Internship at SME VS Start-up

[yourplaceormine]

I'm a 2nd year majoring in finance, and I have 2 unconfirmed opportunities for an internship this summer. One is at a data analytics SME, where I will be doing research and learning some finance related things along the way, like modelling etc. The other would be at a start-up/young company, >3 years old as a business development intern, mainly doing marketing/sales/operations.

The SME would no doubt be something that would be more relevant to me as a finance student, however the start-up would probably give me more experience in terms of entrepreneurship if i were to start up my own business in the future. In terms of working environment (people,culture,fit), the start-up easily trumps the SME. The SME also pays really lowly and has a 5.5 day workweek.

So i guess my question is whether it would be worth passing on the opportunity to work at data analytics SME with a finance related internship which would probably give me finance related experience or an advantage to work in a start-up with not at all related to finance but possibly getting a more enjoyable experience out of it?

Also, not sure if its related but if i were to pursue finance in the future i'd prefer the PE/VC field. I may also decide to start my own company, but that would be after a few years of working experience.

Thanks!

u're young, energetic and ready to explore the world. startups sure sounds exciting. be prepared to work for no pay. how in the world is a startup without any proven business plan can afford to pay u a salary now or in the future, without the help of venture capital? 9 out of 10 startups fail within the first 2 years. I sincerely hope urs is not 1 of them. otherwise, a no-name startup on your resume makes it difficult to attract HR's attention.

[yourplaceormine]

Hi, thanks for your reply. My apologies for not stating this above, but the start up is more of a young company that is already established. I will have a fixed market rate intern pay + performance based bonuses if i do well. The SME is a safer option but probably more boring and less variations in job scope. The pay is almost 40% less than market rate, but i guess the brand is more established. my concern is that since they pay lowly and have long working hours ill be treated like cheap labour instead and not learn much even though on paper im supposed to

Originally Posted by yourplaceormine

Hi, thanks for your reply. My apologies for not stating this above, but the start up is more of a young company that is already established. I will have a fixed market rate intern pay + performance based bonuses if i do well. The SME is a safer option but probably more boring and less variations in job scope. The pay is almost 40% less than market rate, but i guess the brand is more established. my concern is that since they pay lowly and have long working hours ill be treated like cheap labour instead and not learn much even though on paper im supposed to

They are 2 very different routes here. If you are concerned with finding employment in the finance field after grad then you should go for the SME. You may be right that they will give you mundane tasks but that's their prerogative.

If it were my start up I would get the BD intern to do cold calls while passing on the actual leads to the full time sales exec/manager. Just a thought.

All the best in your choices!