How Oladimeji Ojo (’26) Built a Growth Playbook That Changed a Company’s Game: Batten Venture Internship Program
In this first feature of our three-part profile series, we highlight the transformative experiences of Class of 2026 Darden students who participated in the Batten Venture Internship Program (BVIP) over the summer. BVIP offers students the opportunity to pursue internships with venture capital firms, startups or closely held enterprises. Entrepreneurial students gain valuable formal experience through a BVIP internship, which offers a matching salary stipend to encourage this one-of-a-kind internship exploration. Learn more about Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Meet Second Year Oladimeji Ojo (Class of 2026), whose Batten Venture Internship Program experience at Eight Hats allowed him to explore market development within the U.S. while continuing his lifelong drive to build and improve communities.
SHAPING AN ENTREPENEUR
Growing up in Nigeria, Ola developed a passion for machines and design by witnessing the craftsmanship of his father’s welding. This early influence inspired him to study mechanical engineering in college where his curiosity moved beyond machines to how systems have the power to improve communities and impact lives.
After graduation, one question prompted him to turn his problem-solving mindset toward youth education: How do we make learning exciting again? This pivotal thought turned into an EdTech venture that Ola helped to build, driven by the goal of transforming textbooks into interactive, game-based experiences. For more than five years, he led the company’s growth across francophone African countries and Southeast Asia before it merged with Solve Education!, helping students across Africa rediscover a love of learning.
With a strong foundation in entrepreneurship and market expansion, Ola came to Darden, driven by the desire to both learn and contribute to a new place.
“The BVIP program attracted me because it offered the chance to apply my international market expansion experience to the U.S. context, working hands-on with a small, founder-led business. The Eight Hats project was particularly compelling because they faced the strategic growth questions I love: market prioritization, customer segmentation and upselling strategies, and pricing optimization.”
Eight Hats is a web services provider based in Lafayette, LA that exemplifies the type of profitable, founder-run business common in the ETA space. The ~15-person company operates a white-label business model serving agencies in the Louisiana region and is positioned for strategic growth.
"The autonomy to design this end-to-end approach and directly implement data-driven solutions was exactly what made the BVIP experience valuable."
BUILDING A GROWTH PLAYBOOK
The BVIP internship often provides the student with an identified research project paired with the student’s autonomy to determine the best solution. Ola shared his approach in tackling his BVIP project and how Darden prepared him to tactically plan for business growth.
“I focused on go-to-market strategy and market development, where I implemented data-driven sales processes and led market expansion into Richmond, VA. The leadership team knew they wanted to expand geographically and increase revenue from existing clients, but hadn’t determined the optimal markets, approach or pricing structure. I had complete autonomy to define the research methodology, analysis framework and ultimate recommendations.
“I broke this into four interconnected workstreams.
- Tackling the data infrastructure problem—the company had decade-long data silos across dozens of sources that prevented any strategic analysis. I built a unified intelligence platform that integrated this data with stakeholder insights, which became the foundation for all subsequent work.
- Conducting a pricing optimization project, analyzing their cost-plus service plans and transitioning underperforming accounts to value-based pricing, which recovered significant ARR and improved margins substantially.
- Leading the market expansion analysis, using regression and conjoint analysis across multiple variables to model success drivers across their client base. This resulted in selecting a target market based on client density and competitive dynamics, where I then built a qualified prospect database.
- Developing a prospect prioritization tool in Salesforce Einstein AI using regression analysis to identify high-probability targets, enabling the sales team to close multiple deals within the first two months.
“The project culminated in a comprehensive growth playbook—covering pricing strategy, market selection, and sales prioritization—that’s now standard across their sales organization. The autonomy to design this end-to-end approach and directly implement data-driven solutions was exactly what made the BVIP experience valuable.”
LEVERAGING DARDEN LESSONS
Another mark Ola shared of his BVIP experience was how classes at Darden prepared him to turn the complexities of business growth into a clear way forward.
“I leaned heavily on Decision Analysis, which I enjoyed so much I took it in Q1, Q3, and Q4. When choosing between Richmond and Boston for expansion, I applied the regression frameworks we practiced across all three quarters, analyzing 35 variables to model client success drivers. This quantitative approach gave leadership confidence in a data-backed recommendation rather than intuition.
“The Marketing course in Q1 directly informed my pricing work—I applied value-based pricing frameworks to restructure Eight Hats’ decade-old cost-plus model, turning underperforming accounts into a margin-improving business case.
“Leading Communications proved equally critical for stakeholder management. Integrating data from dozens of siloed sources meant getting buy-in from every department head without formal authority. The influence strategies and communication frameworks course were essential—I had to show each stakeholder how unified data would make their job easier rather than mandate cooperation. Those soft skills were just as important as the technical analysis in getting the growth playbook actually implemented across the organization.”
"Working at Eight Hats—where I had end-to-end ownership from market analysis to pricing strategy to sales enablement—confirmed that this is exactly what I want to do full-time."
DEFINING THE PATH AHEAD
As Ola’s builder’s mindset and growth experience at Eight Hats merged, it revealed a career path that now motivates and energizes him to bring value into his next venture.
“The internship crystallized something I’d been circling around since before business school. I came to Darden as a ‘builder/growth guy’ with international market expansion experience, but I wasn’t sure if that translated to the type of strategic, data-driven growth work I found most energizing. Working at Eight Hats—where I had end-to-end ownership from market analysis to pricing strategy to sales enablement—confirmed that this is exactly what I want to do full-time.
“The turning point came during a feedback session with my supervisor. He walked through the impact of the growth playbook, the speed at which we closed deals in the new market, and how the data infrastructure was changing how they made decisions. Hearing him articulate the value I’d created made me realize: ‘I’m actually good at this growth thing.’ More importantly, I love the intersection of quantitative analysis, strategic thinking, and execution that growth roles require.”
Guided by the belief that you should leave every place better than you found it, Ola continues to seek opportunities to build, contribute, and make a lasting mark wherever he goes.
“As I start my second year, I’m now actively targeting growth-focused opportunities—whether that’s Growth Strategy, Go-to-Market Strategy, Revenue Operations, or Product Growth. I now know the specific type of problems I want to solve and the environments where I can create the most impact.”
A Note from the Darden Career Center
Through the Batten Venture Internship Program (BVIP), Darden students bring entrepreneurial thinking and strategic insight to startups, venture firms, and growing enterprises. If your early-stage venture, ETA firm or venture capital team is interested in hiring a Darden intern, learn more about the Batten Venture Internship Program or email Michele Rankin, Managing Director, Darden Career Center at RankinM@darden.virginia.edu.
