Exploring the Blackstone LaunchPad Internship Program: A Comprehensive Guide

The Blackstone LaunchPad internship program is a multifaceted initiative designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world professional experience. It provides students with invaluable opportunities to develop core skills, build social capital, and accelerate their long-term career growth. This program is open to students from various academic backgrounds and offers a diverse range of internship roles across different sectors.

Overview of the Blackstone LaunchPad Program

The Blackstone LaunchPad network makes entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills accessible and relevant for all college students to help them build thriving companies and careers. LaunchPad’s ever-expanding network encompasses campuses with predominantly underrepresented populations. The Blackstone LaunchPad at UCF supports students, regardless of level or focus of study.

The Blackstone LaunchPad at FIU, financially supported by the Blackstone Foundation, provides FIU students with the skills, knowledge, and guidance to transform ideas into companies. The multidisciplinary and multicultural program inspires and empowers future global innovation leaders who want to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world. Part of The Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center at FIU Business, LaunchPad offers technical assistance, programming and personalized mentoring for students of all majors interested in research and discovery, building innovation career pathways and learning principals of venture creation.

The LaunchPad program can be applied to for-profit and non-profit enterprises, and can be used to facilitate innovation within existing organizations, as well as new venture development. Through individualized coaching and support, the LaunchPad helps students bring their ideas to life, and develop entrepreneurial skills and mindsets.

Key Components of the Internship Program

Diverse Internship Opportunities

Eligible students apply to internships spanning finance, engineering, data science, project management, marketing, sales, and more. Roles are available at Blackstone, Blackstone portfolio companies, and startups and small businesses through our nonprofit network.

Read also: Blackstone LaunchPad UCF

Examples of internship roles include:

Cybersecurity Intern: This role supports the Cybersecurity team by assisting with daily operational security tasks and ongoing projects. The intern also performs data entry and contributes to other departmental initiatives as assigned, gaining hands-on experience across multiple areas of cybersecurity operations.
Sales Intern: Ascend Learning offers Sales Intern roles that support the ATI Sales team by assisting with market research, lead generation, CRM data management, and sales operations across various regions. Interns gain exposure to the full sales lifecycle while supporting revenue-generating activities and developing professional communication, analytical, and sales-support skills.
Preservation Intern: April Housing offers a Preservation Intern position within the Preservation team, where interns support underwriting and pro forma analysis for preservation and rehabilitation projects, assist with due diligence and deal tracking, and help prepare applications for tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credits.
Accounting Intern: This role is assigned to the financial reporting team for audit related work and/or the General Ledger group for operational accounting needs. The Accounting Intern will also have the opportunity to assist in various elements of the month-end and year-end close activities and reporting processes.
Tax Intern: The Intern-Tax will develop an understanding of accounting systems and procedures for the Tax department. The tasks will be focused on tax compliance, return preparation, tax research, and other project work as needed to support the group.
Sustainability Intern: As a Sustainability Intern at SSA Marine, responsibilities include researching and benchmarking sustainability practices across industry peers and key customers, with a focus on goals, metrics, and public disclosures. The role also involves analyzing how organizations define, frame, and communicate social impact and broader sustainability initiatives, including social and nature-based efforts, while supporting additional sustainability-related projects as assigned.
Finance Intern: This position, often part of the NYC Startup Internship Program, is a paid, full-time summer Finance Intern role at an early-stage NYC startup. Interns will support budgeting, forecasting, and financial analysis; assist with investor and leadership reporting; and contribute to fundraising and strategic planning initiatives.

Skill-Building Workshops and Networking

Complementing their summer internships, students participate in skill-building workshops, inspiring speaker sessions and networking opportunities. LaunchPad blends real-world exposure into industries with opportunities for professional development. The skills training emphasizes an innovative approach toward problems, reinforcing that novel solutions can emerge when combining creativity, strategic thinking and tenacity.

Hands-on Learning and Skill Development

LaunchPad focuses on hands-on learning where students can develop core skills like ideation, implementation and communication in a practical context. The key skills that make you stand out in the workforce-creativity, problem-solving, determination, and clear communication-are the same ones essential for building a successful business.

Locations and Partnerships

The LaunchPad is privately supported through seed funding from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, and is part of a global network located at 46 universities around the world. SSA Marine is a proud partner of the Blackstone LaunchPad program. As an employer partner, SSA Marine partners with LaunchPad to recruit promising talent for SSA Marine’s summer internships.

Eligibility and Application Process

The Blackstone LaunchPad internship program is open to only employers based in Florida and students who are “actively engaged” (defined as a student who is signed up on Startup Tree and has attended our events, coaching sessions, and/or competitions) in the Blackstone LaunchPad program at any of the 7 sites in Florida including FAMU, FIU, FSU, Miami Dade College, UCF, UF, and UNF (Blackstone LaunchPad - Blackstone).

To apply for specific internships, students are often required to:

Complete the 15-minute Seekr Career Readiness survey through Blackstone LaunchPad. LaunchPad partners with Basta to give students free access to Seekr before applying.
Submit an application online.

Students are encouraged to conduct their own research and diligence on each employer and on any internship opportunity offered by any employer.

Benefits of Participating in the Program

Professional Development: The program helps students strengthen professional skills, build social capital, and accelerate long-term career growth.
Real-World Experience: Blackstone LaunchPad blends real-world exposure into industries with opportunities for professional development.
Networking Opportunities: The LaunchPad network offers students valuable opportunities to learn from experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders, and industry professionals. Networking events help create an innovation infrastructure and connect entrepreneurs with investors, industry experts, and technical service providers.
Entrepreneurial Skills: The skills needed to build a successful business - growth mindset, creativity, critical thinking and leadership - are the skills needed to build a successful career. Our programming helps students hone these innovation skills so they can compete in the job market and realize their potential.
Financial Support: In the Fellowship program, student founders receive a $5,000 stipend to support their time working on advancing their startups.

Blackstone Charitable Foundation's Role

Founded in 2007, the Blackstone Charitable Foundation is committed to creating economic opportunity for diverse and historically under-represented communities. Our programs aim to increase access to entrepreneurship and innovation skills, including our flagship Blackstone LaunchPad network, which helps college and university students gain entrepreneurial experiences and competencies to build successful companies and careers. The Foundation also supports communities through BX Connects, a best-in-class employee engagement, fundraising and board service program, providing grants and volunteer hours to our global nonprofit partners.

Additional Programs and Opportunities

Ideas Competition

The BLP Ideas Competition gives students with just an idea the chance to win up to $10,000 to start the next big thing. The Ideas Competition especially encourages students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities, from all majors offered on campus, and students who represent multiple genders and ethnicities.

Fellowship

In this 8-week virtual program, student founders receive $5,000 to support their time working on advancing their startups. The LaunchPad Fellowship is largely self-driven, but also offers relevant startup workshops, peer networking events, mentor connections, and other opportunities to build entrepreneurial skills. This program is delivered virtually, in partnership with Future Founders.

Read also: Learn with Launchpad

Annual Conference and Pitch Competition

LaunchPad’s global network event brings together hundreds of student entrepreneurs, Campus Directors, and subject matter experts from Blackstone, Techstars, and other industry partners to help participants grow their network and get the training and advice they need to propel their companies forward. In partnership with Startup Grind’s Global Conference next year, student ventures compete for over $50,000 in prizes.

LaunchPad Services and Resources

LaunchPad services at FIU include:

Flexible space at the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center that can be used for workshops, meetings and training.
Coaching, sponsorship and support for campus competitions, as well as regional, state and national business plan competitions that provide students with an opportunity to pitch for seed funding.
Open and accessible co-working space
Technical assistance and business workshops that build professional competence.
Networking events to help create an innovation infrastructure and connect entrepreneurs with investors, industry experts, and technical service providers.
One-on-one mentoring and coaching that cultivates entrepreneurial thinking and problem solving.
Interdisciplinary team-building that fosters collaboration.
Regional, national and global connections to University contacts and global leaders to share best practices, learn from successful entrepreneurs, and create a network of partners.

Mentoring Component

An important component of success is one-on-one mentoring. FIU is home to over 54,000 students and over 200,000 alumni in the South Florida area.

Application Tips and Interview Process

Interviews are conducted from August to October. If we visit your school for an event, we encourage you to attend and network with our professionals to learn more about our opportunities. Blackstone also hosts a series of virtual webinars which we encourage you to attend to learn more about the firm and our open opportunities.

Students in their junior year of college, third year of university, or first year of business school may apply for Summer Analyst and Associate positions. Interested candidates may apply to multiple groups within Blackstone. For US positions, interviews start to be conducted in February for programs starting the following year, and run through December. Candidates selected for an interview should expect a first-round video interview with a member of the Blackstone team followed by a series of face-to-face meetings, if selected to move forward.

Applications for European summer internships are due in late November, while our APAC hiring for summer internships begins as early as February.

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