10: Jessica Sarkisian
jessica sarkisian
Show Notes:
Jessica is the founder of Rezzio
Rezzio is a software platform for college students to define their personal brand and find their passion
It creates a roadmap for students to reach their full potential
It seeks to be a virtual student adviser
Jessica had the idea based on her own experience receiving untailored student advising
She wants to stress the importance of being uncomfortable — your comfort zone will kill you
Neither of us were very involved in college — just going to school and going home
Jessica likes running her own company because she gets to solve problems and map out the solutions
She even measures the severity of problems in how many sticky notes she has to use (kidding — kind of)
A current problem is figuring out how to help students identify their own skills
A lot of the work is in repetition — testing and retesting
Drexel’s urbane campus is one of the things that attracted her to the school
Jessica was undecided at first — she was unaware of entrepreneurship as a potential avenue
At one time she thought she wanted to work in social media / marketing
Her original idea was a video resume platform (originally, it was V-Rezzio)
It started in a Life Strategies class when she had to make a video resume
She realized “it’s not the problem,” meaning that the problem students were facing wasn’t the platform for their resume
Rezzio’s next step is to start offering their service to charter schools on a nonprofit basis
Her biggest mistake with Rezzio has been “development taking too long,” meaning that Jessica has had trouble pivoting in some places.
She STRONGLY recommends against hiring a developer from a service like Upwork or Fiverr
She also suggests not cutting costs in the places that matter — in her case, software development
Jessica loves all of the sights to see in Philly
Some of her favorites are:
The Museum of Art
The Liberty Bell
Students of the Close School of Entrepreneurship get a degree in Entrepreneurship — not marketing or business
Local Resources:
KickUp
Her family owns Jon’s Bar and Grille on 3rd and South Street!
Her final advice to other young entrepreneurs is: Keep pushing forward and keep being uncomfortable so that you’re ready when the next opportunity arises.