Wish my section luck… May the odds be ever in our favor!

Hello out there!  Sorry I’ve been so MIA.  But, I’m baaaaack…with a friendly reminder that Mother’s Day is coming up on May 13th!

No time to run out and get a card for the most important lady in your life? Never fear, Effortless Post is here! We’ve got you covered with a great selection of super classy cards that will knock your Mom’s socks off. Visit effortlesspost.com now so we can help you become the oh-so-thoughtful person your Mom raised you to be.

How does Effortless Post work, you may ask? It’s easy!

1. Log in to effortlesspost.com (you can log in via facebook)
2. Pick a card, any card!
3. Choose how you want to send it:
- We can hand write the message of your choice and mail it for you OR
- Opt to receive the card in a pre-addressed, stamped envelope so you can write your own message and pop it in the mail
4. Bask in the glow of your Mom’s gratitude

PS – we mail domestically AND internationally!

And, if making your Mom’s Day isn’t incentive enough to try out our website, please support us anyway to help our business win the Field 3 contest!  The entire HBS first year class will be presenting to investors in a couple of weeks.  Those investors will decide which business is the best out of each section, and then the finalists will compete in front of the entire school to win the whole shebang!

So please, surprise your mom AND support yours truly by buying a Mother’s Day card from effortlesspost.com.  I will be forever grateful (and your Mom will, too!).

IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIVE!

Yes, I am happy to report that – after weeks and weeks of toiling away like mad scientists – we have officially launched effortlesspost.com to the world!  This experience has been amazing, and the cool thing is that we’re truly just getting started.  As a quick recap for those who missed the overview several weeks ago:

Our business is called Effortless Post, and, basically, we’re bringin’ mail back.  We have created an online platform to streamline the process of sending cards and notes to people in the mail.  The site instantly links to your Facebook account, populating a personal planner with all your friends’ and family’s upcoming birthdays. You can also manually input other occasions, like holidays, anniversaries, or weddings.  Once you decide you want to send a card to someone, you can either 1) Type in the message you would like handwritten on your behalf, then we send it all the way to the end recipient or 2) Receive the card yourself in a pre-addressed, stamped envelope just in time for you to write your message and pop it in the mail.  Effortless!

We envision this business as a way to help people follow through on the thoughtful gesture of sending a card to friends, family, or colleagues, without all of the hassle.

I need your support to truly make this a success!  Please please visit effortlesspost.com, sign in using facebook (takes less than two seconds) and let me know what you think!  We have a lovely selection of awesome cards for all occasions, including Mother’s Day (coming up on May 13th!) and Graduation.  I would really appreciate any and all feedback you have on the customer experience.  Please leave a comment on this post or email effortlesspost@gmail.com.  Additionally, feel free to pass the link along to any and all people in your life who strive to send thoughtful cards but just can’t seem to make it happen.  Keep in mind that we mail domestically and internationally!

Your opinions mean the world to me, so keep the feedback coming!  Speaking of feedback:  We heard some loud and clear today from our classmates here at HBS.  Today was the final trading session of our “financial market”, in which students can buy and sell (fake) shares of people’s startups.  It was very exciting – we were all in our classrooms watching the stocks of all of the businesses trade live.  See below:

I am happy to report that our stock skyrocketed over 80% by the end of trading!  See below for photographic evidence (our ticker is WKD).  Ahh, HBS – there’s nothing like setting up 900 Type A people to compete against each other, and then literally displaying the results of the competition for the entire school in real time.  Gotta love capitalism.

A FLASH MOB.  Amazing.  See below for photographic evidence:

The students putting on the HBS Show (satirical musical written, choreographed, and acted by HBS students… whole ‘nother topic for a whole ‘nother time)  danced as if Lady Gaga herself were there serenading them.

Ahh, HBS.  You never fail to delight.

Hello everyone, spring has sprung (evidenced by the 80 degree weather in Boston this week) and big things are happening!  I have a couple of really exciting announcements to share with all of you lovely people.

First:  I ACCEPTED A JOB.  Yep, gainful employment, here I come!  I’ve stayed true to my road-less-traveled startup aspirations, and am really excited to report that – after stalking every cool startup I could think of – I have found the perfect one!

I’ll be spending my summer in glorious Washington, DC working for The Shirt, a really cool startup that makes women’s button down shirts that don’t gape over the bust.  See below for proof:

The concept is simple yet impactful, the shirts are beautiful, and I think there is a ton of opportunity for this brand to grow like crazy.  In my humble opinion,  The Shirt has the two main ingredients one needs for sustainable, high quality growth:

1) Fixed cost leverage through intellectual property:  There is a patent on the special hidden buttons that make sure the shirt doesn’t gape open, which means that no one can imitate the product, at least for the life of the patent.  Awesome.

2) Recurring Revenue:  A button down shirt is a product that most professional women have more than one of, and it is something that needs to be replaced on a regular basis.  This means that there is great opportunity for recurring revenue from customers, which basically means that once you hook a customer, the lifetime value of that customer is significant. This is much better than a product with tons of one time customers, because then you have to keep acquiring new customers to maintain growth, which is expensive.

I like this company because, at its heart, the product helps women feel beautiful and confident.  I mean honestly – how can we rule the board room if we know that all of the dudes are secretly peeking at our bras through the gap in our shirts?!  Additionally – and perhaps most importantly – the founder and her Director of Marketing are both incredibly smart, cool, and savvy and I know I will learn a lot by working with them.

I would love your help in making this company grow!  Please check out the website here, and pass the link along to the business ladies in your life to help get the word out! (www.the-shirt.com).  Better yet…buy a shirt!  Keep in mind that the new line for spring will be available in April.  A sneak peek is below in case you need some inspiration…

Second Announcement:  I was recently elected Co-President of the HBS Women’s Student Association!  As you can probably tell, I dig women in business, and I could not be more honored to represent the amazing women of HBS for the next year.  This is an especially exciting time to be leading the organization, as the school will be celebrating 50 years of Women at Harvard Business School this upcoming year.  A lot of women went through a lot of sh*t to pave the way for all of us who are currently studying here, and I look forward to celebrating all of the work they did to help us get to where we are today, which is 39% of the student body (and hopefully more next year).

So that’s what’s going on with me for the moment.  I’ll keep you updated!

Hello from Budapest!  We’ve successfully made it to the last stop on our European tour, and I head back to the US of A tomorrow.  I spent some time pondering how to best re-cap this trip for you, when it occured to me that a picture is, in fact, worth a thousand words.  And then I thought…if a picture is worth a thousand words, then an awkward picture is worth at least five thousand words.

Luckily, awkward pictures of this trip abound – more specifically, awkward, solo pictures of my little sister.  I took the liberty putting together what I like to call the “montage of awkward”, which represents – in my opinion – the absolute best of this European spring break.  Enjoy!

Awkward Photo #1:  Probably one of the most awkward of the entire trip.  The Bird, in a helmet-hat, on a Segway, in Prague.  Need I say more?

Awkward Photo #2: Segway + Redbird + Weird Helmet / Hat + Statue of two dudes peeing = Incredibly awkward.

Awkward Photo #3: Redbird, in transit.  Made more awkward by the fact that she was snoring.

Awkward Photo #4: My little sister, crushing a bratwurst stuffed inside an entire baguette in Vienna.  I was so proud.

Awkward Photo #5: I do love the solo shots with a thumbs up.

Awkward Photo #6: Hands down the most awkward of the entire trip for two reasons:  1) She is posing in front of a random giant pickle statue in Salzburg and 2) If you look very closely, she is stink-eyeing (please see my previous post for background on the stink eye)

Awkward Photo #7: The Bird, in Budapest on a bench built for one.  Awkward.

Awkward Photo #8: I think she ordered a scoop of Awkward, in a cone.

For those who are not familiar with the Stink Eye, let me fill you in:  It is basically an involuntary facial spasm that occurs whenever something happens that is distasteful to the observer.  Think of it as a long, lingering glare.  I have learned that our very own Redbird has a Stink Eye of magnificent proportions, and that she employs said Stink Eye frequently and with much gusto.

Where does she target her wrath, you ask?  Everywhere.  Stink Eyes have been launched at the following:  Pigeons that flap too closely to her face; me, whenever I try to make her pose for a picture she does not want to be in; random Austrians that stare at us on the train; people who smell a little funky; and questionably clean hotel sheets, among other things.

I must admit, I was shocked at the intensity of her Stink Eye, but, after seeing her employ it all over Europe, I have become impressed by its power.  She insists that this expression is not a Stink Eye, but is rather a function of her contacts being a little bit dry.  I will let you be the judge of which theory is correct.

In any case, we’re having a blast and are heading to Budapest tomorrow!

For example, how many people do you know that would a) ride around Prague on a Segway and b) do it wearing a “helm-hat” (mixture of a helmet and a hat)?  Our very own Redbird did just this, and as we zoomed around the city I couldn’t help but think that she looked like Mary Poppins, if Mary Poppins had reached into her magic carpet bag and pulled out a Segway instead of an umbrella.  See below:

We also went on an amazing tour called “A Taste of Prague”, in which we ate and drank our way across town.   I would highly recommend it if you’re ever in this neck of the woods!  Below are a few pictures of this experience, Redbird style, of course:

Hope you enjoyed czech-ing* out our time in Prague!  We head to Austria tomorrow!

*sorry I could NOT resist

Anywho…

Ms. Blakely did what all entrepreneurs should be striving to do:  She identified a problem, created a product that solves that problem, and then got rich.  So rich, in fact, that her company is now worth a billion dollars.  To read a great Forbes article on her click here…hopefully this will inspire all of you to sit down and ponder what problems you have in your life and then figure out ways to address them!

Before I begin documenting what is sure to be a ridiculous jaunt through Eastern Europe, I thought I would take a moment to introduce you to my littlest sister, current travel partner, and the protagonist of this particular adventure.  See below for a visual reference:

Code Name: Redbird.  Master of Intern on the London Bloomberg Middle East / Africa desk by day, acclaimed air guitarist by night.  Rumor has it that she was recruited to join a band of pirates at the tender age of 3, as evidenced by a prolonged period of eye patch wearing in her youth.  Notable quirks include an abnormally high susceptibility to highway hypnosis, a Freudian attachment to two teddy-bears-who-shall-remain-nameless, and a disturbing penchant for dressing like a Teletubbie.  She has an uncanny ability to dance so hard that she rips her pants, a skill that should come in handy in the bumpin clubs of the Czech Republic.

Should be a blast… check back!