Assignment 2: Job Description Final Draft
I grew up in Turkey surrounded by healthcare. My grandfather, a surgeon still practicing in his eighties, showed me what lifelong dedication to patients and scientific progress looks like. My grandmother, a pharmacist, showed me that care is also about access and communication. These experiences pushed me toward the intersection of healthcare, innovation, and strategy. I became fascinated not only with how new therapies are developed but also with the business decisions that shape patient access.
This summer, I worked as a Strategy Analyst at Kidod Science & Technologies, a med-tech startup based in Los Angeles. I had first partnered with the company through a consulting project at USC, and after the project ended, they asked me to continue independently. Kidod is a diagnostics company developing a revolutionary technology for early cancer detection through a simple, fast, and cost-effective test. The machine can identify cancer cells from a saliva or urine sample in less than a minute. The company’s mission is to make cancer screening cheaper, faster, and more accessible to underserved populations.
Because it was a small startup, my role changed almost every week. One day, I was building investor slides; the next, I was mapping out how to bring the medical device into the U.S. healthcare system. The best way to explain what I did is to break it into three areas:
Building the go-to-market strategy
Fundraising Support
Networking and Partnerships
1. Building the go-to-market strategy
I helped map out how Kidod could enter the U.S. market and obtain FDA approval (the formal regulatory clearance a medical device needs before it can be marketed in the United States). FDA approval is a crucial step for any medical device and often one of the most challenging, requiring both rigorous clinical data and a clear adoption plan.
For example, I researched which types of clinics and hospitals would be the first to adopt a new cancer diagnostic. Large academic hospitals like UCLA Health or Johns Hopkins often pilot new technologies because they have research budgets, while smaller community clinics are harder to reach but critical for expanding access. I created strategy documents on target states, pricing models, and distribution channels.
Beyond the regulatory path, I worked on the broader business model. We explored questions like, who will actually use the device? How will we reach them? And how do we make the test affordable? These questions helped us define Kidod’s core strategy, and it was rewarding to take on real responsibility in shaping decisions that could impact both patients and the company’s growth.
2. Fundraising Support
I worked closely with the CEO and advisors to prepare investor materials. I built pitch decks for accelerators like Berkeley SkyDeck and SoCalBio, making sure we explained both the science and the business opportunity clearly.
The decks I worked on included
Competitor Analysis – comparing Kidod’s test to existing cancer diagnostics to highlight our speed and affordability.
Revenue Projections – building five-year financial models for revenue estimation.
Market Entry Plans – outlining how we would expand from pilot programs to broader adoption in hospitals and clinics.
Impact Storytelling – translating complex science into a clear narrative of why this technology matters for patients and why investors should care.
What made this part exciting was seeing how every investor looked for something different; some wanted all the scientific details, while others skipped straight to the numbers. I realized fundraising isn’t just about having good technology; it’s about telling the right story in a way that connects with whoever is sitting across the table. Successfully, I was able to secure $3M from one of the accelerator programs!
3. Networking and Partnerships
In most jobs, sending cold emails might feel awkward. At a startup, it’s practically part of the job description. One of my main responsibilities at Kidod was helping the company expand its network by reaching out to VCs, physicians, and accelerator programs.
Some people wanted to hear every detail about the science, others only cared about how quickly we could scale or what made us different from competitors. My job was to adjust the story depending on who was listening, making sure each person walked away seeing the value of Kidod.
Lessons Learned
At Kidod, I learned that working in a startup means wearing many hats. One day, I was analyzing global cancer rates, and the next, I was editing graphs in a PowerPoint. But every task connected back to the same mission: getting life-saving technology into the hands of people who need it.
The experience showed me how business, science, and healthcare come together. It taught me to respect how hard it is to bring medical innovation to market and how rewarding it feels to be part of that process. Finally, I realized that this intersection of life sciences and strategy is where I want to continue building my career.
Readability: 50
Grade level: 10
Passive Sentences: 0
Hi Ela. I really enjoyed this post. Clearly, you had a very valuable and enjoyable internship. I appreciated the use of examples to help me get a clear image of the work you produced at Kidod. I am also insanely impressed with your grandfather, who is still practicing in his 80s. Beast!
ReplyDeleteHi Ela, such a cool post. I really liked hearing about your job description. The stories you told in your blog post were really interesting too. I have always been interested in startups, so it was eye-opening to hear about your experience. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Ela, I thought your story about how your family inspired your interest in healthcare made your career path feel very personal and meaningful. It was impressive to see how you took on real responsibility at a startup, from building go-to-market strategies to helping raise millions in funding. I also liked how you connected every task back to the larger mission of making cancer detection more accessible.
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