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Main Responsibilities Of A Founder At WellSpace

Maria, WellSpace's founder, describes her multifaceted role as requiring "everything and anything that needs to get done," encompassing design, communications, and strategic planning, while also learning new skills as needed to fill gaps in their early-stage startup. The ultimate responsibility, Maria explains, is "to own the responsibility," building the company and their role simultaneously, envisioning a future shift toward strategic management and creative design as the company grows.

Project Management, Strategic Decision Making, Communication, Problem-Solving, Entrepreneurship

Advizer Information

Name

Job Title

Company

Undergrad

Grad Programs

Majors

Industries

Job Functions

Traits

Maria Ko (Kiejnich)

Founder

WellSpace

UCLA Class of 2020

Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M. in Learning Design, Innovation and Technology

Economics

Healthcare, Medical & Wellness, Technology

Entrepreneurship and Business Owner

International Student, First Generation College Student

Video Highlights

1. Maria's role involves a wide range of tasks, from design and branding to strategic planning and budgeting, highlighting the diverse skill set needed for entrepreneurship.

2. She emphasizes the importance of adaptability and learning new skills as needed, showcasing the dynamic nature of the role and the need for continuous learning in a startup environment.

3. Maria's vision for the future involves transitioning to a more strategic and creative role as her team grows, providing insight into career progression in entrepreneurship and the evolution of responsibilities.

Transcript

What are your main responsibilities within your current role as an entrepreneur?

Every day is unique; there's no same day, really. That kind of translates to responsibilities. Every day, there are new responsibilities that are the priority.

As an early-stage startup founder, I am the one that does everything and anything that needs to get done, ranging from design, branding, communications, and project management to strategic decision-making, planning, and budgeting. I would say these are my main responsibilities.

What are not my responsibilities are perhaps the things that I really cannot do, like basically build the product in terms of technical expertise. The tech team is doing that. I am someone that will learn a new skill. If there's a responsibility that currently no one on the team can do, I will jump ahead and figure out how to do it.

The main responsibility is to own the responsibility, in a way, as an entrepreneur. You are just trying to get the ship sailing, even though you might not have the perfect ship. You're building it as you're sailing, in a way.

In the future, that might change. As I grow my team and have more members, I foresee my main responsibility being more of someone that is doing strategic management, as well as creative design. But as for now, I am definitely the person that just takes on any responsibility that needs to get done in the day.

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