Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Criteria and Pros and cons of internships?

posted by: Andrew Welch on 2015-01-20
tagged: growth, interns
score: 2

I’ve got a small start up running adventure tours in the Caucasus mountains www.georidersmtb.com

I’ve built the website, we’ve got an FB community and page and we have a US agent who recently started to do some promotions.

We are at very early stages in terms of maturity of a business- e.g. just starting to get heard about, getting bookings, running biggers tours. So far so good.

However, we have a bazillion ideas and iterative improvements to complete which manifest in long facebook conversations, to do lists and tickets in a project management app.

I’m limited by time and I’m the techie out of the 3 of us so I end up doing a lot of the design and tech improvements. There is also a lot of social media to run and I take some of the responsibility for that.

I’m aware there is a big opportunity for learning for perhaps a local to help out with some of these tasks - e.g. an intern. Is this something that could work out and what are the pros and cons of this?

Also we don’t yet have a physical bike shop front or office per se (we do have a place where someone could potentially work) and there are shared offices available in Tbilisi. Any thoughts welcomed.

Answer 3080

posted by: DcK on 2015-01-20
score: 1

I’m passionate rider myself and owner/managing partner of a couple of small business. We run internships for several years now, and we are very happy with it, because:

we expand our resource pool and we get more things done than usual
FTE members of our teams learn how to work with entry level colleagues with the opportunity of hands-on usage of basic principles as planing, follow up, delegating.
with small investment (you can both use paid or unpaid interns) you already build up a shortlist of future employees or temporary help for peak work (I assume your business is seasonal). Once they graduate (interns are usually students) they will consider your company as an employer.
you keep enthusiasm high! Usually hard work (the common setup for a start-up) decreases motivation. When a young intern comes in he has a lot of drive. His high spirit will influence your team.
they are not picky when it comes to routine chores. usually they are very knowledgeable with social media and will quickly pick it up! It may go to such a level they will invest more time than you request from them.
they provide quick word-of-mouth employer branding for your company

On the downsize:

you will have to invest time for managing them - your time or some of your colleagues.
not everybody is as dedicated as you might think, so expect to have failures. Our experience is that 40% out of our interns are really valuable.
they will need some resources, therefore indirect cost as any FTE: computer, workplace, tools and so.

Bottom line - for a start-up it could be an easy way to face some of those chaotic time and set a stepping stone for future growth. If you should find the passionate bike rider who knows your region, you might even hit a jackpot.

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