Like many of you, I began reading the Union Square Ventures blog because of Albert, Brad, and Fred's open discussions of the disruptions caused by new technology. I've since learned a tremendous amount both from reading the posts and comments and from watching the posts become investment theses and then actual investments.
True to form, when USV was looking to hire an analyst and a general manager, they advertised with a blog post. As someone who admires USV and spent much of the last few years thinking about and working on emerging mobile services, I was excited to apply. One thing led to another, and this is my first week as a USV analyst. Blogging and debating ideas has become a key part of USV's culture, and I'll be contributing, here, on my blog, and on Twitter. I'm looking forward to diving in, but first, a quick introduction:
My name is Christina, and I graduated from Stanford with a BA in Economics and an MS in Management Science and Engineering, a program that combined industrial engineering, human-computer interaction, and product design. Most recently, I worked on projects for telecom and financial services companies as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in New York. Prior to BCG, I worked for Deutsche Telekom/T-Mobile in Berlin on a small team that uses design research to develop new mobile services. Much of my work focused on the digital norms and social etiquettes that are forming around new devices and online services.
While in Berlin, I began working with FrontlineSMS:Credit, a startup that offers a platform to facilitate money transfers via SMS between financial institutions and their customers. Like many mobile banking platforms, FrontlineSMS:Credit is focused on projects in the developing world and capitalizes on two powerful disruptions: the emergence of mobile banking and the expansion of financial services to people who previously had no access.
I've also been fortunate to spend some of the last few years living and working in East Africa and Southeast Asia. Seeing technologies adopted around the world has provided one lens through which I view the disruptions caused by new technologies.
I'm excited to explore these ideas, as well as many others, at Union Square, and I'm very much looking forward to continuing this conversation with all of you.