Jennifer Lum

This week I interviewed a woman named Jennifer Lum. Jennifer co-founded Adelphic, a company specializing in mobile advertising. They have a platform that allows marketers and agencies that manage their mobile advertising campaigns. She works as a Chief Strategy Officer and Cofounder of the company.

Jennifer and I spoke a lot about how important it is to have a partner that adds to your skill set. She believes that working with someone who has almost no overlapping skills to bring to the table is the most beneficial, because it spreads the largest wingspan of skill sets presented for the company. For example, Jennifer works more with business matters, while her cofounder is very educated in technology and was able to come up with the design for the technology. She and her cofounder have worked together for a while, as well as a few other employees in her company.

Another big topic had to do with what type of education would be most beneficial to becoming an entrepreneur. Jennifer believes that education is invaluable, regardless of what your occupation will be. She also believes that there are certain skills entrepreneurs need that can be learned such as communication, leadership, sales, and technical knowledge (for technology companies). Jennifer also spoke about how business school can be beneficial depending on the person. It definitely helps develop networks, exposure to successful entrepreneurs who may come in for guest lectures, and assist in finding amazing internship opportunities affiliated with the school.

Finally, I asked what she thought was the most difficult aspect of being an entrepreneur was. Jennifer said that entrepreneurs need to have a high tolerance for pain. It can be lonely, and there can be a lot of rejection. After dealing with the pain, persistence needs to still be pulled together in order to get others to buy into your vision.