

How To Intern at a YC Startup - william_hc
http://blog.meldium.com/home/2014/6/16/how-to-intern-at-a-yc-startup

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stephenmac98
I am currently an intern an The Immunity Project, a YC funded non-profit
working on vaccinating HIV. I have been here for only a day so far but I whole
heartedly agree. I have been welcomed with open arms, introduced to new and
interesting people, and learned thing about the industry I never would have in
a college run program. This is only my second time meeting the team, but I am
excited to work with them. I will be doing interesting experiments, and
legitimate lab work, something not offered in most programs. I also gain
access to community between the different companies that is unique and
exciting. I definitely recommend this to anyone who gets the opportunity to
pursue interning for a YC company.

~~~
william_hc
I wish you all the best with your internship. Feel free to reach out if you
have any questions.

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gedrap
Good post. I didn't do an internship because I didn't have confidence. I was
at a top school and had good grades, part-time dev experience. But there were
always much better guys (and gals!) around me. "Just 2 more weeks, I will do a
side projects/learn something/whatever". Bullshit! it won't make the
difference.

Deadlines passed, not much progress and I had conversations with friends such
as "where will you intern?" "emm nowhere" "aw... me at Goldman
Sachs/IBM/whatever". It sucked big time.

If you, the reader, are feeling the same just apply for your own good. A lot
to win, nothing to lose. Being declined feels scary but a week later you won't
remember that. There are better people, there will always be. But you are much
better than the majority. Apply! A while ago I wrote a blog post about the
regrets and mistakes on this topic
[http://blog.gedrap.me/blog/2013/08/21/a-guide-on-how-to-
not-...](http://blog.gedrap.me/blog/2013/08/21/a-guide-on-how-to-not-get-an-
internship/)

------
0xeeeeeeee
Not even a YC Startup. Any startup. I interned at a very small startup in
college that is pretty well known. I learned a ton. Compared to my other
internships I had I accomplished a TON more (and more was expected of me,
which is good!).

At my startup internship, I pushed real code to real users on the first day.
At my internships with BigCos, I wrote code for 3 months and then I left. I
have no idea if the code was ever used. I was never checked on and had to be
overly outgoing for guidance. I probably could have sat on HN for 3 months and
nobody would have known.

If you are in college or high school, you should be searching HARD for
internships. Start early and don't be afraid to email people you don't know
asking for help. One of pg's essays say something along the lines of ``take
jobs when you are young that are challenging where you will learn the most''.
Finding these types of internships can be hard, so the search is difficult.

~~~
william_hc
Definitely applicable for any startup. Agree there.

Just please guys, try something tiny!

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nwenzel
As a YC founder, I can say that this post is absolutely correct. Also, any
intern that can put together all the peices the way the author has done, won't
be an intern for long. She/he'll be full-time or a founder in no time.

That ability is one that I look for. It's a rare skill to be able to see the
bigger picture.

Also... any UX people with Python, django, JavaScript skills (pick one or two)
looking for an internship, drop me a note. Mountain View or Orange County, CA.

Any Ops/sales/hustlers that want to work directly with a founder on growth,
brand awareness, and sales, drop me a note. Mountain View.

~~~
enen
As someone who's looking for an internship, could you briefly go over the
skills you are looking for in an intern. I have a hard time judging myself and
don't know exactly how much an intern should be capable of for a YC company or
really any company with similar status/success. Obviously, it depends from
company to company but still would be interesting to hear your thoughts.
Thanks

~~~
nwenzel
I think I'm looking for the same things all early-stage startups are looking
for.

My company exists because my co-founder is awesome. He and I willed it into
existence, took pretty massive income hits to make it happen, and have put a
ton of time and energy into making it happen.

Our company has been given some freedom because angel investors with their own
retirement plans, families, and LPs have taken a chance on us and believe in
us. The time they devote to us goes well above and beyond their potential
financial gain from our success.

Our company took off because early customers have taken a chance on us because
they believe in our passion and our product [0]. They are nice enough to not
be "nice" and instead tell us exactly what we need to improve to be even more
useful to them.

So, I want the same thing that all early-stage startup founders want. I want
someone who can help me keep my promise to all those people.

As for particular skills: UX knowledge, javascript, python, django (or any web
framework). Probably in that order. I'm not a big proponent of "butt in seat"
time (ex: must have 5 years experience with X).

On the marketing/sales/hustler side, It's mostly about follow-up and follow-
through. Show me that you have those two talents. If you've built out a
marketing campaign, if you've implemented something like Predictable Revenue,
if you've setup targets and tracked progress against those target, if you've
produced content (blog posts, demo videos, one-page info sheets, white
papers), of if you think you'd be good at taking on one of those challenges,
let's talk.

But really, I just want someone who understands what it means to me to keep my
promises.

[0] [http://blog.simplelegal.com/top-4-reasons-companies-
should-b...](http://blog.simplelegal.com/top-4-reasons-companies-should-buy-
from-startups)

------
clay_to_n
Great advice. I am currently in my second summer internship with a great
startup. Last summer, I started with near-0 web experience, and built an
internal web app that is still used constantly by our sales team. The metrics
it provides have convinced more than a few companies to demo us (b2b). I'm
very thankful they took the chance on me, knowing there would be a big
learning curve. I was working mostly on my own, since our devs were overseas,
but it was still a great experience.

At the end of my summer, they raised a series A, and this summer it feels like
a whole different company. We're three times the size, and everything is
moving even faster. We have four full-time developers in this office now, and
I'm working alongside them on production code.

Personally, I think startups can be more valuable learning experiences than
big companies, but I can only speak from my experiences. I feel lucky to have
been part of this company when it was ~8 people as well as now, when it's ~25
and we have free food and a nicer office and I'm integrated into the
"enterprise" (in a good way) development processes.

Compare this to my friend at one of the biggest companies in the Valley (but
an older one...), who is in a cubicle all day and told me she could go three
days without doing any work and nobody would notice.

