Intern At A Startup - Networking Your Way In

First, decide what sorts of skills or experiences you want out of your internship. Whether it’s UI/UX research, graphic design, sales, or marketing, knowing which field you’re interested in will automatically narrow the types of people you should reach out to. I was interested in product development, content strategy, and startup funding so I mainly spoke to product managers, marketers, and venture capitalists.

I found that I had better conversations when I talked to someone in an industry, vertical market, or issue area I was passionate about. I tended to be more informed and more excited about it.

During my internship search, I was primarily interested in education technology startups addressing learning achievement gaps and startups with behavioral science-driven products. I could draw upon my relevant experiences (my past work tutoring and doing behavioral science research) in these calls to ask insightful questions and display a deeper interest in their work. They could see I had done my research so they were more open to the idea of hiring me as an intern.

Startups go through different rounds of funding to grow. These rounds determine what your internship experience will be like because they indicate how well developed the company is and what its priorities are for growth. If you want a more in-depth look into this, check out this article from Investopedia.

To identify which round a startup is in, search them up on Crunchbase and click on the financials tab of their profile. While the rounds describe levels of funding, below I will describe what qualitative factors startups are going through in each stage:

Pre-Seed/Seed (generally 1-25 employees) —> Startup is just getting off the ground. They may have a prototype of their product and are figuring out how to build out, launch, and distribute their product. Your role will most likely be cross-functional (marketing, user research, product development, etc). There will be a lot of ironing out the daily processes of how the startup is run. You’ll be expected to problem solve on your own and take ownership of your work.

Series A (generally 20-50 employees) —> Here the startup should have a solid product with some customers and revenue. Now they need to figure out how to scale across different customers and markets. Work will be centered around growth and rapid product iteration. The company is becoming more established and is beginning to build out its core team.

Series B (generally 20-100 employees)—> In this stage, startups will continue expanding their market share and begin forming teams such as customer success, marketing, and sales. The founders at this point will be quite experienced and the feel will be very much like working at an established company, albeit a lot smaller.

Series C and above (generally 100+ employees) —> Startups should now be attempting to rapidly grow. They will begin to build new products and expand to other markets. At this point, the startup should have several teams and core departments working together. Processes will be pretty well established. You’ll probably specialize a lot more in your department.

Generally, if you want less hand-holding and want to take more ownership over your projects, startups in earlier rounds are the way to go. But if you want more mentorship and guidance from experienced founders, then the later rounds will be the better option. It’s possible that some late-stage startups already have established internship programs and you might have to submit a formal application. You should still network to have the highest chance of getting a job offer.

When you begin, you might not be sure what career fields, specific industries/companies, or startup round interests you the most. That’s okay! It’s totally fine to cast a wide net, and as you have more conversations narrow down the type of work you want to do.

Once you identify an industry, role, and startup round try to find people working at the intersection of the three. For example, if you were interested in marketing, healthcare, and want more hands-on guidance, you would look into a lot of healthcare-related startups that are Series B and above. Maybe a prescription pill delivery startup caught your eye and you reach out to their lead digital marketer for a brief phone call. These are the types of conversations that have the highest likelihood of success.

Below I’ve listed a few locations to source startup leads after you’ve identified your intersection. These are just a starting point but typically if you find a startup from a top accelerator like YCombinator or Techstars they’ll have qualified founders who’ll provide a worthwhile internship experience. Startups backed by elite venture capital firms like Sequoia, Benchmark, and Founders Fund will also be good bets. Another litmus test is to do additional research on the founders to see if they’ve started any companies before. They’ll tend to have more expertise.

Startup Databases: AngelList, Crunchbase

Accelerators: YCombinator, Techstars

University Programs: MIT delta v, Berkeley SKYDECK

Venture Capital Portfolios: First Round Capital, Sequoia Ventures

After identifying a startup you’re interested in, use LinkedIn or the company’s website to track down someone working there that relates to your field of interest. At larger startups, there might be department leads you can reach out to (marketing lead, product lead, etc.) but at most small startups you’ll need to reach out to the CEO.

My experience consisted of looking at earlier stage EdTech startups for my first internship because I wanted to get exposure to all aspects of running a company. So, I searched for leads through accelerators like YCombinator, Techstars, and university incubator programs.

For my second internship, I was less industry-focused and wanted to find a Series A startup so I could get some more hands-on mentorship. I looked mainly at the portfolio of top VC firms to identify leads. I then tried to find companies with product managers or growth marketers who had either worked at or founded previously prestigious/successful companies (i.e. FAANG or if their company got acquired) because they would have more industry experience to coach me with.

But now onto the next section— the cold email!

• Give a brief introduction with your name, school, and major.
• Try to tie in any commonalities you share with the person you’re contacting (same school, hometown, interests, etc.)
• Although you might not have directly relevant experiences, try to briefly mention things that demonstrate broader character traits like discipline, problem-solving, and intelligence. You want to show that you’re capable and won’t be a difficult person to train and manage. Perhaps you did research at school involving data analytics or were a school club leader. Sometimes you have to spin your experiences to make them more relevant. For example, maybe you volunteered at a hospital and that sparked your interest in healthcare startups.
• Have a clear “ask” and suggest times for a potential call. The times should be reasonable (not before 8 AM or after 10 PM). I would ask for a 10-15 minute call to keep the commitment level relatively low.
• Be respectful and acknowledge that they may not have time to meet with you.

• Keep the email as short as possible. Try to stay around 150 words. Founders and department heads are extremely busy and will not read long emails. Be direct and to the point.
• Write a concise subject line. I liked to use something like Call About Your Work With A Swarthmore Student?
• I scheduled my emails to send periodically at 10 AM on Tuesdays using Gmail. This is based on several studies citing that as the time most emails get read.
• Follow up a maximum amount of three times and space out the emails within a week of each other. This is crucial. Keep the follow up respectful and acknowledge that they may be busy.
• After you confirm a time to meet, ask if they’d like you to send a calendar invite. This makes you seem thoughtful and prepared.

Below I’ve attached a screenshot of a cold email that I sent incorporating these guidelines that got me an offer.

Link To Screenshot

Some key things to note in this email:

1. It’s very concise and there’s not a lot of fluff.
2. The “I would love to learn more about what you’re doing… and where I might be able to fit in” portion of the email is what I mean by asking for a hybrid informational interview. It implies the potential for an internship but makes it low pressure by putting more emphasis on learning about this person’s startup. What could’ve made this email even better is if I asked about the person’s past work experience and what led to them founding/working at a startup (i.e. putting something like “I also saw you worked as a product manager at Google before and would like to hear about that as well” into the email).
3. I propose exact times and also politely acknowledge that if those times don’t work or the person is too busy it’s completely okay if we aren’t able to connect (“Please let me know if those times work and if now is too busy I completely understand”). This makes the tone less demanding.
4. I didn’t have a ton of relevant work experience in the EdTech space of this particular startup since they specialized in a pretty niche field. And since I’ve never actually worked at a startup before it was a hard initial sell. But I demonstrated my analytical skills by mentioning my past research and hinted at my interest in startups through my VC work. The college access initiative was also a way to show that I was genuinely interested in education (even if it wasn’t tied directly to the startup’s work). Remember the goal is to merely demonstrate that you’re competent and interesting enough to talk to.

• Give a brief intro with name, major, and school.
• Try to tie in any commonalities you share with the person you’re contacting (same school, hometown, interests, etc.)
• State what role you’re looking for.
• Connect past experiences to that particular role and show you’re qualified.
• Show where you can add value.
• Ask for an interview.
• Remember to follow up a week later if there’s no reply.

Here is an email using the direct ask approach that got me an interview.

Link To Screenshot

Some key things to note in this email:

1. Clear ask of what exactly I was looking for (“help as a product intern”).
2. I quickly tied in my social proof of my experience working at a Techstars backed company (“working at BestFit”) which strengthened my credibility since Techstars is a top startup accelerator that only admits a select few companies.
3. Went into detail about my past product experience while discussing my book. In this situation, I had to spin it into a relevant product experience since I was talking to a software-based startup that doesn’t sell consumer products. Anyway, it worked.
4. Mentioned where I could add value (“build out its product and speak to users”). This could’ve been stronger if I had a better idea of what the company was working on. Usually, you can’t figure this out so I just went with a generic thing that product managers did. However, what was nice was that “speak to users” was similar to what I did previously in “interviewing high school students” which made me seem more qualified.
5. For direct internship asks I didn’t propose a time for an interview since it comes off as rude to assume they want to interview you.

Before the call make sure you have a good understanding of their company and work history. Use LinkedIn and scour the person’s profile and their company website for the latest news. Come up with a list of insightful questions that don’t have answers that can easily be found online. Don’t stalk their Facebook and ask them creepy questions.

Solid questions include ones that dive into why the person you’re speaking with chose their particular career path, what they’re working on now, and what advice they’d give to someone interested in a similar field. If you’ve done your research then questions about industry trends or a more niche topic within their field can be good. However, trying too hard to be “smart” can rub people the wrong way so tread carefully.

Preparation is important for the call but ideally, you can listen to what they’re saying and ask deeper questions based on what they’ve just said. This takes practice and doesn’t come naturally to everyone so don’t be discouraged if your first few calls aren’t as good as you expected.

For calls that resulted from direct internship asks, make sure to prep for standard interview questions like “Why X role,” “Why this particular company,” “Tell me about your past experiences,” etc. more rigorously. Although you may still be asked these questions during a hybrid informational interview they’ll tend to be more casual.

I liked to view the call as primarily trying to learn more about the other person’s work whether or not I had directly asked for an internship. Displaying your curiosity and enthusiasm is the best way to win people over. A side benefit of asking insightful questions is that they’ll give you a glimpse into what different careers are like and help you determine if the company is a place you would want to intern at. Going into the call with the mindset of only getting the internship doesn’t allow you to effectively evaluate the opportunity and create a genuine connection with the person you’re speaking with. A helpful reframing if you’re nervous about getting on calls is that your goal is seeing if they’ll be a good match for you.

Below is an outline of how you should structure your call with whoever you’re talking to. Of course, this is just a guideline and it will be up to you to analyze how the call is going and make adjustments accordingly. Notes on variations for a direct ask call will be italicized.

Step 1: Exchange pleasantries and engage in basic small talk

• The goal here is to be relaxed and be yourself. Don’t come on too strong or be too aggressive. Make sure to thank them for taking the time to call.

Step 2: Transition into your reason for the call

• There’s always that awkward moment during the call when it’s silent on the phone and no one knows who’s supposed to start the conversation. To avoid this, ask if it’s alright for you to introduce yourself and ask a few questions about their career.
  • Ex: “Would it be alright if I introduced myself and asked you a few questions about your career?”

Direct Ask Step 2: Transition into your reason for the call

• Usually, with a direct ask the purpose will already be clear and the person will ask you to tell them a bit about yourself. If that doesn’t occur feel free to say something like “Would it be alright if I introduced myself and why I’m interested in interning at X company?”

Step 3: Introduce yourself and ask your questions

• Give a summary of yourself. Name, major, school, activities, and why you’re reaching out to this particular person are all great things to cover. Bring up why you’re interested in their work or company. Ask the questions that you had.

Direct Ask Step 3: Introduce yourself and respond to questions

• Pretty self-explanatory. It’ll be like a standard interview.

Step 4: Wrap up the call after you reach the time allotted (usually 15 minutes) and make your ask

• You don’t get what you don’t ask for. End the call by saying something like, “Thank you so much for taking the time to talk. Before I end, I wanted to ask about how someone like me might get involved with your startup?”
  • If they say there aren’t any opportunities that’s okay! It’s a numbers game; thank them and ask if they might have any leads on other opportunities similar to them.
  • If they say they have an open position, congratulations! You’ve just landed an internship!

Direct Ask Step 4: End of interview + ask your questions

• Once the interview has ended they’ll probably ask you if you have any questions. Ask them at this point. Make sure to ask what the next steps are for a potential internship.

Step 5: Send a thank you email

• This is just basic courtesy. The person you spoke to is very busy and took time out of their day to talk with you!

Step 6: Follow Up Periodically

• A no now doesn’t mean a no forever. Even if you get turned down for an internship, you can still stay in contact with the person you spoke to if you feel like you connected with them. Follow up with interesting articles, career updates, or stories on how you applied their advice to your work/life and how it helped you. Build up the relationship and if in the future you still want to intern with them feel free to ask again about opportunities.

In the beginning, most of my calls didn’t turn out great. Especially with the hybrid informational interview approach, I felt awkward and wasn’t able to articulate myself clearly. I didn’t have a coherent elevator pitch about why I was reaching out and that made conversations difficult because the other person didn’t understand who I was or how they could be helpful to me. But over time, I was able to refine my elevator pitch and ask better questions based on the flow of the conversation. It takes practice.

In some cases, you won’t be able to connect with the other person and that’s okay. Just do your best to help them help you. That means being well prepared for each call using all the steps I shared above.

One of my most memorable hybrid informational calls didn’t end in an internship offer but was memorable because I received an inside look into the psychology of how employers view interns. The person I spoke to shared how I could add value as an intern and be more successful in my work.

I also received book recommendations, life tips, and career insights from many of my calls. These helped me clarify how I wanted to structure my studies. For example, I didn’t realize how much data analytics is a part of marketing until after a call with an experienced marketer. After this realization, I’ve read a lot more about statistics and how I can study it. I guarantee if you view these calls as more than a means to an end, you’ll learn more than you ever expected.