Learn how to hustle (and avoid fetching coffee) as a virtual intern at a startup

Internships at reputable corporations are always highly sought after, but what if you could intern at a startup from the comfort of your own home? If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is – until now, that is. Today, the founder of startup-focused product company Founders Grid, Chris Osbourne, has launched a platform called Remote Internships that offers one- to three-month-long internships at startups from around the world.

The benefits of this platform are twofold. On one hand, as remote working becomes more mainstream by the day, being able to work with a distributed team gives applicants a considerable advantage when applying to a remote startup or starting their own in the future.

On the other, startups will no longer be restricted by geography when looking for promising talent to hire. “It’s actually crazy to do so with so many startups competing for talent,” says Osbourne, who himself oversees a fully distributed team at Founders Grid.

While there are prominent startups – such as Automattic, 37Signals, and Buffer – who are actively looking out for remote workers, Osbourne says that he wants to “fill the gap at the other end [by] helping startups and interns connect with each other.” He believes strongly in the value of internship programmes, especially for budding entrepreneurs:

If you haven’t got an idea, go and work with someone smart running a startup, and learn as many skills as you can. The skills you will learn will stay with you forever, and you’ll be able to use these later on in life with your own startup.

Not surprisingly, Osbourne is also a strong proponent of telecommuting. His observation from running Founders Grid is that those who do work remotely are often happier and more productive working where and when they want.

A coffee shop on the Laos/Thailand boarder where Osbourne has been working on Remote Internships over the past two weeks.

“The remote working trend has seen huge momentum over the past few years, and the trend is picking up full-steam and will only continue to grow,” he says. “We now have the tools to collaborate in a way that is non-intrusive […] No commutes. No colleagues coming over to their desk every 10 minutes for a chit-chat. Lot’s more family/personal time.”

Remote work does hold great appeal. Of course, not being situated in an office and meeting your mentor face-to-face during the term of an internship might mean losing out on certain in-office-only experiences, such as serendipitous meetings and being able to communicate closely with colleagues and superiors.