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Chiara Sommer (BSc Business Studies 2010)

Connecting the world through knowledge

A lecture series at my High School called ‘Manager for 1 day’ inspired me to go abroad and study business. I especially remember the lecture of an Executive of a renowned Management Consulting company which set my goals for at least the next 5 to 10 years: Go to Business School and become a successful Management Consultant. This way I would be able to learn about many industries, could apply my analytical, mathematical and management skills, work in teams and travel a lot.

I stuck to the first part of this plan and became an undergraduate in BSc Business Studies at Cass Business School and took a year abroad at Universita Bocconi in Milan. By enjoying the academic environment of those two institutions I was able to broaden my skills and my horizon. However, both universities have more a finance focus and most of my fellow students were keen in going into Investment Banking, which until then did not cross my mind. In the course of my studies, I became unsure of the field I want to pursue my career in since I learned about so many more options.

Some fields I was able to theoretically eliminate but others I wanted to get to know practically. Since I did not take a gap year after my High School, I wanted to use the year after my graduation to find the industry I would like to pursue my career in. Two very intensive long-term internships at the Management Consulting company, goetzpartners, in Germany, and at the Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan, in London gave me a great opportunity to learn a lot about those two industries, the companies and industries they were advising and the markets and dynamics of those two companies.

Luckily it was also in my plan to go backpacking in South America before I choose my career path. I used the time not only to connect with nature and different cultures but also to analyze my options for the future with some distance. The financial crisis created a rather ambiguous economic environment and I wanted to solve real problems. After a lot of brainstorming, I decided that now was the time to be an entrepreneur: I am young, eager, full of energy and highly motivated.

In university I was told that for business ventures you should partner with the smartest person you know. Hence, my father became my partner. We both wanted the venture to be an Internet start-up and relatively quickly saw the following need in the market: Our world and therefore our problems become increasingly complex and people need help to solve their problems. People constantly get and give advice in the offline world, so why should this not happen online?

Although these days most people search for information and seek advice online, the supply of platforms that provide to the point and reliable answers is surprisingly scarce. The web offers search engines, knowledge bases and is crowded with forums where people spam seriously asked questions with not very helpful or wrong information.

Our answer was pickagenius, an online advice platform where people get and give advice. People who are searching for answers, find the right rated expert to give them real-time advice via audio, video or chat - online, qualified, affordable and fast.

They find instant solutions by contacting experts in a broad range of categories such as Business advice, Legal advice, Medicine, Dating advice, Psychology, Technology etc. Experts can charge the user by the minute or offer their service for FREE and earn an advertising commission from our ads on their profile.  All necessary tools for live communication and a billing system are provided so that experts can start giving advice, present themselves, provide customer service, attract new clients and most importantly earn money.

On the expert’s profiles, previous public sessions are displayed as well, so that users may already find answers to their questions right away, without even contacting the expert. Even businesses can benefit from this platform: pickagenius enables customer relationships online through LIVE communication and in-time support. Currently we ask all experts, service providers, freelancers and companies out there to set up their profile on pickagenius to have it ready when the site launches.

pickagenius is as close to a real life advice setting as possible while providing the convenience of staying at home. It solves user problems in an increasingly complex world.

I was looking for a purpose in my career. To open an Internet platform is for me the chance and challenge to create something new that improves problem solutions and might benefit many people: We want to connect the world through knowledge.

Chiara Sommer

www.pickagenius.com