CO-OP Start-Up Experience Course: Hands-on entrepreneurship

Ten weeks on the roller coaster of a young high-tech company is a great way to teach students about entrepreneurship.

“The CO-OP Startup Experience Course offers students the unique opportunity to join a startup and experience entrepreneurship first-hand, while still at school,” says Dr. Yossi Maaravi, deputy dean of the Adelson School.

The course is designed for IDC students from any field of study and from both the Israeli and international schools who are interested in gaining practical experience interning with fast-paced, dynamic Israeli startups. The companies offer a variety of internship positions in marketing, research, analytics, finance, design, and technology. To date, students have interned at companies including Fairfly, 24 Me, Cymbio, and Techcode.

IDC Campus Herzliya

“The ‘learning-by-doing’ experience enables the students to improve their professional skills, knowledge and experience,” says Maaravi. “Our goals are for the students to gain a greater understanding of the entrepreneurial processes in a young company, to learn about organizational roles, to expand their network of professional ties, and to take part in real processes in real companies.”

IDC Campus Herzliya

David Metta, a second-year Psychology student at the Raphael Recanati International School, recently completed his internship at Consumer Physics, a startup that developed SCiO, a near-infrared pocket spectrometer for smartphones that enables consumers to analyze the molecular composition of substances around them. “I was part of the sales team, speaking to companies about switching from larger, more costly machines,” says Metta. “My duties mostly involved responding to leads and organizing them. I had great supervisors, and I learned something new every day. If I apply for a job in a high-tech company now, I am in a much better position, having actually acquired tools and worked hard in a growing company.”

Hilla Barkal, a second-year student at the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science, did her internship at Nexar, a startup producing a community-based AI dashboard camera mobile app that analyzes a vehicle’s surroundings, including road conditions and possible hazards.

“I didn’t know much about this field before I started the internship, but since I started I have learned a lot about AI and collision warning systems,” she says. “It was very exciting for me to see this type of technology first-hand. I got to experience things I don’t think I would have seen anywhere else. ”

Nexar has since hired Barkal as a programmer. “I wanted to do the CO-OP course in order to gain experience in the world of tech, so it has worked out very well,” she says.