tech-company, website, internsI have a side project that I’ve been working part time on for ~6 months and I would now like to take it to the next step. I specialize in backend and don’t have time and design talent to do lot of web design or frontend programming.
As a solution to my problem, I’ve thought about the idea of bringing a student on board. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so there are several universities in the area.
My question is three-fold.
I am still unsure if this side project will turn into an actual business, so I would like to limit my spending as much as possible.
How do I reach out to the university?
Call them, email them, go there…
Do all universities have paid internship? How much should I expect to pay for internship?
It depends on the university and on the intern.
How much did you work for as an intern? (Assuming you did an internship at all…)
What about your classmates? Your friends? Your family members?
On this side of the pond, an intern’s compensation can be anywhere between zero and the full salary of a post-graduate – there’s no magic formula.
Are grad students open to work on a side project for future equity bases.
Some might. But two questions.
Firstly, are you sure they’ll be able to allocate the needed time? Particularly when they’ve exams, term projects, term papers, or whatever it is that they do nowadays.
Secondly, wouldn’t you be better off partnering or working with someone who has a bit more experience? (There are examples of founders that launch successful startups in their early 20s, but your odds of doing so increase as you get more seasoned.)
Other avenues or options are welcome
If you’re comfortable with overseeing someone technical, you can find cheap labor on freelance sites like eLance, oDesk, etc. (There’s some chaff, to put it politely, so start with small tasks.)
Besides that, network… Ask your family and friends if they know someone who might be interested in partnering, look into cofounder matching sites like Cofounders Lab, check out local meetup.com events, go to local startup meetups, etc. For all you know you might find one or two cofounders.
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