Calling all aspiring founders: Tweaky is seeking a new founder’s apprentice

Website modifying company Tweaky is searching for its second founder’s apprentice, a three to six month paid position for an entrepreneur keen for direct hands-on experience in a rapidly growing, cashflow positive company.

Ned Dwyer, co-founder and chief executive of Tweaky, told StartupSmart they’ve already had a flurry of applications.

“We launched this to create an opportunity for those who want to start companies but don’t have the experience yet, or haven’t quite found the right idea they want to spend the next five years of their life on,” Dwyer says.

This is the second time the program has been run. Last year’s founder’s apprentice, Ivan Lim, is still working at Tweaky.

“I’m looking for someone who wants to prove to themselves they’re capable of customer acquisition and growing a start-up,” Dwyer says. “Ideally they’ll have some experience, but if they’ve just got the raw potential that’s cool too. It’s pretty open.”

Dwyer says he wishes the idea was around when he was starting out.

“A lot of people are keen to start but have no experience in customer acquisition, product design or development and this is a great way to them to do that in a safe environment and get paid for it,” he says.

“It’s such a different game to be playing when you’ve got real customers paying real money and getting real value from you, it’s unlike anything else.”

Dwyer says the salary is a good, graduate level rate.

“This learning will help you launch any start-up in the future,” Dwyer says. “We’re a fast growth company, we’re well funded with great investors and it’s an opportunity to work with us in Australia and the US with some top tier partners to help us grow the business.

The idea of a founder’s apprentice has taken off, with project manager BugHerd and event registration company Attendly offering similar programs.

“It’s been refreshing because when we first created it, we wanted to start new opportunities in the Melbourne scene. There are a couple of similar programs now, so it’s cool to be influencing the old guard as well,” Dwyer says.

Applicants need to introduce themselves via an email to Dwyer with the subject line, “Let’s make it rain”.

Applicants are then sent a couple of questions.

“We ask things like who the Tweaky target audience is, how you would reach these markets, and what’s an example of a time when you took initiative without waiting for someone else’s approval. I don’t really care about the answers being right or wrong, it’s more about the thinking process.” Dwyer says, adding this is the same process which has been used to recruit and scale its team.