Entrepreneurial Summer Internship Program

Test your fit with entrepreneurship through an internship at an early-stage company. The Entrepreneurial Summer Internship Program provides a real-world opportunity to experience the pace and excitement of a very early-stage environment.

Each year, around 10 percent of the MBA class will participate in ESIP, taking on summer internships in companies that have between 5 and 50 full-time employees. Students finish ESIP with greater clarity about their fit and interest in an entrepreneurial career.

About 65 percent of ESIP internships take place in the San Francisco Bay Area, but you can do an ESIP internship at an eligible startup in any location, and previous students have interned with early-stage companies located everywhere from Euless, Texas, to Bogota, Beijing, London, and Singapore.

ESIP sources some internship opportunities, or you can “BYOS” (bring your own startup) by identifying an eligible company that matches your interests and offers a challenging role.

Student Spotlights

Student Spotlight
MBA 2018

Caitlin Pomeroy interned at Anomalie over the summer. Anomalie is an early stage company focused on bringing innovation to the wedding dress industry.

“Anomalie was the perfect summer internship startup experience. Hired for marketing, I quickly took on additional projects throughout the company that really helped me gain first-hand experience in the trials and tribulations of running a small and growing venture-backed business. The lessons I took away from my summer helped inform my full-time job search and will be useful in my work endeavors going forward.”

Student Spotlight
MBA 2016

Makan Amini interned at Homebase, a software company based in San Francisco focused on making hourly work easy. Makan was able to test out his fit with a product management and operations role and joined Homebase full time after graduation, at a very exciting time for the company.

“ESP was one of my highlights at the GSB. I found Homebase through ESP and the continued support from the ESP community helped me transition into a sector and a role that were completely new to me.”

Student Spotlight
MBA 2018

Shubby Aluko spent his summer helping Loci Controls, a landfill gas collection company based in San Francisco, with business development and strategy.

Shubby has this advice for ESP students: “Understand beforehand what you want from the summer, because it is easy to lose perspective in the exciting and quickly changing environment of a startup.”