How to Land an Internship Abroad: Step-by-Step Tips

I was asked by a Computer Science student from Tunisia 🇹🇳 how she could secure an international internship. Here’s the advice I shared:

  1. Narrow Your Focus
    Start by defining your field of interest or technology. Determine the markets you’re targeting. Identify the type of stakeholders you want to engage with.
    • (1) Field: AI, eCommerce, FinTech, AgriTech, Blockchain, etc.
    • (2) Market: MEA, Europe, US, etc.
    • (3) Stakeholder: Startup, Corporate, Investor, Ecosystem.
  2. Make a List
    Write down all the companies that you respect or admire within your chosen group. Don’t limit yourself—include as many as you can think of.
  3. Leverage LinkedIn
    Go on LinkedIn, follow these companies, and check if any of your contacts are already working there.
  4. Reach Out
    Contact your LinkedIn connections to ask if their company offers internships and who the right person is to talk to. Be sure to ask if you can mention their name when reaching out.
  5. Gain Diverse Experience
    Try to complete at least 2-3 internships in different companies or industries. Make a meaningful impact, and you might be able to turn it into a permanent role.

Show Proactive Value
Demonstrate your value upfront by creating something that stands out (e.g., a relevant project or proposal) and send it to the CEO, HR, or whoever is responsible for the internship program. This will help you rise above other candidates. If the company doesn’t have an internship program, it could even inspire them to start one.

Start Your LinkedIn Profile Early: Benefits for Young Entrepreneurs

Question I’m pondering here … 

Why start your LinkedIn profile and ‘CV’ after you’ve finished high school?

It’s not really ‘Entrepreneur’ friendly. 

Technically my first ‘job’ was picking up after my pet back in the early 1980’s. 

While not relevant to a LinkedIn profile, there is a need to accelerate and scale self-sufficient entrepreneurs on a flexible space to connect and collaborate from an early age. 

My first ‘Service’ rate was 5c per ‘Transaction’ from ‘Scruffy’. 

That was the first of many micro-ventures that forged my entrepreneurial mindset and I encourage my kids today. 

What was your first ‘entrepreneur’ job and rate?

Key Considerations in IP and Contractual Agreements

  • Understand IP Ownership: The contractual relationship, key clauses, and physical location of IP creators are critical considerations.
  • Copyright and Code: Computer code is protected by copyright, so ensure you have a clearly defined IP/copyright assignment agreement. Pro tip: The word ‘HEREBY’ carries significant legal weight.
  • Professional Contracts Matter: High-quality legal documentation in your dataroom signals professionalism during legal due diligence (DD). Invest in expert legal help for drafting contracts.

Holistic Approach: Wealth creation, IP, and tax are distinct legal domains. Founders must carefully evaluate all three to avoid future pitfalls.

Turning ‘No’ into ‘Yes’: A Guide for Entrepreneurs

In business, a ‘No’ doesn’t mean ‘Never’—it often means ‘Not Now.’

From my experience, many younger founders mistakenly take ‘No’ as the end of the conversation. But that’s rarely the case.

That’s why it’s crucial to stay connected and keep those ‘No’s’ in the loop. You never know when they might turn into a ‘Yes.’

Lessons from a Startups’ B2B Sales Struggles

Worrying news emerged from a conversation with a founder of a ML startup. During an ‘office half-hour chat,’ she revealed that a major multinational firm, which had been engaged as a B2B sales lead, indicated they had no intention of assisting her with market access, despite prior email confirmations. 

This relationship had taken approximately nine months to cultivate.

The troubling aspect is the reported logging of time spent by the corporate entity in these engagements. This time was being recorded for the individual’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. 

This situation illustrates a significant misalignment of values, objectives, and incentives within corporate-startup interactions. It serves as a crucial lesson for founders.

Key Takeaway: Ask Important Questions Upfront

To avoid similar pitfalls, it’s vital to ask the right questions early in the process. The B.A.N.T. system, utilized by Google’s sales teams, can be particularly effective:

  • Budget: Do you have the budget for this solution?
  • Authority: Are you the decision-maker for this purchase?
  • Need: What specific needs are we addressing?
  • Timeline: What is your timeline for implementing a solution?

This corporation employs over 250,000 people globally. This fact raises questions about whether this issue is isolated to an individual or division. Alternatively, it may reflect a broader systemic problem within the industry.

Effective Market Sizing for Startups

If you are a startup founder, why not show credibility in your pitches by triangulating your market sizing used by VC’s? 

Traditional Market Sizing by Startups: 

1. The Y Combinator (Large Number, Zero Context)

2. TAM, SAM, SOM (same as above but more numbers)

3. The Gartner (Largest number you can find in an analyst report, even if it is not from your market) 

Market Sizing by VC’s: 

1. Size of Largest Incumbent (What are their revenues, margins & valuations?)

2. Bottom Up Estimate (current pricing X # customers in target segment)

3. Latent Demand (future market can be much bigger than current market)

4. Adjacent Markets (Are there any larger adjacent markets to expand into?)

Overcoming 9 Common Lacks for Success

Lack of… 

1. Information

2. Skill

3. Belief

4. Motivation

5. Wellbeing

6. Time

7. Money

8. People

9. Fear

9 simple ways to mitigate these ‘Lacks’…

1. Information: Ask an expert.

2. Skills: Get a coach to train you.

3. Belief: Speak to customers and colleagues and get their testimonials.

4. Motivation: Define and Live your ‘Why’ every day. 

5. Wellbeing: Sleep, Sweat, Breathe, Laugh, Love, Eat Clean.

6. Time: Schedule everything and go to bed early to make time.

7. Money: Budget, make, spend, save (+raise).

8. People: Hire the best people through referrals.

9. Fear: Do a ‘Fear setting’ exercise and surround yourself with people that love and believe in you.

5 Key Questions to Set Your Pricing Strategically

5 questions to help review or set your pricing:

1. What are my clients needs and how do I meet them?

2. What is my unique skill set that qualifies me to meet my clients needs?

3. What do I do that no one else does? 

4. What problem do I solve for my clients?

5. What value do I add?

Calculate the value and the ROI you create for your clients. 

Review your pricing.

Unlocking LinkedIn: Tips for Engaging Content Creation

I had a call with an awesome EdTech founder last week and I was surprisingly flattered to hear that my ‘random ramblings’ I post here resonated with him.

He admitted that he was more of a LinkedIn reader or is it ‘stalker’ 😜

I was once one too. But… 

I encourage other ‘readers’ to become more ‘writers’ or contributors.

I have outlined a few practical steps below on how you can get more value out of this platform for your company and/or professional ‘brand’. 

1. Like: If you read a post that you liked and want to read more like it in the future. Like it (👍) or explore the other reactions i.e. Celebrate (👏), Love (❤️), Insightful (💡) or Curious (🤔). Hover over the 👍to see these. 

The LinkedIn algo will improve your feed with content that you engage with and value. 

2. Comment: If you read a post that you appreciated the value, comment on why it resonated with you or add your positive perspective to it. By doing so you will add diversity of thought and insight which naturally increases the value of the post. 

3. Connect with people that you regularly are liking or commenting on their posts. Add a short message why you like what they are posting and why you believe connecting will be of value. This will increase your network and diversity of opinions. 

4. Share: If you read a post that you believe your connections will like. 

Share it and add 1 line indicating why you liked their post. 

By doing the above you will gradually start to develop your unique ‘voice’ and perspective. This will build confidence to start posting your own content (more of that in another post).

P.S. The word ‘value’ was used 5 times in this post which is no coincidence. 

P.P.S You can start small today by just liking this post 👍😜

Understanding Strategic Buyers for Startup Exits

In Summary: 

🌍 ‘strategic buyer’ is an important word for ‘startups’ to pay attention to that want to exit. 😜

🌍 ESG is hard to measure and is more about being ‘good’ and personal relationships especially relating to access to capital.

🌍 Larger companies that disclose more information have higher ESG scores.

🌍 Being ‘good’ will help some, hurt others and not affect some. 

A Masterclass in ESG investing and valuation. 

A must read and watch to get another perspective to this important topic.