Business Operations Internship | Manvi Saxena Intern Spotlight
Meet Manvi Saxena, a Business Systems intern at Amplitude. Manvi naturally has an adventurous personality, having skydived, snorkeled, and parasailed in her free time. She traveled from her hometown of Mumbai, India to Bloomington, Indiana for college, and her adventure eventually continued at our office in San Francisco.
Manvi’s first week at the office was fully immersed in learning. For onboarding, she was introduced to a suite of new tools, including salesforce, which she would later use in-depth for her research on user provisioning.
The onboarding process was exciting, but one thing was for sure: Manvi needed to learn and adapt quickly to make the most of these tools.
Taking Ownership
After the second week of the internship, Manvi experienced a sudden peak in the amount of work being assigned. She went from working on 1–2 jira tickets to a full board. At first, this felt intimidating. Manvi was given administrative level access to the salesforce production environment, which put a lot of power into her hands. However, looking back, she was grateful for this increase in responsibility.
“It meant not secluding people because they are an intern but being treated like an integral part of the team.” —Manvi
Manvi’s work was extremely hands-on; she was in charge of conducting her own research and communicating findings to management, sales, and marketing. This high level of ownership helped keep her accountable and motivated throughout her intern project.
While tackling the workload, Manvi learned the indispensable skill of scope prioritization. Initially, she focused on emptying her jira board, but eventually Manvi realized that thinking in terms of “completing jira tickets” didn’t necessarily mean doing the most impactful work. One transformative piece of advice she received was that “day-to-day tasks will come indefinitely.” To avoid being swept away by the day-to-day, Manvi learned to focus on her project. Seeking inspiration from her mentor, Harini Chitra, she found her own balance between planned project work and more spontaneous tasks.
By the end of the internship, Manvi went from feeling scared to push code into production to having the confidence to believe in her decisions. She was ready to own the work she put out, not because she thought it was perfect but because she had given it a genuine effort and was ready to continue improving and iterating on feedback.
✨ Kudos ✨
Some lesser-known context is Manvi was actually working a part-time job while interning at Amplitude. While juggling multiple responsibilities, Manvi’s team was incredibly supportive and helped her get acquainted with San Francisco.
During meetings with her manager, Andrew Lai, they would literally open Google Maps to show Manvi restaurant recommendations in the city. Andrew even helped Manvi with the housing search process during the beginning of her internship.
Manvi’s mentor, Harini, was also extremely encouraging. The two had 1–1 meetings every Wednesday, and Manvi felt extremely comfortable around her. Manvi felt like she could share anything around Harini.
Manvi’s Advice for Future Interns
Be vocal. One intern Manvi admires is Bingbing, who was known for asking questions without hesitation. As an intern, its important to not undermine your own ideas. If you have a thought, even if it opposes the opinion of someone who is more senior, do not be afraid to put it forward because we are all trying to contribute.
Conclusion
The next step in Manvi’s adventure is finishing up her masters degree in Management Information Systems. Amplitude has made a lasting impression on her career, and we hope her story can inspire others.
Thank you for reading! Feel free to reach out in the comments if you have any questions.
Manvi’s favorite thing to do in the office: Look for food.
