Stepping Up: Brown University students create site to match ‘virtual’ interns with tech startups

CHUCK ISGAR, top left, Megan Kasselberg, top right, and David Lu, center bottom, are the founders of Intern From Home./COURTESY CHUCK ISGAR.
CHUCK ISGAR, top left, Megan Kasselberg, top right, and David Lu, center bottom, are the founders of Intern From Home. / COURTESY CHUCK ISGAR.

PROVIDENCE The disruption of university life created by the new coronavirus pandemic has led directly to a new business service launched by Brown University undergraduates.

Chuck Isgar, along with two other co-founders and a team of fellow students, in March launched Intern From Home, a virtual marketplace that allows students who want “virtual internships” with startups to apply for unpaid, as well as paid, positions.

The pitch on the website, www.internfromhome.com, puts a simple message to students: “Has COVID-19 given you more time this spring than you expected?”

For the startups, the platform allows them to share what they need, and have applications from students sent their way.

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And it’s all free of charge.

“We’re really founded on helping students and startups right now,” said Isgar, 22, CEO of the company.

Isgar said the idea was born three weeks ago, around the time that the COVID-19 crisis was starting to disrupt university life at Brown. The university has since sent the students home, and virtual instruction has begun.

But internships are something that were endangered, along with the traditional college experience, Isgar said, because not only have students left campus and scattered, but also tech startups are finding their capital has been reduced by the country’s economic upheaval.

The traditional funding sources for young companies venture capitalists and angel investors are becoming more cautious, he said.

So the platform is a way for students to connect with the opportunities that startups have, without costing those companies more money. And the new reality is that distance work is now the norm, so the “virtual” intern is really going to be learning skills that will be useful in all workplaces.

“Intern From Home was created, designed, intentionally around what’s going on,” Isgar said.

Across three time zones, Isgar (who has returned to his California home) consults daily with his team, which includes fellow student co-founders Megan Kasselberg and David Lu.

Since the launch, more than 1,000 students have signed up to receive the newsletters, which have offers posted from companies.

Providence Business News is spotlighting nonprofits, companies and workers stepping up to challenges presented by the spread of the new coronavirus.

Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.

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