Meet the Gousto Interns 2023
Ola and Arjun recently spent 2 weeks with Gousto as part of a month-long internship with MMC Ventures in partnership with Gousto, exploring various aspects of the business and completing two projects. Here’s what they had to say about the experience:
Could you tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Ola: Hey, I’m Olamide, but you can call me Ola for short! I grew up in Kerry, South-west Ireland. I’m currently studying Global Business at Trinity College Dublin and I’m really passionate about entrepreneurship and business strategy- even more so after completing this internship!
Arjun: Hi, I’m Arjun and I’m a first-year student at UCL studying Statistical Science (a subset of maths and computing). I’m interested in how businesses operate and new technologies!
What is your death-row meal?
Arjun: Three chicken shawarmas. (Probably)
Ola: Oh that’s tricky.. I would probably say a Thai fried rice dish.
What motivated you to apply for this internship?
Ola: This internship opportunity stood out to me because of its unique structure. Not only do you delve deep into the world of venture capital & private equity at MMC, but you also get hands-on experience working in one of the most prominent UK food-tech companies, Gousto. I wanted more of a professional experience in the start-up world and it was also a great opportunity to explore the city of London!
Arjun: I originally applied to step into a new professional space for 4 weeks and learn valuable career skills. The internship, which was advertised in partnership with one of Gousto’s investors MMC, appeared as a great opportunity to simultaneously learn about the financing and operational elements of nurturing a scale-up. It has certainly lived up to this!
Could you tell us a bit more about your time at Gousto?
Arjun: Sure. We spent two weeks with Gousto. Our first week was filled with introductions to new teams and our two projects: one was centred around technology and the other on sustainability. Littered in-between, we shadowed the customer care and legal teams as well as meeting with senior staff sitting in technology. This helped us understand the fundamentals of Gousto’s operating structure and teams. We were also lucky enough to get involved with some great fun cooking in the kitchen. We each made and tested two dishes with the recipe development team (many thanks to Matt, Marcus and Elle). Following this, we had a two day sustainability hackathon; over to Ola.
Ola: We ended the first week with a hackathon, focused on developing sustainability initiatives within Gousto’s operations. It was amazing to see such unique solutions being developed by the different teams in just two days! The second week (unfortunately the last one), was definitely one to remember. We did personal & career development coaching sessions, a CV & interview masterclass and had meetings focusing on the final presentations of our technology and sustainability projects. We also got to visit the Warrington production factory, which was an incredible experience (thanks to Benjamin). It was amazing to see the cutting-edge technologies that create the signature boxes, the patented ice-box and the tech that ensures that the right food products are allocated to the correct customer’s box. The level of automation honestly took me by surprise and it was more apparent than ever why Gousto truly is a data-driven tech company.
Did anything inspire you at Gousto?
Ola: What inspired me is how much the company is committed, not just to the product but also to its people. There’s an extensive range of initiatives focused on maintaining the employees’ overall wellbeing. This includes wellbeing initiatives, quarterly ‘superdays’ (dedicated to celebrating success), engagement surveys, DEI workshops, and even a ‘no meetings week’ which enables people to focus on deep work and learning. The culture here is definitely a true embodiment of the ownership principles — everybody is dedicated to learning continuously, they focus on delivering high quality outcomes and they put the customer at the centre of every decision. I’ve even noticed how environmentally-conscious I have become… talk about the chameleon effect!
Arjun: The ownership principles. Gousto breathes ‘Dream, Deliver, Care’ and this was the key consideration across every department we spoke with ranging from Customer Care to the Technology teams — there was rarely a meeting where this trinity was left unsaid. I found this reflected in our internship experience as well: we had a lot of autonomy and flexibility in our day-to-day which allowed us to take ownership during our time here. Although we did set poor boundaries on a fair few meetings (sorry Zara and Chris), this was a really valuable learning experience in time management (amongst other things).
Have you discovered anything that you plan on taking further?
Arjun: I think so. Data science is a practical application of my degree and prior to interning, I hadn’t really seen the tangible impact that this field makes. During my time at Gousto, I enjoyed hearing about the creativity in data-science and the unlimited potential of data. I now look forward to selecting course modules to help me learn more!
Ola: For me, the business’ strategy is something that intrigued me and I would love to explore strategy consulting in the future. Whether it was in customer care, tech or risk & compliance, every team’s operational processes all centred around achieving specific goals. I appreciate how the value delivered by the individual teams accumulates in a way that achieves the overall company objectives.
Is there anything else that you want to add?
Ola: We are so grateful to everybody at Gousto for making us feel welcome from day one, and for teaching us about their roles. Thank you Louisa, Eve, Abigail, Matt, Marcus, Zara, Chris and everybody else across the company. Also, a big thank you for putting up with our many….many questions.
Arjun: We’re thankful to the teams at Gousto who made themselves open to us, particularly to Louisa and Eve who provided invaluable help across the period in getting the ball rolling. This was a unique and rare opportunity which I feel very lucky to have been a part of!
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