“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.”— Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook)

As a somewhat public figure in Chicago tech, I get students reaching out for startup internships/jobs all the time. It used to only be students from my undergrad and grad school, but it has grown to more students looking to move to Chicago and get their careers started.

This is a proven method for landing a startup internship.

My Startup Beginning

During my senior year at Macalester College I was a part-time student about to graduate with majors in Econ and Math. I have always loved tech and startups, but I figured it was out of reach for someone without a coding skill set.

Luckily a venture capitalist (Thanks Seth!) gave a talk in one of my classes and I followed up with him after. He connected me with a serial entrepreneur starting something new. I offered to work for free doing anything, which turned into an internship and eventually made me the first employee of the new venture.

Everything starts with putting yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to cold email. I started my podcast with cold emails. I’ve spoken with billionaires and countless interesting people from cold emails. Everyone remembers being a student and most are willing to help.

Successful Examples

Here are some other students that have cold emailed their way into startup jobs at some of the best companies.

Tristan Walker / FourSquare

Tristan Walker had no background in startups and was in his first year of MBA when he cold emailed the Founder of FourSquare.

Here is the first email he sent…

Hey Dennis and Naveen



How’s it going? Hope all is well!



My name is Tristan Walker and Im a first year student (going into my second year) at Stanford Business School (originally from New York). Im a huge fan of what you both have built and excited about what you guys have planned for FourSquare. It is an awesome , awesome service.



I would love to chat with you guys at some point, if you’re available, about FourSquare. This year, I’m looking to help out and work extremely hard for a startup with guys I can learn a ton from. Dennis, with your experience at Google and the Dodgeball product, and Naveen, with your experience at Sun and engineering in general, I know I could learn a great deal from you both!



Before business school, I was an oil trader on Wall Street for about

two years and hated it! Moved out to the Bay/Stanford to pursue my passion for entrepreneurship and the startup world. This past spring I had the opportunity to work for Twitter as an intern and learned a ton. Solidified my commitment to working at a startup that I’m passionate about, and FourSquare is one of those startups that I believe in.



I know you guys are probably getting inundated with internship-type requests, but thought it’d be worth a shot! I can assure you Im humble and Im hungry! Let me know if you’d be interested in chatting further. I definitely look forward to hearing from you.



Stay awesome!

Tristan

@tristanwalker



———————————————–

tristan j. walker | mba class of 2010

stanford graduate school of business

He emailed Dennis, the Founder, eight more times before he got a reply.

He started working for free signing up new merchants and became the VP of Business Development at one of the hottest startups in New York at the time while still a student.

Eight Sleep

This student emailed an investor in Eight Sleep who forwarded it to the Founder. She landed the internship.