As a teenager, Steve Jobs spent an inspiring summer at Hewlett-Packard after cold calling Bill Hewlett for a spare electronics part. Bill gave the curious kid the part, and a job, sparking in Steve a lifelong interest in well-designed technology devices.
The “Pay-It-Forward” culture, which upholds that I was helped when I started out and now it’s my turn to help others, is the fuel that Silicon Valley runs on. Steve’s experience at HP laid the groundwork for Apple’s substantial internship program.
Now, more than ever, the next generation needs that generosity of spirit. Not a week goes by without a new study finding that many GenZ’ers (age 13-28) are lonely, lack community, and struggle with more mental health challenges than any other age group.
In Jamie Dimon’s WFH rant, he mentioned: “The young generation is being damaged by this… They are being left behind, socially, ideas, meeting people…”
Although he was referencing the lack of mentorship younger employees receive both formally and serendipitously when in the office, the underlying principle here is that young people need the older generations, now running so many of our institutions, to step up and better support them.
GenZ is desperate for purpose and community; they desire to contribute, to earn money, and to learn. And because of their isolation, they often don’t know how to go about it.
Internships create a structure to bring in young talent and support the next generation. Yet fewer companies are investing in them, especially in the technology sector. The 2025 Handshake Internship Index shows that tech has the largest year-over-year declines in internship postings while also averaging 273 applicants per post — the highest among any sector. Big tech is cutting back too: Meta, Amazon and Microsoft have reduced their internship programs by 30-50%.
But internships are not just about altruism. They are good for business.
Young people are capable of extraordinary things because their brains are wired for it. Fluid intelligence and cognitive processing speed peak in your late teens and early twenties. Risk and novelty also peak at this age, which may point to why some incredible breakthroughs come from twenty-somethings. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were both 19 when they started iconic companies; Bob Dylan was 20 when he wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind;” Einstein wrote four revolutionary papers the year he turned 26; and Jane Austen wrote the first draft of “Pride and Prejudice” at 20.
I can’t recall a time when technology was changing faster. Keeping up with the rapid pace of innovation necessitates the ability to quickly process new information and skillfully use AI tools. The Gen Z age group’s neuro-developmental stage is particularly adept at absorbing information, recognizing patterns, and finding solutions. While they may not have the deep content knowledge of a 50 year old who has refined their craft over decades, they bring a complementary skill set.
Four reasons to consider bringing on interns this summer:
- It’s not the burden you think it is. There’s a common misconception that interns need a polished and structured program, and while that certainly doesn’t hurt, our experience has been that they learn best by apprenticing and shadowing. They will learn a lot by just being in the office, joining your meetings and tackling discrete tasks. If you have hesitated to bring on interns because the ROI is not there or that you need to “develop a program,” follow the Essentialist Greg McKeown’s advice and don’t overcomplicate it. Start with an MVP: the simplest version of an internship approach that meets your objective (i.e. “Interns will shadow a partner in the morning and work on research projects in the afternoon.”)
- Interns have more time to stay on top of AI tools. Younger people generally have more time to really dive deep into learning new things. They don’t have the responsibilities of managing teams or sitting on committees. This means they can keep up with all the newest AI tools as they come out. In the technology arms race, a young person who knows how to leverage AI to their advantage can out-deliver someone with 10x the experience but little know-how of new tools.
- Beginners’ eyes on old problems. Interns bring fresh eyes and new perspectives to old processes or problems. They are valuable for rethinking dated approaches that need a makeover. Yes, they may ask questions where the answers seem painfully obvious, but these questions sometimes reveal something that’s crucially important or missing about your work, or how you communicate what you do.
Our interns have revamped onboarding for new employees, reorganized knowledge management systems, and helped on high-level strategic projects like investment theses in AI study tools. They have also completed less exciting projects like data input but as we say, we all have parts of our job that are boring. - Your intern may be your boss in 15 years. Interns go on to important roles, and they won’t forget the opportunity you gave them early in their careers. Former Reach interns are founders, investors at other venture capital funds, product managers at technology companies, and quant trading fund analysts. We continue to stay connected to our alumni and are fortunate to partner with some of them today.
Reach will be bringing on interns again this summer. Stay tuned for our application, out soon. We source interns through applications, inbound interest emails, and partnerships with schools and organizations that surface traditionally overlooked candidates.
Thank you to Tony Wan, Shawn Carolan, Jim Lobdell, James Kim and Shauntel Garvey for reading drafts and providing feedback.