

I went through YC as an intern, here’s what I learned - Swizec
http://swizec.com/blog/i-went-through-yc-as-an-intern-heres-what-i-learned/swizec/2345

======
fryed7
I think there's nothing better when your young (or old for that matter!) to
muck in with a startup. Although it isn't Silicon Valley, I interned with two
businesses this summer a loved it.

With one, we were brainstorming ideas for the product and mapping out the
development schedule. You guys know what it's like - your sitting in a noisy
cafe with a pen, a piece of paper, all grinning at each other as you see ideas
coming together. It's even more awesome now as the products get developed
(we've got one developer. He's a real trooper!). You learn how to work with
other people. You learn to expand on other people's ideas. You learn to ship.

The other business I worked with is a bit more established, (an SEO
consultancy) where I was working on my own within the team to produce a one-
off guide to creating linkbait. It took two weeks of research, interviewing
the team on video, editing video, working with the design team and writing it
all up... then about a weeks editing which included learning bits of CSS
mighty-fast to fix formatting errors! Hehe...

We launched this afternoon - Seth Godin picked it up! WOW! That and a few
hundred other tweets and some really quite humbling comments from the rest of
the SEO community.

Why in the world that we live in would you not try and connect with people and
do awesome, challenging, fun stuff like this. And why would you work in a
corporation?!? You'd never get anything like that kind of flexibility you get
with SME's and startups.

I'd love to do what this guy did in the valley someday. Better still, I hope
to get more people interning in the valley and across the world with startups.
Maybe there's some money in that?

~~~
will_critchlow
I am one of the owners of one of the companies that Ed interned at. He is
amazing - proving that opportunity is there if you just go and grab it. Here's
what he produced: <http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/>

------
matdwyer
I know it was probably sarcasm, but I'd assume most people won't be making a
list of people to share wealth with when they strike it big. If you want
something in return from those founders you should make it clear what you'd
like (job referrals, industry connection, etc) now before your opportunity
diminishes. Don't keep your card too long.

~~~
Swizec
Yes it was mostly a joke.

But it's never bad to be able to quickly relate to a certain summer when
talking to such people some random time in the future.

It's a bit like how you see in the movies people relating over going to the
same university.

------
marcin
One more proof that startups are for people that are into the experience. Not
the money, not the credit, just the fun of doing it. If you're about
calculating your percentage, figuring out if your're getting paid the largest
sum of money around or have the best title - talk to the recruiters of big
cos.

~~~
craigmc
Totally agree with you. While you need to fairly sure you are on a path that
is capable of providing you with a decent return at some point, the fact
remains that you have to absolutely love the journey, otherwise there are a
lot easier ways to earn a living... I'm involved in my third startup
experience (one decent-ish consulting biz (not really a startup but a new biz
nonetheless), one ecommerce biz that went fairly big (in UK terms) and then
blew up, and now a social commerce play), and I still get the same feeling of
being a kid in a candy shop that is just not present when you are doing (much
better paid) work for other people.

------
pclark
Can you elaborate on what Fukime is and how you used the Parse launch in your
favour?

~~~
Swizec
The page itself had to be taken down by request of certain people, so I'm not
sure how much I can really elaborate.

But basically it was just this:

1\. Lots of buzz around a startup 2\. Use startup's name in your link titles
and add a bit of controversy

It gets plenty of clicks :)

~~~
paulgb
Was it taken down as a result of the controversy, or was it unrelated?

~~~
Swizec
The controversy.

------
jdelsman
This is a pretty good post, but I think a lot of these things can be said of
any start up, not just of a startup going through YC. Interesting read,
though. Can't wait to try myself.

