How Summer Interns Helped a Startup Founder Rethink Burnout, Productivity, and Work Culture

Bryan Reed, a 24-year-old startup founder based in New York City, said he was burning out while working mostly alone on Freeport Markets, a trading app he created with his cofounder in July 2025. His routine centered on grinding, eating, staying up late, and repeating the cycle. The turning point came when the company brought in three college-aged interns to work on marketing.

The internship setup was unusually immersive: the interns lived together in an NYC apartment, worked from the company’s uptown office, were paid hourly, and had food and housing covered. What began as meals and occasional events expanded into gym trips, movie nights, and late-night reading sessions. Reed said the shared time made him more excited to go to work and helped ease the isolation of founder life.

Reed said the closer relationship translated into better work because the interns felt more comfortable disagreeing and pushing back. That dynamic helped the group become stronger problem solvers and more productive, according to his account. For small teams, the takeaway is clear: intentional bonding can support candor when it is paired with shared goals and structure.

To reduce phone scrolling, Reed introduced 90-minute reading sessions three times a week after dinner and joined the interns in reading fantasy and sci-fi. The group also put phones away during meals, which he said helped them stay present and talk through bigger ideas. One result he cited was more creative marketing thinking, including ads near major finance firms in the Financial District.

After the internship ended, Reed said he returned to working mostly alone with his small team but adapted his lifestyle to stay more social. He began filling his evenings with dinners and events and started hosting weekend poker tournaments, which he said were useful for meeting new customers. His main lesson: being social made him happier without detracting from productivity.