Thanks for the reply. I obviously missed what you were saying, and it’s a valid point. I think using students in an internship position as an entrepreneur is great in theory, just hard to pull off in practice. So yes, if you are early-stage and swimming fast, then the last thing you probably need to take on is someone who needs a bunch of training and supervision to add value.

Agreed that there’s a big difference between hiring a student intern and educating students to be entrepreneurs.

I interpreted Scott’s point #4 as being narrow and referring to students as a source of labor for other people’s startups:

“… Most students have little of the relevant work experience necessary to help entrepreneurs to start successful companies.”

I was not suggesting that students should be discouraged from starting their own businesses. I’m all for startups.

On the contrary, I was answering this point only: “Who can afford to take on the risk of the students’ learning curve?”

Better that students develop work experience on their own startups where they can learn by making mistakes on their own dime. Or have them work in large corporations that can afford to train them in a variety of roles.

But from a startup owner’s standpoint in hiring labor, he or she will have limited money to spend on staffing. They need employees who can hit the ground running, who will take up little training time from the rest of the limited staff, and can deliver as much or more than the salary they are receiving.

– Anita

PS, I also agree with you and Jeff Cornwall about going for singles and doubles, and not home runs always. I’ve written about that many times before.

If I am hiring a student intern to fill a specific functional role then I think it is obvious that student probably won’t have much experience in the role. After all, that is why they are an intern.

However, if we educate students on entrepreneurial concepts, expose them to regional support networks, get them to participate in business plan competitions then they will self-select the start-up businesses they have not only the passion but the skills to successfully grow. I think this is why you currently see students predominantly starting technology and service businesses.

I also agree with the point Jeff Cornwall left in his post about homeruns versus singles and doubles. It is a point I made in my original comment and I”m glad to see someone else agreeing. Home runs are few and far between. They are nice when they happen, but you simply can’t build sound regional economic development policies around them. You can build around lots of small and medium sized businesses. And who knows – if we focused a bit more on those businesses maybe we could make them even bigger.

So let me clarify: I think interns are great for larger established companies, especially those with extensive orientation and training programs for new hires. My comments were strictly from the perspective of startups hiring students, in relation to Scott’s point #4.

– Anita

I’ve looked at hiring student interns, but I’ve found they often are more needy than able to offer assistance to my business.

Interns seem to work well when hiring for technical positions, but not for more-nuanced skills. For instance, I have talked with CEOs of other tech businesses, and some report good experiences with hiring software developers starting as student interns and then bringing them on post-graduation. But the kind of help that I and many startups need is sales and marketing, and it’s hard to get a big contribution in sales from an intern.

– Anita

http://www.drjeffcornwall.com/2008/08/professor-misses-the-point.html