Founded by Harvard entrepreneurs, Ladder Internships connects talented high school interns with the world’s most ambitious start-ups. We select the best interns, train them, and pair them with a rising start-up. Our host company CEOs care about nurturing young professionals. They come from institutions like Harvard Business School, have been supported by funds such as Y-Combinator, and have held positions at top firms like McKinsey, Google, and Microsoft.
Our Mission
Our Impact
6200+
Applications
1200
Interns selected
50+
Host companies
$204,000+
in Financial aid
Our Founding Story
Hi, my name is Stephen, and I’m one of the co-founders of Ladder. I grew up in a small town in Missouri, and the closest thing I saw to a start-up growing up was a pizzeria my friend’s dad started (and shut down after six months). Entrepreneurship was just not something I was exposed to.
Going to Harvard as an undergraduate changed my perspective on start-ups and what was possible. Suddenly, my friends were talking about raising venture capital, running real businesses, and dropping out of school. My two best friends from college each went on to start-up companies, the first, Luke, raised money from Y-Combinator and is now one of our host companies.
The second, Greg, has also crushed it - raising tens of millions from world-class venture capitalists. I ended up working at McKinsey & Company for a few years before returning to start my own start-up (you’re a part of that start-up if you’re reading this!)
Greg, Luke and I didn’t have any exposure to start-ups in high school (we lived in Nevada, Minnesota, and Missouri, respectively). So, I founded Ladder to create a bridge for talented, ambitious high school students to work with world-class start-ups. Our goal is to give you all the resources you need to succeed as a young professional: training from my time at McKinsey, coaching from world-class coaches, and managers who care about your success. In that sense, we are part internship program, part professional development training program. For many, this is their first internship, but for almost all students, it is not their last.
I hope you’ll join us and apply to work with our start-ups. We don’t select everyone - our host companies would hate us if we did. But, if you’re a good fit, I promise it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
- Stephen
ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE?
Upcoming Application Deadlines
Summer Cohort Regular Admission Deadline: May 11, 2025
Cohort timing: June 2, 2025