The Entrepreneurial Summer Program (“ESP”) is designed to offer students an experiential learning opportunity that affords deep insight into the day-to-day activities of an early-stage company through internships at existing companies. As such, ESP internships must be full-time, on-site, and between 8-10 weeks long (internships can be longer but ESP won't provide a supplemental living allowance beyond 10 weeks). The early-stage company must have a promising business model and validation with customers and investors, and additionally provide mentorship to the student intern. While the company benefits from affordable talent to solve pressing issues in its growth, the donor funds that make ESP possible are not intended to subsidize the company. ESP offers both a programmatic component for all student interns as well as a supplemental living allowance for approved internships.

Key points to know:

• As of May 11, company applications to be "pre-approved" for ESP are no longer being accepted for the summer of 2015. However, students will be able to apply to internships with companies that were already "pre-approved" until 12:00 PM on June 3. (By that date, you must have hired a student and submitted all paperwork–the company application and student application, including a copy of the offer letter signed by both parties that clearly states the compensation the company will pay as well as the length of the internship).
• If a student has independently sourced an internship with your company ("self-sourced"), you must apply together by Monday, May 18. (See "Application/Recruitment Process" below for self-sourced application steps.)

Guidelines for Participation

Required Company Profile

• Operational, revenue generating and/or funded companies
• Consulting, research, and brokerage companies, or investment funds or venture capital firms are not eligible
• Companies that haven't had a public launch are not eligible
• Approximately 10-50 employees at time of internship
• Company must show financial need for student to receive living stipend support
• Willing to provide a dedicated mentor (see “The Mentor Profile” below)
• Still "entrepreneurial" in nature
• Companies must have a dedicated workspace and the student must be "officed" there (cannot be a residence) rather than his/her own home
• Founders cannot be current students–even if only at the time of applying–nor can students take equity in the company as part of their compensation
• Companies acquired through a search fund model must have been acquired in the last 2 years.
• Companies must offer a reasonable portion of compensation towards the targeted market average. See the GSB employment reports for market averages as a guideline.
• Companies can participate for a maximum of 2 years (these do not need to be consecutive), and are typically limited to 1 intern per year.

The Mentor Profile

• The company needs to assign an internal mentor to work with the student
• The mentor does not necessarily need to be the day-to-day supervisor
• We look for a "seasoned" industry expert and/or entrepreneur (10 - 15 years of experience)
• We expect at least weekly interaction between the student and the mentor

Application/Recruitment Process

A company may either: 

1. Apply to be pre-approved and then recruit a student. This is for companies who are interested in hiring a student, but do not have a candidate identified. Note: student/company matches are not guaranteed. (No longer accepting company applications for summer of 2015)

OR

2. Find a student intern and apply together. After you have extended an offer to a student, the student will fill out a student application, which will trigger a unique company application to be sent to you to be completed. (Open until Monday, May 18)

To apply together with a student ("self-sourced"):

1. After a student accepts your offer, ask the student to fill out the self-sourced student application and upload a copy of the signed offer letter.

2. An email will be sent to your company with a link to a unique company application for you to complete.