What are the benefits of interning/working for a startup?

Dear Timothy,

Having worked for a successful start up as well as working currently for a large company, I can give a few comments. These comments are based on my experiences and observations, so your mileage may vary.

• A start up has less personnel than a large company. Thus, in a start up, the breadth of your job may be larger and also closer to the top of the company hierarchy. This means you will likely learn a broader set of skills. You will likely have longer hours at a start up. (My experience is that at any company, having a strong work ethic is a prerequisite, not something developed there.) You will also be introduced to employees that are closer to the top than at a larger company, so the chance for networking is good. Having said that, I imagine there are plenty of opportunities for networking at a larger company.


• A start up generally has less established infrastructure, in personnel, software, methodology, and equipment. You are likely to be more on your own in learning what needs to be learned. My experience is that in a start up, there is a greater need for people to hit the ground running. As there is less existing infrastructure, things at a start up may seem rough around the edges. However, this could be taken as an opportunity to help set up the foundations of a company, depending on how early in the history you are at the company.


• In either case, probably the most important thing for an intern is who your host/mentor is. Are they into teaching or helping out the interns? Are they going to give you an opportunity or project where you have a chance to learn a lot? This may be a very large factor in leveraging your internship experience for future employment.

I hope this helps. Best wishes!

The biggest benefit of working for a startup is access. You are far better likely in a startup to, for example, work with and know the CEO and learn from there knowledge. Startups also give you a place to really shine, to have a big impact in the company success.

Firstly, great question ... and beautifully worded at that. Communications skills will get you far in career and life. On to your question ...

I started my career working for large multinationals but have spent the last 2 years working for startups. It's a whole new world. At your age, getting an internship of any kind is a coup. Interning with a startup gives you an edge over peers in so far as you'll have much more interesting stories to tell in interviews and application essays. That and the depth of your experience may be greater in a startup environment, giving you a bit more insight into the kind of work you enjoy and find rewarding. This in itself is valuable. With regard to work ethic, it seems you already have that, and with regard to future employment opportunities ... all I can say is that where you intern in high school or early in your college career has little bearing. If you are fortunate enough to intern in your first two years of college, use it as an opportunity to explore. While your junior year internship may be more relevant to your full-time job search, as a recruiter what I look for more than industry or function or company is skill-set and mindset. Your first job will largely be learning-on-the-job. Bring curiosity, a strong worth ethic, and an analytical mindset and you'll likely succeed no matter the job.

Timothy! Thank you for your kind words! Good question! Be willing to be the "go to person". Be dependable and trustworthy! Enhance your public speaking and media marketing skills, Read up on salesmanship - the fastest route for visibility in most companies. google Tom Hopkins or check him out on U tube.

Timothy look at it this way - How awesome is that? If a door opens step forward and take it Any opportunity to gain experience at your age is great. If you don't like the opportunity that in its self is a learning experience. It is more about expanding your self awareness, likes, dislikes and personal preferences and less about job experience especially at your age. If its a total bomb so what! Have fun with this. You are in H.S. Lighten up!

lHi Timothy! Do you have a DECA group in your school? Google it if not. If so suggest you join. I'm not sure an intern position in H.S. is that big a deal. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad for kids by Robert Kiyosaki, Play the Cash Flow Game for kids (check his website? Google it. Read Make The Impossible Possible by William Strickland and biographies of founders of Starbucks, KFC and McDonalds. Watch some video of these names at U tube. Below is a blog I wrote
What Were You Doing At Age 17?
I was at the end of my junior year in high school. My grade point was a 1.4. That's a "D" for those who don't know. It was that high because of my first B, in school ever that year, in "bonehead" English. That meant I was one of the smarter kids among the dumber low end english students.

When people would ask me what I wanted out of school I usually would say "me".

My experience in school was not a pleasant one. I flunked the sixth grade once and was very close a second time. My dad said "when you finish the 9th grade you are on your own". That didn't hold up in reality but the mindset was because of his life experience. My perspective of who I was, how smart I was and my vision of where I was going was severely limited and limiting.

That summer I got into a screaming match with my alcoholic dad and I left determined to be on my way "somewhere". I spent three days living at a high school friend's home without a clue. Thought I might enlist in the military, then an amazing event happened.

My mother was a legal secretary and also a receptionist for a doctor who had just passed away. She was helping the widow of the doctor clean up his office and estate and mentioned me and my having left home. She didn't know me but offered to let me stay at her house until I finished high school.

The house I left was a one bedroom one bath with 4 rooms downstairs with a large space upstairs with an unfinished floor and window settings both with exposed two by fours and no insulation. An exposed brick chimney ran through that open space. Our crudely built and sparsely furnished home was heated by a cooking wood stove in the kitchen and a front room wood furnace heated the rest of the house ??. Our home was inhabited by 7 people (5 bothers and 2 adults).

In addition, my mother was overwhelmed with her life so our house was messy, cluttered and not particularly clean, a lot. At my home we had a small kitchen radio as an entertainment center, hand ringer washing machine, ice box for refrigeration and a primitive toaster. No phone, no TV and no car until my older brother bought one in 1952. Walking was our usual mode of travel. I was fifteen at that time. Neither my mother (bus) or my dad (taxi) drove. I have no idea if they even knew how. My older brother went into the service via the National Guard and I became the designated driver at age 16.

The new home I moved into was immaculate and well furnished including a baby grand piano. It included numerous modern appliances, even a mangle for ironing and a white picket fence around a huge green well kept front lawn and also a huge flower filled back lot She had a two separate entrances driveway into a two-car garage housing a 1954 Cadillac. I had my first private bedroom ever.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

She changed my life in many ways. She also legally adopted me at age 21. I went from Paul Davenport to Paul Coulter, and created a new persona, one I hid behind, that carried me for years. 20 years later at 37 I was a college graduate and a self employed contract Sales Training Consultant working with American Honda M/Cs facilitating 3 day workshops for their company sales reprs and their dealership sales personnel nationally with a retail sales training program I created.

This later led to consulting contracts with Schwinn Bicyles, Giant Bicycles, Harley-Davidson, Yamaha Golf Carts and Honda of Canada doing similar things. I abruptly stopped doing sales training at 47 as I started a new and different phase of my life.

If you check out my linked in profile you'll see what a humungous difference one person made in my life

My 81th birthday will be June 20, 2015. I am still working, still growing and evolving.

I am fortunate and thankful to live the life I live and love being able to continue to pay my life forward in many different ways to my family, friends and clients.

One candle can light many other candles.

May you blossom and prosper as you light others candles!

First off I think interning or working for a start-up is an excellent opportunity. I spent a large part of my early career working for these types of organizations and it really benefited me. Start-ups are opportunities to learn many different aspects of an organization and the more you learn the more you have to offer. In addition, you may find that there is some other aspect of a business that you like more than you might have expected. My advice: if you decide to work or intern for a start-up, take every opportunity available and learn as much as you can...you won't regret it!

Hi,
It is awesome to work/intern at startups because you get the overall experience of working through many roles,unlike in other big companies where you will work only based on your designation and will get less hands around with other work..So as a whole working for startup will give you lot of knowledge and experience,you can actually make your work more lively.

Good question. Larger companies don't typically offer internships for HS students, however there are many opportunities for College graduates in those organizations. Getting an internship at a startup offers a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor and learn the business from the ground up. An intern would most likely be part of building processes and establishing procedures. These skills can be taken to any other industry so are extremely valuable to learn and gain experience with. Assuming you have no prior knowledge of the processes, it would allow you to ask questions and build your network. Never pass up an opportunity to learn since learning should be a life long endeavor. Good luck in whatever you choose to do.

Great question. I have worked at NASA and I have worked with a startup that had a successful IPO. Both experiences were very rewarding and I would not trade one for more of the other. At NASA, you are in an environment that has well established processes and procedure. The compensation is good, but you did not have that potential to have exposure to the financial upside of a startup that is successful. In a startup, you will often get options (or shares). Those can be a windfall.

Whether or not your startup is successful, I think you learn how to wear many hats. There is a lot of energy and excitement in startups. More of a “startup vibe” in the atmosphere. Many startups in the Bay Area are using newer technology that will allow you to sharpen your skill sets. Many Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies look for candidates from other SaaS companies. As startups begin to grow, they look for others with experience in startups that have taken companies from a startup to a mid-size of large organization. Candidates from startups learn to be “scrappy.” In other words, they learn to “get stuff done.”

To be successful, you will need to have a great work ethic. I think having startup experience with a high-growth company really gave me an education that I was only able to read about in graduate school.