Startup Internships: Investing in a bright future
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Investible is an early-stage global investment group.
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Hayley and Nick were such a direct fit for our program, you know,
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the ideal interns are people who are naturally curious about entrepreneurship,
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but also in how they think and move, willing to learn, be agile, take on board 50 different things that we might throw on them.
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Really couldn’t have selected two better interns, who really supported us in owning this project.
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This internship has sparked a massive interest with me in startups.
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I came into it just wanting to experience the world and see what I would be doing,
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and it’s been absolutely incredible seeing how much I’ve grown as a person,
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as well as just sparking interest for future career paths.
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There’s no training program. It’s not like you go, okay day one you’re doing this, day two you're doing this, day three you’re doing this;
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Every day you’re going to get a new task, you get new responsibility, you’re going to get a new experience.
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At Investible, I’ve been really heavily involved in the planning of the Impact Games.
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So that started from data collection at the very beginning, all the way through to the execution of the event at the end.
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So it started off sourcing all the startups, looking online, finding people that would be suitable,
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and then it quickly evolved to project managing and testing out all the challenges,
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and how the event would actually run on the day, and all the planning behind that.
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It takes you some time to work into it, so they get to know who you are, you get to know the business,
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and your responsibilities grow within a couple of months when you get there.
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I’ve been exposed to so many different opportunities, one of the main ones being networking experiences.
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I’ve met so many different people, so many great people that are really interested in what I’m doing at university
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and what I can provide with them, and so I’ve got this massive network now
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of people who I would not have come into contact with if I didn’t take this internship.
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The networking, the people I’ve met, even just the other day, blokes saying ‘oh yeah, we’ll catch up for a coffee, discuss x, y, z’
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and you’re like oh well, I can’t believe as a 21 year old, these experienced professionals
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are willing to take that 5, 10, half an hour of their day just to have that conversation, to help you along your journey.
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From the Impact Games, a couple companies that I’m massively interested in and would want to work with,
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have been offering me to come and work with them. And then, with Investible,
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wanting to stay with them for as long as I can because it’s been so valuable,
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and all the skills that I’ve gained from working with them,
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and all the people I’ve met through them, is just invaluable and I never want to leave.
UTS Bachelor of Technology and Innovation student Hayley Tulich started off with no idea about what to get out of her internship - but ended up with a passion for startups and industry connections to boot.
“I just wanted to experience the startup world,” says Hayley. “My internship has guided me through that process and sparked different interests in future career paths.”
With its new Startup Internships program, UTS is giving students the chance to work with early-stage startups in credit-bearing internships.
Connecting students with startups for work experience is having far-reaching benefits for both students and their entrepreneur hosts.
Working with early-stage investment firm Investible, Hayley helped coordinate Investible’s Impact Games, a competition where startups compete over three days in a variety of challenges, being judged across different areas. Investible is based in Australia's largest startup community, Fishburners.
Becoming future work-ready
Demand for management and data competency is expected to increase rapidly with the changing economy, and Hayley’s work on the project required a grasping of these core future-proofing skills.
“I was involved in the whole event: from the planning at the beginning to the execution of the event at the end. To start with, it was a lot of data collection, sorting the startups, but it quickly evolved into project management and testing all the challenges and seeing what needed to be improved on.”
Hayley says the internship allowed her to tackle challenges in a new environment, pushing her to quickly master new skills.
“This experience has been invaluable and I’d recommend everyone do it. The experience you gain from being put into the deep end means you grow so much and it’s nothing compared to what you would learn in a classroom.”
Finding the right match
Elisa-Marie Dumas, Head of Global Partnerships and Programs for Investible, says Hayley proved she was able to learn quickly and get involved in the company’s daily business.
“Ideal interns are people who are naturally curious about entrepreneurship, but also, in how they think and move, are willing to learn, be agile and take on board 50 different things that we might throw on them.”
Hayley says her experience as an intern has ultimately pushed her towards exploring a broader career path in the startup ecosystem.
“This internship has sparked a massive interest for me in startups,” says Hayley. “I’ve met so many people who I would never have met before and, from the Impact Games, a couple of companies I’m interested in have been offering me the opportunity to come and work with them.”
