CommonBond Launches "Startup Within a Startup" Internship Program

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CommonBond, a leading marketplace lender, today announced the introduction of the "MBA Accelerator" program, a unique summer internship experience that will select a team of the country's top MBA students to build a startup from the ground up inside of CommonBond.

Over the course of 10 weeks from June to August this year, the selected MBA interns will take an idea from concept to a living, breathing product. The team will make business decisions based on their research, analysis and findings, and ultimately create a product at CommonBond for the company's borrowers. The team will be provided with top-notch technical resources, including developers and designers, along with advisors from the CommonBond team, including CEO and Co-Founder David Klein.

"While most summer interns will work at a company and get assigned a project to work on, CommonBond is giving MBAs the opportunity to basically start their own company," said David Klein, CEO and Co-Founder of CommonBond. "This is really much more like an incubator than an internship, and is unlike anything we've ever seen."

A growing number of MBA students have entrepreneurial ambitions. According to a recent survey conducted by mba.com, the official website of the GMAT, 28% of surveyed GMAT registrants indicated they plan to start their own business either before, during or after earning their degree. This proportion has increased from 19% just five years ago.

The "MBA Accelerator" will begin by offering the summer interns a curated set of consumer challenges to solve for that could be game-changers for CommonBond and the industry. The interns will then decide as a team which one to run with and quickly begin building. With CommonBond acting as investor, incubator and strategic advisor, the team will be given the resources necessary to build their "startup within a startup." 

"We will be equipping our interns with everything they need to tackle an unmet need and work together to build something from the ground up," said Klein. "Together, our interns will build a business; they will wear many hats as entrepreneurs typically do — and have complete access to CommonBond executives who hold those roles."

While this internship program will be the first of its kind, CommonBond has experience successfully equipping summer interns with the tools and resources to become key contributors to its business. Past CommonBond interns have gone on to work at innovative companies such as Weebly, ZestFinance, and Caviar, as well as established companies such as McKinsey, Bain, and Goldman Sachs. Another of CommonBond's interns is now the Chief Digital Officer of the City of Boston.

Dave Carter, a member of the CommonBond Summer Intern Class of 2015, said, "I had an incredible experience as an intern last year at CommonBond on the business development team and am now a member of the team full-time."

Dave is currently Director of Business Development at CommonBond and a part-time MBA student at NYU's Stern School of Business. "Before business school, I worked for a large consulting firm where I never would have gotten that kind of hands-on, entrepreneurial experience," he said.

CommonBond is accepting applications for its "MBA Accelerator" now, until February 1, 2016. The final team will be selected in March. For more information on the program, click here.

About CommonBond

CommonBond is a leading marketplace lender that lowers the cost of student loans for borrowers and provides financial returns to investors. Started by three Wharton MBAs with backgrounds in financial services, CommonBond delivers best-in-class student loan options with competitive pricing, a simple tech-enabled experience and exceptional customer service that is empowered to help borrowers. The company saves borrowers more than $14,000 on average, over the life of the loan. CommonBond is the first company to bring the "one-for-one" social model to finance: For every degree fully funded on the company's platform, CommonBond funds the education of a student in need for a full year, through a partnership with Pencils of Promise. For more information, visit http://www.commonbond.co.

SOURCE CommonBond

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