build my portfolio, so I was quite excited to see the application assessment.
I remember receiving the email while on the bus home one Monday evening, and I was thrilled to find clear objectives and all the necessary details for the assessment laid out. Now, I may not be the most organized person in other aspects of my life, but when it comes to my work, I thrive on structure.
I knew exactly what to do and I got to the task immediately. My plan was to finish the entire task in 2 days. Honestly, I learnt more within those 2 days than I did the entire week before. The task was challenging but I enjoyed every bit of it. My goal was simple: to deliver a submission that would leave a lasting positive impression. I believe I succeeded.
Getting into the program was a big win for me. I had already fallen in love (no jokes) with the company from the research I did while working on the task. I was desperately looking for a way to demonstrate what I could do to contribute to the success of the company. I immediately set my vision & goals for the internship, the values I wanted to carry into Motherboard, and the things I want people to say about me in the program.
I was coming in with a lot of energy and I was elated that Motherboard perfectly matched my energy. It was very clear from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be a regular internship, it was an opportunity to build real capacity.
I’m the tell-me-what-you-need-and-let-me-get-it-done kind of person. Motherboard was just the perfect place for that. I had complete ownership of my project (improving conversions and activations for employees) and the results were all on me. My only fear was that my suggestions may not be implemented, but that turned out to be false. I consciously decided to go above and beyond in my project vision document. I had gone through the growth team wiki, basically reading anything I could find about Motherboard and the product growth team. The product document turned out to be awesome and I received a great review from Lade, the Product Growth Manager.
Looking at all the project visions, I think you had the best in terms of clarity of thought and a good knowledge of how to get from one point to another - Lade, on first month review call
I firmly believe in the pursuit of excellence in everything I do—it's the surest path to success. I tried to hold onto this principle throughout my internship.
To kick things off, I had to create a product vision document. This task came naturally to me, given my background as a writer. As I mentioned earlier also, I am very organized with work, so planning for a 10-week internship wasn’t a big deal, as I already plan my quarters ahead, down to every hour of every day. As long as I understand the scope of each goal and their dependencies, prioritization is easy for me. However, I quickly realized that planning was just the tip of the iceberg.
Lekan, the CEO of Motherboard, made it very clear that the job wasn’t to plan, neither was it to complete tasks. The job was to achieve the goal. I tried to keep this in mind at all times and not spend most of my time creating comprehensive plans only to end up with less time to follow through.
I identified four critical areas to address in my project vision document. First up was optimizing our email CTR and open rate. With guidance from Lade and Sophie, I revamped our onboarding emails and other email flows. Within a week, my changes were live and reaching customers. I was proud to have made my first significant contribution to Motherboard as an intern. Through this project, I learnt that funnel problems are multifaceted.
The most interesting part of the project was the onboarding product tour. I had identified that a lack of a good onboarding tour for users was a likely reason why our employee conversions are low. I worked on a complete onboarding process, which is awaiting implementation. I also worked on redesigning the benefits purchase flow. The goal was to streamline the user experience to deliver value faster.
Overall, the internship taught me invaluable lessons that no amount of coursework could replicate. It's been a journey of growth and practical learning, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Motherboard team.
