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.
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
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.
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.