Edited by Esha Irshad Zaidi (Management Trainee, Marketing and Communications)
When two Computer Science students from Habib University joined Liberty City Ventures (LCV) as Analyst Interns, they expected to learn about emerging technology. However, what they did not anticipate was how quickly the internship would demand an unfamiliar skill of translating that technology into clear and persuasive business thinking.
Muhammad Ibad remembers reading his acceptance email and feeling intense excitement and apprehension simultaneously. A globally distributed team, rapid-fire learning, and weekly presentations to professionals in New York all seemed ambitious. Nehal, another Computer Science student from Habib University, began his Liberty City Ventures journey with the same uncertainty. However, that uncertainty did not last long.
A Wave of Uncertainty Turned into Applied Learning at Liberty City Ventures
The program moved on a tight rhythm. At the start of each week, supervisors introduced the technology that would anchor the team’s work. From there onwards, the interns’ job was to learn fast and think broadly. They had to take a new tool or trend, map it onto a real company’s needs, and craft recommendations that made practical and commercial sense. The assignments were grounded in reality. Ibad describes being paired each week with a company, often one already in LCV’s portfolio, and a technology to explore through the lens of impact, customers, and growth. Nehal’s journey also captures the same challenge from the inside: translating complex concepts into plain language, then building credible use cases a business audience could understand and evaluate.
By Friday, the work had to become a story. The findings were pitched weekly, and presentation day carried its own pressures. For Nehal, that pressure was sometimes literal, with Friday sessions stretching late into the night, shaped by time zones and coordination with a US-based partner. As Computer Science students, both were trained to explain systems with technical depth. This internship proved to be an incredible opportunity for both interns to step out of their comfort zone. They now had to reduce jargon and communicate at the level where decision-makers operate. They soon realized clarity mattered as much as correctness.
Over time, the discomfort turned into a skill set. Ibad writes that it took him a week or two to feel comfortable speaking up, especially in a team spread across countries. Once he found his footing, he began to enjoy the pace and the constant reset of a new company, a new topic, and a new deadline. In that environment, collaboration was not just teamwork, it was negotiation. Different academic and cultural backgrounds meant a plethora of ways of approaching the same problem. The interns soon learned how to disagree in a skillful way until a consensus was reached.
The internship offered several instances that felt especially close to real venture work. Nehal’s group was given a special assignment: identify and research three companies in the agentic AI space that LCV could consider investing in. It was a deeper dive than the standard weekly cycle, requiring sharper judgment and more responsibility. Ibad’s capstone moment came through choice. For the final presentation, interns could select any company, and he chose AssortHealth; an AI-based healthcare startup built around an automated voice system for managing patient calls. The example stuck with him not only because it was clever, but because it illustrated a core lesson of the summer: success depends on fit. A promising technology means little if it cannot align with how an industry actually works.
Understanding Business Through Technology
Just as important was the business vocabulary the internship demanded. Ibad notes how quickly he had to learn concepts like return on investment, customer retention, and the way startups think about growth. It shifted his understanding of how much analysis sits behind a single decision. Nehal describes a similar broadened view, learning how to move from research into actionable insights, and seeing more clearly how technology shapes business operations in practice.
The interns learnt insignificant life lessons too, the kind that rarely appear on a job description. Nehal points to learning that asking for help is not a weakness. Good supervision and timely feedback can be the difference between a stressful week and a productive one, especially when deadlines arrive fast and meetings happen at odd hours.
Institutional Support from Habib University
In both accounts, Habib University sits in the background as preparation and support. Ibad credits the Office of Career Services for smoothing coordination and logistics. He believes Habib’s interdisciplinary culture enabled him to navigate conversations that amalgamated business, technology, and ethics.
Nehal credits the invaluable knowledge he gained from his AI coursework at Habib in enabling him to get a deeper grasp of emerging technologies. He also commends the Office of Career Services for their thorough guidance through Career Connects which proved to be a source of practical support that helped him perform in a setting where communication and professionalism were non-negotiable.
