Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Meltzer.
Matt, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2003, I was an Ivy League grad with zero job offers. So, I hopped a flight down to South America and bused around the continent with a backpack and two buddies.
Just after arriving in Buenos Aires, I knew I had to stay. I worked as an unpaid intern at a local newspaper, and to pay the bills, I made $5/hour teaching English to corporate executives (my rent was $80/month). At the time, I did not know how this experience could help me, either professionally or personally, but my gut said it would. And it did.
I returned home a year later as a fluent Spanish speaker with a new professional network in South America. Ten years later, I was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis representing primarily Spanish-speaking clients. My “investment” abroad paid off, to say the least.
But even then, I found myself still thinking back to my work abroad experience. Just after making partner at my firm, I walked away. I wanted to give back and “pay it forward” by working directly with students, somehow. And I’ve always been a camp counselor at heart.
Sage Corps began as an idea on a legal pad to send an army (a “corps”) of college students abroad to get impactful professional experience. From day one, I was very fortunate to have incredible support from colleagues and friends, and most importantly, my family: my parents, my brother, and especially my wife, who even then was 100% positive this crazy idea would actually work out.
Sage Corps started with five (brave) students in Buenos Aires. Five years later, we’ve sent over 500 students to intern abroad (after receiving over 10,000 applications) with startups in 15 global cities on 5 continents. And we’re just getting warmed up.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Parenting aside, building a company from scratch is the single hardest endeavor I’ve ever undertaken. It is unbelievably scary – I think the single biggest struggle is the psychological one. I never appreciated how hard it would be to create something from nothing while watching my bank account show debit after debit. Even two years later, it was still moving in the wrong direction.
Psychology aside, I can’t count the number of failures we’ve suffered. And survived. I learned early on that this game really is about inches. We actually developed a team mantra: “inch by inch.” We started with 5 students that first summer, then 25, then 50, then 100, and up from there.
There are no shortcuts. There is no growth hack. There is hard work, inch by inch.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Each year, less than 2% of college students study abroad. A fraction of those will get meaningful work experience. In today’s global economy, our country needs a globally-trained workforce. But these numbers will not cut it – we need to do better.
Sage Corps is a global entrepreneurship program that sends top college students to intern abroad with startups. Our students tackle real problems and build real solutions alongside co-founders of companies all over the planet.
We offer programs ranging from: (1) a two-week micro-internship – team consulting projects for global startups during winter break (“Start! Program”); and (2) 8 or 12-week full-time internship experiences during a summer or semester. Our students might build a content marketing strategy for a Santiago, Chile eCommerce site, or write a new algorithm for a FinTech startup in Hong Kong. And outside the office, we curate weekly professional event programming so that our students live like local professionals and immerse themselves in the local startup community.
When they come home, our alumni go on to get entry-level jobs at some of the world’s top companies – Nike, Amazon, Google, Deloitte, and Accenture, while others join top startups or even launch their own. Recruiters love our students’ stories about their global experience, which sets them apart from their peers. In fact, our alumni report back that they spend more time in these interviews talking about Sage Corps than any other academic or professional experience on their resumes.
I’m most proud of these alumni – watching them fly – and of each member of the Sage Corps team who is overworked and underpaid, but still shows up every day (and some nights) to ensure that our Fellows’ global experience runs smoothly.
Looking back, I think we’ve really built a unique career development program that uses global experience and entrepreneurship to better-prepare the next-gen global workforce. And to that end, we are currently speaking with enterprise organizations about building internship programming for them, and we’re also teaming up with our friends at Experience Institute to launch an exciting post-grad program hosted by a top university. Stay tuned.
What were you like growing up?
I’m a local kid – born in the city and moved to the suburbs for public school. I was very fortunate – two incredibly supportive parents and my younger brother, along with extended family in the area. I was shy and apparently didn’t like to share my toys, but somehow I made a lot of friends in Kindergarten. I still count those guys as close friends 30+ years later. I always loved to play sports, and I was competitive. But I never liked the spotlight – I still don’t.
I spent my summers in the Northwoods of Wisconsin at overnight camp, first at Kawaga and later Horseshoe. The camp director, Jordan Shiner, pushed every kid to step outside his comfort zone. Yes, we played the traditional sports, but we also learned to water ski, build fires, and to shoot rapids in canoes during multi-day camping trips.
As a kid, it was scary to try something new – but it worked every time. By college, I just wanted to explore – I studied abroad and traveled all over Europe. I was hooked but wanted to explore some more. In hindsight, I’m grateful that none of those corporate recruiters offered me a full-time job.
Pricing:
- 2 week winter break micro-internship programs start at $2,499
- 8 week summer internship programs start at $5,699
- 12 week semester internship programs start at $9,799
Contact Info:
- Website: sagecorps.com
- Phone: 888-640-SAGE (7243)
- Email: info@sagecorps.com
Image Credit:
surfers photo credit: “Spencer Lund, diving photo credit: Michael Trahan, workspace photo credit: 1871/Gregory Rothstein, Paris/Eiffel Tower photo credit: Jonathan Guo
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