The Success of the Student Startup Internship program

The Garage launched its latest initiative, the Summer Startup Internship program, during the 2023-2024 academic year to take place during the summer of 2024. Three student interns from Northwestern University officially wrapped up their 10 week internships with alumni-founded startups across the nation, and the results speak for themselves!

Upon following up with the program participants and alumni founders, the resounding response from all parties has shown the program to be a smashing success. Three students received a once in a lifetime opportunity to sharpen their skills as founders by working at early-stage startups. Conversely, our alumni founders reported that they were able to quickly find new, bright talent from a pre-vetted applicant pool - saving essential time and resources.

The companies hosting student interns this summer included Amper Technologies, founded by Akshat Thirani ‘16 and based in Chicago, IL; Change, founded by Sonia Nigam ‘17 and Amar Shah ‘17, based in San Francisco, CA; and Le Alfré, founded by Brandon Snower ‘19 and based in New York, NY.

Elizabeth Savin, a senior in the McCormick School of Engineering, secured a Finance and Go-to-Market Operations internship with Amper. "The Summer Internship Program provided me with an opportunity to work with a company I would have never discovered independently. Amper allowed me to learn about numerous aspects of running a startup as well as engage on multiple high touchpoint projects. It was exciting to contribute and have a lasting impact on the business,” she shared.

Upon conclusion of her 10-week internship, Elizabeth was offered a permanent position on the finance team.  

Aman Shaikh, a master’s student in Engineering Management at Northwestern University, completed his Go-to-Market internship at Change, a startup focused on simplifying donation and fundraising campaigns for businesses. He led competitive analysis, crafted user personas, evaluated alternate markets, developed customer acquisition funnels and helped implement automation strategies that improved lead efficiency.

“At a startup, making an impact from day one is invaluable—and Aman did just that. His curiosity, sharp critical thinking, and problem-solving made him a valued part of our team this summer. We're incredibly thankful to The Garage for connecting us with Aman through the internship program,” shared Sonia Nigam, co-founder and CEO at Change.

Joshua Charles, a second-year at Weinberg studying Economics, completed his Operations internship at Le Alfré. He worked directly with founder and CEO, Brandon Snower, on order fulfillment, customer service, and inventory management. "As a three person startup it was such a help. This program was a great opportunity for us to learn and grow as a team. Setting up an environment and learning experience to bring on more potential hires which is very valuable and impactful on our long term success,” shared Snower upon completion of the program.

As a result, both founders and students were greatly impacted by the Summer Startup Internship program at The Garage.

"At Amper, we are incredibly grateful for The Garage’s Summer Startup Internship program! Thank you to all the donors who made this possible,” shared Akshat Thirani, founder and CEO at Amper Technologies.

Looking ahead, The Garage is excited to offer this program again during the 2024-2025 academic year. If you are an alumni founder interested in hosting a student intern from Northwestern University, please reach out to thegarage@northwestern.edu.