Xperienceships

I always tell people about the great program, and the awesome friends I made. I tell people about my loveliest host family, and the many great things I have seen during my time off.

But my favorite story is about Pitch Night. This Pitch Night is held at the end of the program. Each candidate gets to present their business idea to a jury and an audience of English business people. Every person receives Monopoly money to invest in the business idea they like the best. The idea with the most 'investment' wins. I never expected it, but my idea won the first place! It was an unbelievable moment!

The combination of developing your own business idea along with writing a business analysis for a local business is unique and works very well together. What's also great about Corkscrew is the personal contact between you and the staff. They regularly ask you if you're still happy with the program and your host family, and are always available to help you out with your business idea.

I also loved the contact with the other participants, in my case there were 7 other participants from 3 countries. We helped each other with our business ideas, and we did fun stuff together during the weekends, such as bike riding, going to the beach, Dartmoor National Park, or going to the pub in Exeter.

In Corkscrew you have to develop your own business idea during the program. When I came in, I had no clue yet, and that slightly worried me. But no worries, there is plenty of time to figure it all out. You can brainstorm with fellow candidates, and the staff is always there to help you out.

This trip was incredibly special to me because of the things I learned, but also because of the community I'm in now. Corkscrew has a very tight knit community of past, current, and future participants of the program, and each and every person is willing to help others with anything they need.

What makes a company successful? Their capacity to maximize ROI to is shareholders and investors, the % increase on revenue? I do not think these are the only nor best indicators to define the success of a company.

Both, society and economy are changing at a faster pace than ever. Companies have to adapt to these changes and have to have defined very clear what do they want to achieve to know whether they are successful or not. So the place to start would be to have a clear vision and objective. Dream big, otherwise is not a vision.

However, there are several factors that play a major role to make a company successful, but in a fast pace changing society the biggest might be their ability to solve problems fast. Learn in quick cycles, adapt and pivot if necessary.

In Corkscrew we firmly believe in the need of collaboration between companies. Things change quickly and a company alone won't have the know-how or resources to adapt on its own. It is the time to share, open and collaborate. So the company that manages to do that in a smartly way will grant success in achieving their objectives.

Corkscrew has allowed me to see how working in an open and collaborative manner grants great results and experiences. Like the african proverb says "if you want to go fast, walk alone. If you want to go far, walk together." Alone I can go fast, but not where I want to go. Let alone the fact that the road alone is just boring. You can have fun while working.

This collaborative way of working comes hand in hand with trust. And with trust comes growing your confidence. Working with Corkscrew has challenged me to push myself to my full potential. In my understanding these are basic elements of a great company culture.

Corkscrew is unique in the approach of experiences abroad. We are not a traditional internship provider nor a training provider.

Corkscrew provides a mix of experience (professional and personal) abroad with start up thinking training. Corkscrewers work on real company projects as consultants at the same time that work on developing their own business ideas.

Our programs are located in the most vibrant co-workings spaces in start up references city, which make the experience also unique as allows the participants in the program to working in an thriving environment, surrounded by like-minded creative souls.

These elements make Corkscrew unique and that is why we call our programs experienceships.