No Budget? No Problem! Hire and Mentor Human Interns (with the help of AI): Kelly Tutors x SURF Incubator x Sound Startups
My business partner snuck me into a $1M+ founders-only seminar. I wasn't even supposed to be in the room.
Does your business revolve around you? That's not sustainable. Most companies get stuck at 5 or 6 figures because everything depends on the founder. Business coaches call it the owner's trap.
I learned that lesson the hard way, then learned the fix from industry leaders this year: offer internships. I've since had thousands of applicants, taken on +16 interns, and spent about 8 hours a week managing and mentoring all of them.
And it's not just good for you. Right now, young people are more in need of experience expce and mentorship than ever. Entry-level jobs are harder to land, degrees don't cut it anymore, and interns want to build something alongside real projects, learn from someone who'll teach them, and walk away with proof they can do the work.
A good internship program is one of the most genuinely useful things you can offer someone right now.
From attending this event, you'll walk out with intern applications live and a system to run them.
11:00–11:30 — Arrival + networking
11:30–12:00 — Intern Onboarding 101 (the talk)
12:00–12:30 — Guided discussion + build/networking
Open to women in tech and the people who support them — allies, mentors, and community members welcome.
About Your Host:
Kelly Kirk is the founder of Kelly Tutors, a Seattle-based company teaching entrepreneurship, financial literacy, AI literacy, and public speaking to students ages 5–18. She's taught 10,000+ students over 12+ years and holds a 4.9-star rating on Outschool. She currently manages a team of interns on rolling terms, screening applicants at scale and building hands-on mentorship into the process. She is working to build a media edutainment company to inspire generations of today and beyond. She's worked internationally as an on-camera educator for major EdTech platforms serving 35M+ users, submitted a proposal to the White House's AI Education for Youth Challenge, was nominated for Women in Toys' 2023 Rising Leader award, and won "Best Documentary" at the 2017 Shanghai Short Film Festival - for a mockumentary.