Scholars (L-R): Swagat Malla ’24, Clare Hinnenkamp ’27, Xiaoyang Hu ’26, Giulia Flores Brykowicz ’25, Andrew Mendez ’26, Meghan Walsh ’26, Mason Buendorf ’26, Vanesca Antoine ’26, Elena Kehew ’25, Kaashya Khandelwal ’27 Not Pictured: Manaw Kyar Phyu ’25 and Angie Oscal Orrego ’24
St. Olaf College’s Svoboda Entrepreneurial Scholars Program pairs rising sophomore, junior, and senior students with summer internships in entrepreneurial ventures. Through opportunities with entrepreneurial alumni, accelerators, incubators, and venture capital firms, students gain experience working in a startup environment while receiving mentorship and support from their host supervisor.
Host sites offer rigorous and challenging work, meaningful projects, and skill-building experiences to their interns. Students selected for the program should be self-motivated problem solvers with the ability to be flexible in a rapidly changing environment. The cohort will gather before, during, and after their internship for networking and reflection on their summer experience. Participants will receive $5500 in funding for their full-time, 10 week internship. Start and end dates are negotiated between the selected student and their supervisor. Housing is not provided for the program. This program is supported by the generosity of Paul Svoboda ’81.
Summer 2024 Opportunities (Summer 2025 opportunities posted in february)
- Slingwave – Various Roles (See Below!)
- Data Infrastructure, Modeling & Software Development
- Marketing Insights & Data Analytics
- Digital Media & Marketing Activation and Account Management
- Groove Cap – Partner Relations Intern
- The Drive 815 – Digital Marketing Intern
- Wondrous Crane – Project Manager Internship
- TurnSignl – Marketing & Engagement Intern
- Kaspari Dell Workshop – Design Studio Intern
- Imagine Deliver – Delivery & Project Specialist Internship
- Red Wing Ignite – Entrepreneurial Support Intern
- Siena Soap – Marketing & Branding Intern
- Mixly Cocktail Company – Summer Marketing & Events Internship
- Bankbarn – Software Engineer Intern
Former Participant Ventures
Imagine Deliver
Imagine Deliver is a consulting firm that unravels tough problems, makes solutions universally accessible, and helps clients adapt their work to stay ahead of what’s coming. Their diverse backgrounds give them an edge when it comes to dreaming up unique solutions that deliver results. They lead companies and organizations through creative processes that make room for every person to contribute brilliant ideas.
Summer 2022 Scholars
Capita3
Capita3 is a micro venture capital fund focused on investing in women-led companies that are innovating in health. Their goal is to increase the number of successful women entrepreneurs and investors while returning exceptional shareholder returns.
Slingwave
Slingwave is a marketing technology platform providing customers with real-time attribution, media mix modeling, and media execution through proprietary software and data capabilities. The Slingwave Intern will receives training in managing and optimizing live marketing campaigns across digital media platforms, as well as in delivering insights leveraging Slingwave’s Agile Marketing Attribution and Predictive Marketing Mix capabilities.
Past Internships
Other entrepreneurial scholars completed their internships at organizations such as Rocky Robinson, Bim Bam Boo, Yonder, Perceptive Avionics, Shrpa, Ingios Geotechnics, Green Dot Sign, TRex Cookies, Superior Switchel Co., Impact Hub Minneapolis, Drewes Law PLLC, Fruitful Fertility, and Rover Robotics.
Meghan McMillan (she, her, hers)
Associate Director, Ole Career Launcher, Innovation and the Arts