Launch into tech by building in the real world

Paved is a highly selective incubator of early tech talent. Collaborate on a real-world products and services to develop in-demand skills, build your resume, and grow your network.

Apply now

The Challenges

Gaining experience without having experience

How do you break into tech without tech experience? Startup internships are relatively scarce and extremely difficult to get.

Standing out
from the crowd

Tech hiring emphasizes qualities like: strong bias for action, eager to learn, autonomous, self-starter, comfort with ambiguity, and ability to drive projects from conception to completion.

The Solution:
Run a featured project project or build your own

Self-directed and action-packed. Dive deep on a problem that intrigues you. Collaborate with outstanding peers to develop soft and hard skills, build your network, and demonstrate highly desirable traits to top startups. Coursework cannot simulate real work, and what better time to endeavor than while you're a student.

Why

Push your comfort zone while having fun

Challenge yourself and your peers with the added security and benefit of a highly competitive internship on your resume.

“You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.”

― Richard Branson

Develop skills and a world-class network

Whether a summer internship, part-time during the school year or a gap year, the skills and network you'll develop will form the foundation for a prolific career.

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

― Mark Twain

Get discovered by top startups

Astute hiring managers at top startups have eyes on Paved to recruit the next generation of leaders.

“We are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”

― Jeff Bezos

Internship Comparison

Conventional

paved

FINANCIAL
paid
upside

sometimes
capped

no
unlimited

CONTROL
responsibility
role

limited
intern

unlimited
entrepreneur founder, creator

MARKETABILITY
experience lives on
differentiation

résumé
low

résumé & Paved's network
high

GROWTH
challenge
outcome

low
receive a fish

high
learn to fish

CREATIVITY
novelty
meaning

low
low

high
high

Your best work, your way.

Top students from across the country join Paved to team up along shared interests. Together, they work to conceive and execute challenging projects that foster their development more than a traditional internship would.

"Paved absolutely met my expectations. The lessons I learned throughout my fellowship were career changing. By being exposed to an environment unlike college (where it is difficult to fail), I was not aware of the tremendous importance of technical skills to provide the impact I desire on climate. As a result of my Paved fellowship, I decided to change my major and I am confident that the fellowship experience will continue to have a tangible impact on my college experience and career."

"The value of Paved is better than that of a conventional internship. Based on my internship experiences, there is little room for you to be exposed to failure, limited freedom and choice to explore your absolute interests, and often minimal valuable mentorship. None of my previous internships provided me with the clarity about what I needed to do now to achieve the impact I desired in the future in the way that Paved did. Paved allowed me to pursue my absolute interests and gave me the wake up call I needed to pivot and make an impact in the future."

Matias Alberola

Yale

"You should join Paved because it gives you a unique opportunity to create a project or mission that you really care about, and then provides you with ample resources and expert guidance to see the project through. There are no restrictions on what you can or can't do beyond your own capabilities."

"The fact that I saw the project through from start to finish and had basically no instructions from a boss is what made the experience so impactful because it allowed me to make mistakes and then forced me to learn from them all on my own. Additionally, the value of having a tangible product to show off now is immense."

"Paved was more fulfilling than I ever could've expected. I now have far more confidence in my abilities, understanding of how a project flows from start to finish, and more. I did not expect that I'd learn and grow as much as I did as a result of Paved.

Jordan Bach

Washington university in St. Louis

"In conventional internships, as with school, we are surrounded by padded walls on every side. The goal of internships seems to be to minimize the damage done by bad hires, and the goal of school seems to be to maximize the probability that the bad students make it out with degrees.In contrast, there is a significant likelihood any given Paved fellow fails. However, this failure would not mark a summer wasted: this failure will teach the fellow actionable lessons about the industry they attempted to break into, about their career and educational prospects, and about many other "real-world" things that one could never learn online or in school."

Sam Harshe

Yale

"If you are interested in tech, entrepreneurship, and creative endeavors, then I highly recommend Paved. It provides the connection to other like-minded, high-achieving students and mentorship to take the initiative in starting a project or company. The unstructured and tech-related experience you will get from a fellowship at Paved is completely unique and provides valuable experience and life lessons that you do not find in school or conventional internship settings."

Jake Maynard

The University of Texas at Austin