Way to go Karl. I have a similar story from the other side. About 3 years ago I was a sophomore in college looking for an internship. I knew I wanted to get in

Way to go Karl. I have a similar story from the other side. About 3 years ago I was a sophomore in college looking for an internship. I knew I wanted to get into a startup but didn't know how to get in touch with one. I asked HN if anyone knew startups in the NYC area, a few people responded. I emailed a few, I received a few responses. Most of them were unpaid, which I MIGHT have been able to do but I do need money to support myself so it would have been a few days at that internship and a few working a paying job. I felt like a lot of the offers were just a dude in some apartment in brooklyn hacking on a project that was calling himself a startup (again, ok, I'd do that) but the ideas were not that good. I won't list them here, but suffice to say it was weak. Eventually I got in touch with Bug Labs, and over the course of a few weeks hounded the crap out of them until finally they relented and agreed to an interview. They were not looking for interns - I think there were about 8 people at the time and they had 1 round under their belt but that was it, and working out of the old del.icio.us office which was quite cramped at that point. I distinctly remember being asked "So what can you do for us" because they really didn't think an intern could be of help. I think they pictured me making coffee. Anyway I convinced them somehow to start me a few hours and a few dollars, and go from there. It became clear that I could contribute pretty quickly and I went to full time and they paid me more what interns were getting paid elsewhere, and the whole thing worked out really well. I came back the next summer and there were 2 other interns. I came back last summer and there were enough interns to have an area in the new office called "intern city", which had 5 or 6 guys of various levels of commitment/pay/hours. It was a great experience for me, vastly more responsibility than I would have gotten at a "big" company like the article mentions, and I think I helped Bug Labs a bit too. Not to mention the guys I was working with were some of the smartest people I've ever met, and I got to be in NYC every day. I would say it was one of the best decisions of my career to "Ask HN" that day. Oh and now that I and the other interns have convinced them its worth having interns around (and you're in the NYC area) apply for one!: http://www.buglabs.net/jobs http://www.buglabs.net/jobs (edit: weird coincidence with the kschultz/kschults thing to these stories)