If I had to pick the most defining element of the Flashstarts experience, I’d say it’s trust. You have to trust yourself to do work you probably haven’t been taught to do, the entrepreneurs have to trust you to work on their companies, and Flashstarts trusts you with all of the above. In short, they trust you to get your work done.
Don’t all companies? Not exactly. At Flashstarts, you don’t clock in or out. You don’t have a supervisor, and you don’t have anyone checking on how you’re spending your hours. As long as you’re doing meaningful work — and finishing it by your deadlines — they could care less about whether you do it from 9am to 5 pm without a single break, 9am to 10pm with seemingly constant breaks, or some other breakdown of your time.
What does this mean for an intern? You get to explore Cleveland.
Whether you want to catch a long lunch break to try a new restaurant, feel like taking a walk on a sunny day, or have to leave early to attend an event around the city, Flashstarts not only gives you the flexibility, but encourages you, to do so.
For example, at the end of our first full week, Flashstarts bought tickets for all interested parties to attend the Cleveland Museum of Art’s (CMA) MIX event. MIX is hosted on the first Friday of each month and it is a party with food, drinks, live music, and dancing at the CMA — one of the best art museums in the nation. We carpooled just 15 minutes over to Cleveland’s University Circle area where CMA is located. The evening was a great opportunity to explore the University Circle neighborhood and get to know our coworkers a better.
Making art at the CMA MIX party with two of my fellow interns, Colin and Makenzie.
As much as I loved going to the MIX party, my favorite Flashstarts/Cleveland event, hands-down, is Walnut Wednesdays. At Walnut Wednesdays, one of the public parks in Cleveland fills with food trucks, live music, and everyone under the age of thirty (plus some people over) who work downtown. Eating outside and listening to music at Walnut Wednesday is a ton of fun, and Flashstarts encourages us to go almost every week.
Finally, Flashstarts is absolutely phenomenal at allowing its interns to engage with the various internship programs in place throughout Cleveland. If you are considering an internship at Flashstarts, you may be applying through Summer on the Cuyahoga (SOTC). SOTC is one of the many internship organizations in the city. All of these programs organize social and career events around the city. Not all of these events are entirely friendly to a nine to five (or, as many people work, eight to six) work schedule. Flashstarts is situated right downtown so transportation to and from these events is easy and the management team at Flashstarts really does want you to get involved with the city.
Me and two other Flashstarts/SOTC interns, Rebecca and Shivani, at dinner downtown after work.
When you take an internship at Flashstarts, you aren’t signing up just to learn about the startup space. You’re signing up to learn about all of Cleveland and you’re going to have a great time doing it.
Position: Generalist
School: Yale University, Class of 2015
