When many people think of Bali, they think of beaches, surfing and yoga. But there’s more to it than that. Bali is also home to a growing startup scene, which is why I decided to intern there to earn credits for my undergraduate degree course in The Netherlands.

I’ve worked with two startups during my time in Bali. The first one was Publishizer, a book publishing startup that was last year accepted into the California-based 500 Startups accelerator.

The second one was an education startup called GrowthCasts, which was founded by a Dutch entrepreneur in his early twenties.

I’ve learned a lot in an incredibly short space of time and had more responsibility than I could have ever expected.

For Publishizer, I was straightaway given the responsibility to create an analytics dashboard to help management pivot the business model. Things move quickly in the world of startups – Publishizer pivoted and the new website was wireframed and launched within a month.

I spent the second part of my internship at Growthcasts, an education startup that teaches other startups about growth hacking. I was responsible for creating and marketing a website to improve customer acquisition. This assignment was a good fit for my study since I’m studying marketing communications.

Early stage startups have a low headcount. At GrowthCasts, I was working with just four people, so you get lots of responsibility, and the ideas you bring to the table are taken seriously.

I’d much rather work for a startup than be asked to make the coffee at a big corporation. And it’s been particularly satisfying when my ideas have had a serious impact on the decision-making of the company.

I’ve really enjoyed the diversity of tasks during my internship from learning how to code to setting up emails for email marketing. In the space of two months, I’ve made a website, learned Google Adwords and got an introduction to marketing analytics.

I’ve worked from a co-working space. This is a place where different entrepreneurs come together to work on their business. The co-working space is also the place where I’ve met lots of new and interesting people.

My coworking space has a swimming pool, and there are social activities held by each co-working space such as parties, discussion groups, yoga and cooking workshops to meet up with new people. So it’s a place to work, socialize and relax.

My social and professional network has grown a lot since my arrival in Bali because you’re not only interacting with people from your own company, but you meet lots of different entrepreneurs who run lots of different startups.

The weekends have been the best time to discover Bali. I’ve made new friends, and we’ve often taken a convoy of scooters to travel different parts of the island. The island has lots of beautiful things to offer such as waterfalls, white sand beaches, temples, rice fields, gorges, and volcanos.

Every trip I’ve seen something different and still I there are lots of things I haven’t seen yet. Ubud is also a haven for people who love food. It doesn’t matter which food you’re after – they’ve got it there – for just a few dollars. I would definitely recommend doing an internship at Start Me Up. They take great care of you. For me, it was the first time visiting Indonesia and arranged my visa, housing, transport, placements, and support.

The team introduced me to lots of new people to hang out with at the weekends. But maybe the most important aspect is the introduction to the startups. Interning for a startup is one of the best ways to accellerate your learning (and there are even fewer opportunities to do it somewhere as beautiful as Bali).

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