How I turned a micro-internship into a lead role with a Cornish tech startup

This story was written by second-year English & Creative Writing BA(Hons) student Nathan Copeland. Hear how he turned a micro-internship into a lead role with a tech startup, and discover how you can help get their money and mental health app off the ground.

During the chaos of settling into first year, I stumbled across the ideal internship. Now, I’m the content and brand marketing lead for a startup tech company that’s building an app to help young adults and students manage their money with a focus on mental health and wellbeing.  

As a student that has to work to make ends meet, I started my first year fluctuating between various temp jobs. So, when I set up my Handshake profile and found an interesting looking micro-internship through Falmouth's employability service RealWORKS, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was such a great experience doing a small scale internship for a charity, so once that was over I decided to keep my Handshake profile up to date and casually kept looking for more opportunities. Once I’d handed in the last of my assignments for the year, when I least expected it, I received an inbox from my soon-to-be boss via Handshake about a six-month internship in research and marketing for an upcoming Cornish startup, Good With.  

It’s since been seven months and I’m now leading the marketing ventures for this growing startup. It’s remote working, which I can fit around my studies easily, and we have quarterly in-person meetings where we do all sorts from paddleboarding to bowling. It’s a great way to hone the skills I’ve learnt at university as an English & Creative Writing student. I've been responsible for conceptualising and copywriting their new website, creating and executing a social media strategy as well as doing day-to-day marketing responsibilities.  

Working in a startup setting has been unlike anything I’ve done before. Good With is an ethical tech startup aiming to support young adults in alleviating money stresses and anxieties through a money-and-mental-health-expert AI chatbot. The app veers away from the bog standard money management apps by putting the user's wellbeing at the forefront of everything. The Good With chatbot caters itself to each user and offers personalised support specific to your needs. 

During this cost of living crisis, it feels very topical personally to be involved in something that aims to be a part of a solution.