Big company internships give you a name on your resume and a well-defined project scope. Startup internships give you everything else.
You’ll do real work#
At a 10-person company, there’s nobody to hand the boring stuff to. Interns ship features, talk to customers, and sit in planning meetings. You’ll touch product, marketing, and ops—sometimes in the same week. It’s messy, but you learn fast.
You’ll work directly with founders#
In a big company, you might never meet the CEO. At a startup, you’re probably sitting next to them. You see how they make decisions, handle pressure, and prioritize when everything feels urgent. That’s hard to get from a textbook.
You’ll have more freedom#
Startups don’t have rigid hierarchies or three layers of approval. You’ll have more say in what you work on and how you work on it. The flip side: nobody’s going to hold your hand either.
Your work actually matters#
When there are only a handful of people, what you build goes live. You can point at something in the product and say “I did that.” That feedback loop—building something and seeing people use it—is addictive.
It might turn into a job#
Startups that are growing need people, and they’d rather hire someone they’ve already worked with. A lot of startup internships convert to full-time roles if the fit is right.
The trade-offs#
Startup internships aren’t for everyone. The pay is usually lower. The structure is minimal. You might not have a dedicated mentor. And the company itself might not exist in two years. But if you want to learn how businesses actually work from the inside, there’s no faster way to do it.