Ask HN: Internship, a villa in Costa Rica, All paid for a month of startup work

[hodaraadam]

I just launched http://www.trimpics.com and getting good traction, I am thinking of doing an internship for digital nomads, they will apply by sending a video telling about themselves and I will pick 2-3 people that I think might be a good fit.

The idea is to rent a villa down in Costa Rica with all expenses included (including the flights), and bring 2-3 people for a month of growth hacking / content marketing and motivate each other to grow the business, at the end of the month if the interns are a good fit then offer them a monthly wage to continue working on my startup from wherever they want in the world.

Ideas? Would you join?

[phantom_oracle]

Nice website.

Bad idea.

Bad - because you've provided no structured info about CR(Costa Rica).

Have you researched the place yourself? No point pitching up to live in Villa le Paradise but there is no ADSL/Fibre to run your business.

Go the other way around, let your interns hustle remotely.

Being able to work remotely (as "digital nomads") means they should first show they are capable of such a thing.

Make Costa Rica the onboarding-phase for fulltime hires (basically, a team-building exercise).

Note, my suggestions merely add to your strategy. I still don't quite get what you are attempting by doing this, and would on a broader-scale, suggest you don't.

[hodaraadam]

Im a digital nomad and live here in Costa Rica , did research on the place... To make Costa Rica the on boarding phase it is exactly what I want to do.

I attempt to find good and interesting people to work with that can complement what I don't have, publicity to my startup if I make it awesome and market it as an innovative idea (work fom a villa for a month all paid, etc etc)

[phantom_oracle]

The biggest problem (I felt) was the rent-seeking nature of people.

Once you've spent the major expense of bringing someone over, what prevents this person from taking his/her work very lightly and simply enjoying him/herself on a 1-month holiday?

Even if you kick this person out, they'll pick up some boarding/lodging, but still managed to score a free (expensive) flight ticket.

[hodaraadam]

The idea is to do due diligence and find someoen that is really interested in startups/work/succeed and has some kind of proof record whether is his own blog, a very active twitter account , etc....also the main benefit is not the 1 month in Costa Rica but that after that you get to work from anywhere in the world if you are good...

[MalcolmDiggs]

I'm a digital nomad, but no I don't think that would be attractive. It sounds like you'd likely leave the villa after a month with nothing to show for your efforts. In a vacuum maybe itd be cool. But in a competitive market, it doesn't seem like a good opportunity. If they wanted to go to Costa Rica, the average nomad (in my experience) could easily rent their own accommodations, pay their own travel, and have lots of money left over if they just took on regular contract work instead.

So whats the pull with this? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something.

[hodaraadam]

After a month if they prove themselves to be a good fit they will be offered with a monthly salary to keep working from wherever they want and this way become a digital nomad

[Teichopsia]

What sort of profile / knowledge / experience are you looking for? Heck, I'm up for it if you'll go for an extremely entry level candidate. No CS background.

[hodaraadam]

I am looking for a hustler that will work with me mainly on growth hacking/content marketing/ guest posting , etc...Do you have a blog or ever written somewhere?

thnx

[Teichopsia]

I've placed those on pause while learning how to code. http://teichopsia.svbtle.com/ http://www.leanpub.com/quantummadness

[techaddict009]

Will be accept entries from world wide? If yes then I will love too.

[hodaraadam]

Of course!! , the idea is to accept entries from wherever and offer the opportunity to someone that is not a nomad yet to become one!