Econ major looking to break into startup culture. Advice?

1 points by deafcheese 15 years ago · 3 comments · 2 min read

I'm an econ major, math minor at an ivy league school who's literally suffocating in my school's infatuation with wall street. I'd like to intern at and join a tech startup after graduation (currently a junior), but I'm not sure how to best approach the situation.

I consider myself pretty technically savy - I've built a couple of websites using PHP, rails, etc, but at my experience level anything I code would probably scale terribly. I'm "hacker compatible," but I understand my limitations as a developer.

I have a good sense of design. I can create presentations and pitches. I can network and feel out people. I'm persistent, and I'm not afraid of cold-calling or working 80+ hour weeks.

Ideally, I'd like to tackle everything that the serious hacker won't have time to focus on. However, I'm young, relatively inexperienced, and have no real connections that would make me a compelling "business guy" or "funding guy."

Also, I am debt free but also at basically nil savings. While I don't need much more than basic living costs, I simply can't afford to work for free.

Given my situation, how can I break into the startup scene? Should I be targeting early stage ventures? Companies that are already VC funded? Everyone I talk to is looking for a hacker. Should I stop trying to break in on the business side and focus on honing my hacker skills?

Thanks.