Got a prestigious internship I don’t want to take
I’m about to start my junior year in in a mid-tier university, with a mid-level gpa. I previously work in two different, unknown startups for 1.5 years and I’ve been running my own small startup for five months. My resume is full of unknown brands but high effort work.
I applied for a prestigious (top 3 nationally) six-month research internship and got accepted. But my startup actually on track to make two times more money than this research internship, and I can’t decide what to spend my time on. Also, I don’t see the point in going to brand-name company for the internship when I know I don’t want to spend my life at a company working 14 hour days.
What would you do if you were in my situation?
People really admire someone who can launch a company, get millions in funding and exit. The social admiration is shocking and the opportunity to follow your hunch to see if you’re right is addictive.
But once you’re a startup founder on your resume it’s hard to convince anyone to hire you: they know you’d rather do your own company than theirs, even if you try to convince them otherwise.
And you’re gonna need to be able to get a job. Because startup life is very bad for a family. High divorce rate, financially unstable, and a founder with employees can’t help but worry about paying those employees constantly while someone else worries about the family.
So do the internship. That big-name company on your resume might convince someone down the road that you could work for someone else.
And one more thing: you said in the comments you “dont want to work 14 hour days” but startup founders work 14-hour days. It’s the nature of the beast. You’re racing the clock to get to the next milestone before you use up your runway. Take that internship.