Ask HN: Red Team internship idea | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Red Team internship idea

4 pointsadamzerner8 comments

The idea: hire a bunch of interns to act as your Red Team (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_team). They try to outdo your business. If they do a good job, you hire them to implement those ideas for you.

The motivation: I was just thinking that so many businesses are so stagnant and stay in the market until a startup comes along and outdoes them. This would be a way to mitigate that.

What do you guys think?

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The major flaw I spot in this is the so-called "intern-overwork".

Have you seen how interns slog their lives away on Wall Street? You'll face the same situation in your company as the interns will burn more hours and try to deliver a lot more than the regular team, with the simple goal of displacing the regular team (to either take up their jobs, gain rapid exposure and experience, use the success of the internship to promote themselves, etc.).

You should investigate the reason for stagnation. Sometimes laws and restrictions prevent existing companies from innovation, which an incumbent startup uses to his advantage and manipulates the interpretation of the laws (ie. Uber and other taxi service companies).

Your idea does have merit though. I remember reading about how FogCreek let their interns build a new product for them during Summer. The product was a success and they all got jobs (or most of them). If you are a software-product firm, it definitely is worth attempting. Just work out the kinks/flaws.

What if they're really good and outdo you? You'll want them. But, they aren't going to want to shack up with some second-rate company.

Yea, I was thinking that one option could be to have them sign NDAs or something.

If you paid them for the time they spent on the project surely you'd own it? The actual issue seems to be if they've displayed they're more competent than your entire team why would they want to work there?

1) Because I'm sure they'd be excited to implement their idea, and see it succeed, and 2) because they'd be given more responsibility and power than they'd find elsewhere.

I wouldn't assume that an expert in their field, someone with the expertise to potentially achieve global recognition, would care about a half-assed company not handling their security properly. More responsibility? They probably want less. They don't need or want anymore power than they already achieved with their own mind. That's how introverts roll.

Challenges to overcome:

1) Interns need more than problems. They occasionally need direction and tools/training. As the intern that was left to work alone, it feels being left on a desert island. It wasn't fun.

2) Mediocre ideas come from mediocre people making decisions. Fire the mediocre people and just hire good people.

1) That's a good point. They should receive direction.

2) True, but just because there are holes in your company doesn't mean your mediocre.

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