This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bryan Reed, a 24-year-old startup founder based in New York City. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
I was burning out this spring.
In July of 2025, my cofounder and I created Freeport Markets, a trading app that lets people trade international stocks 24/7.
As a cofounder, I spent my days grinding, eating, staying up late, and doing it all again the next day. I was unhappy with my routine and working mostly alone, because my cofounder and I handle separate tasks and I only work with our engineer occasionally.
This summer flipped everything, when we brought in three college-aged summer interns to work on marketing.
What started out as dinners together turned into gym trips, movie nights, and late-night reading sessions. They made me excited to go to work again, and our bond made us better problem solvers and more productive.
Now that the interns are gone, I’ve changed how I approach work.
Being a founder can feel isolating
The internship was a very non-traditional arrangement. To be more cost-effective, we had the interns live together in an apartment in NYC and work from our uptown office. The internship was paid hourly, and we also covered their food and housing.
While I expected to see them for occasional weekend events and for meals, I didn’t anticipate hanging out as frequently for evening workouts, movies, and reading, but we hit it off so well. We’d sometimes spend the whole day together from about 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
In a small startup, everyone is thinking about the same things 24/7, so it feels natural to spend time with people in the same headspace. Other people probably wouldn’t understand; however, if a small startup like this isn’t spending 12 hours a day together, I wouldn’t expect it to be successful.
Our bond helped us work better together
I remember reading something a while ago that one of the determining factors in how long you’ll keep your mental performance as you age, and even in your lifespan, is how social you are. I became happier to spend more time in the office because I was looking forward to waking up and seeing everyone. It had a huge impact on my mental wellness and performance.
As friendships grew, we’d hit the gym together or watch movies. We started talking more about personal life things, growing closer throughout the summer.
Connecting more on a personal level translated to more success when working. I think it helped them disagree and push back on me and each other without it feeling weird, which ultimately led us to better results.
Using phones less and reading more helped us boost productivity
At one point, to help us scroll our phones less, I decided to implement 90-minute reading sessions three times a week after dinner. We basically traded the time we’d normally use to watch a movie or get more work done to do some reading-for-pleasure together as a group. I read with them, usually fantasy and sci-fi, because I thought it would be silly to expect them to do it and not do it myself.
We’d also put our phones away when we were eating together, which helped us stay present. That presence opened up the doors for us to talk more about big ideas and gave us space to come up with more creative approaches, like our marketing ads near all the big finance firms in the Financial District.
Now that the interns are gone, I’ve adapted my lifestyle
It’s so hard to know how exactly I’ll approach my next group of interns because I think this last group was very special. I’ll continue to build a group dynamic and encourage activities like working out or having meals together because I think it’s important for them to have structure and to build bonds.
Now that the interns are gone, I’m back to working mostly alone and with my small team. I’m trying to fill up my schedule with more evening plans, like dinners or events. I also started hosting poker tournaments on weekends, which have been super fun and great for meeting new customers.
I’ve realized that being social makes me happier without detracting from productivity. I’m happier, and that makes me want to keep pushing with my startup.
Do you have a story to share about how your interns changed your approached to work? If so, please reach out to the editor [email protected].
