The past few days have been intense! In a nutshell, I've been looking at an internship -- yes, a JOB with a real COMPANY. It's come to my stark realization that I never thought about working for a company not so much because I thought corporations were dumb, but because there are few places that would allow me to explore my own projects. In other words, I would only work for a company that allowed me to be an entrepreneur within the company. While there aren't many companies with such a culture, I've started to look at a few companies that prosper on having creative and fast moving "intra-preneurs." My partial list includes Ning, Six Apart, PBWiki, and Ustream.

Of course, being that I'm bratty Jessica Mah, I'm super picky with the companies I would want to deal with. Here are my thoughts and reasoning behind the companies I've talked with so far:

1) I'm picky with the companies I interview with, and I immediately look for a culture fit. If anything, culture fit is the FIRST thing I look for in a company. If I'm not going to be happy there, it's not even worth a legit interview. What does culture mean? That deserves a blog post on its own, but it's so crucial for a startup to be fast-moving, communicative, open-minded, friendly, and enthusiastic. If the company has high-walled cubicles and segregated "departments," I have no interest in spending my summer there.

2) I don't accept offers from companies who don't thoroughly interview me. Sure, I think I'm a moderately smart person. However, I want to work for a company where people are brilliant. If the company doesn't bother to test my knowledge and skills, it shows that they don't take hiring seriously. With that said, if I get a job or internship offer from a company that doesn't spend the time needed to test me for culture and knowledge fit, I don't see the company as being good enough for me. Lesson: I only work for startups that make it difficult for me to get in. The next time you interview a "rockstar" prospective employee, keep this in mind.

3) Companies and employees need to give and take equally from each other. In my search for a summer internship, I'm not looking for a big name brand. I want to work for a company that lets me play around with my product management, business, and coding skills. I want to work for a company that wants me as much as I want them. One of the companies on my list offered to fly me out for a visit -- that shows a lot of dedication. It proves to me that the company wants me as bad as I want it.

4) Do programming ninjas talk to the business people? In other words, do the complaints and desires of the users get seen by the people working on the product? Sounds like a silly question, but so many companies (United Airlines among them,) don't have any connect between the customer support people and the executives who implement the changes. With that said, I like seeing companies where coders and business people are in everyday dialogue with each other. I love how Ning's customer advocate team also works in product management -- since they talk to customers everyday, they are more likely to know what changes should be made.

5) Money!!! As you've probably read before, compensation is not my #1 priority. However, it's not something that can be ignored. Living in the Bay Area this summer costs a LOT of money. I'll be paying $2000+ / month in various living costs that include food, apartment, transportation. Then I somehow need to pay off the $5,000 summer tuition bill that Stanford University is soon to send me. The startup scene is competitive -- In most cases, I want these companies just as much as they want me. If they want me to join on board, a competitive offer is definitely in order.

6) Networking, colleagues, and mentors. Last, but not least, I look for any potential to grow my network. I'm looking for executives who are well connected in Silicon Valley and beyond. I'm looking for colleagues who are open and willing to help me just as much as I'm willing to help them. With all of the companies I've applied to so far, I've either personally met an executive there or had one of my friends refer me. Never underestimate the power of a personal network!

With that said, I'll keep you updated with my internship hunt. Now you know the supposedly secret thoughts on what a self proclaimed teen entrepreneur looks for in an internship! Having this summer internship won't slow me down from being an entrepreneur. It's simply a way for me to further my learning -- a way for me to figure out how fast-moving companies survive and grow.

By the time I graduate with my Bachelor's degree in two years, I'll be fully prepared to take on the world with a company of my own.

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore at early college, Bard College at Simon's Rock.

She loves chatting with fellow students, readers, and entrepreneurs, so don't hesitate to email her or message her on AIM! Feel free to subscribe to her blog or stalk her twitter.

1) South by Southwest 2008: Best Overall Conference

Words cannot describe how amazing the South by Southwest conference was. So many of you readers and friends of readers contacted me in order to convince me to go. I was skeptical, but after speaking to dozens of you, I was convinced to go. I only made it for the last three days, but I feel drained mentally and physically from the amazing experience. What made it so great?

First and foremost, the people were smart, courteous, and fun. They came to SxSW with an enthusiastic attitude. There were plenty of fun geeks and few "marketing" people. At the web 2.0 conference, there were way too many self serving biz dev people who were out to pitch and promote their companies. At SxSW, the geeks were there to have fun. Some people call SxSW the spring break for geeks. I'll have to agree.

Even when the day's conference is over, the day has just begun! There are sooo many parties to choose from. Each night, there were at least ten events to choose from. If the popular events had long lines, just start your own party! I'm definitely planning on returning next year. In a few months, maybe I'll gather a few friends and reserve the Presidential Suite in the Hilton. We'll throw our own parties :)

2) GeekSessions 1.1: Best Tech Meetup

This was definitely the best informal cocktail event I've been to for many reasons. Before going, I had envisioned it as being a high-caliber meet-up for super smart and super cool techies. My guess was completely spot on. Firstly, it was invite only. Like all good conferences, you primarily go for the people. If the people are good, the experience is good. Since then, Geeksessions has opened up registration for all and I've met fewer people since. Maybe it's just the fact that I know so many people who go there already!

Secondly, the conference organizers were able to manage the work-play balance that all events need. There's usually both an educational and a networking component to these events. The trick is not having too little or too much of either, and GeekSessions did that amazingly well. Strict 5-10 minute deadlines per speaker helps the situation.

3) Supernova 2007: Best Professional Cocktail Gathering:

The Supernova cocktail party, like every other event I endorse, had high caliber people socializing with each other. The conference was open to all. That is, to anyone who could afford the $2800 price tag. What's better than being in a room filled with free drinks, great appetizers, and seasoned entrepreneurs? The event attracted an older crowd, but most people knew what they were talking about.

Worst Event: PowerShift

I felt reserved about writing about the worst event I've been to, but I decided that it would be ok given that I remained objective with my reasoning.

PowerShift was basically a conference to combat global climate change. I'm all for fixing this problem, but the conference itself was despicable in relation to the dozens I've been to. I can probably predict why: The attendees were of low caliber. There were 6,000 attendees, none of them paid more than $25 for their conference badge, and most had very little background in global climate change and activism. I know this because I asked many attendees the following questions:

- how do you know global climate change is happening?

- what do we do to fix it?

- why should conservative money-obsessed republicans worry about this issue?

Most people came off as being ignorant and self-absorbed "activists." And yes, there is a negative stereotype for activists, and yes, most people at this conference fit into that stereotype. If anything, I left that conference learning why politicians feel reserved when dealing with teenage activists. I'm a liberal democrat, I believe that we need to fix global climate change, and I believe that rallying against the "rich republican capitalists" is the wrong route to take.

One may counter-argue my reasoning by saying, "isn't the point of a conference for people to learn?" Sure, but half of the learning happens in the networking with your knowledgeable peers! And if most of them aren't, you're at a loss.

But to the people who organized my top three rated events: Good job! I've since decided to cut back on my event-going to do REAL work, but I'll forever be loyal to the select few events that are able to attract brilliant minds. I'm quite confident that we can already add the TED conference to the 2009 list. :)

Plenty more to come!

Jessica Mah is a 17 year old entrepreneur, blogger, and sophomore in college. She's currently the founder of a startup, managing editor at Startupism.com, and Jessicamah.com.

Everybody has been talking about TED this week. My question is, why does everybody care so much?

To be honest, I haven't put so much thought into this until recently. I always thought of TED as a great conference for brilliant people to exchange ideas and help each other, but I didn't know that everybody in the valley has been talking about it. Just a few hours ago, I was reading an article on Business Week by Sarah Lacy titled, "Why I'm Fed Up with TED." I'm sure this Sarah person is an incredibly kind and awesome person, but the many articles are telling me that people want to go to TED mainly for the status symbol. Sure, it's a resume builder, but it's as if everybody lost sight of what being part of TED is supposed to be about. Perhaps its my ignorance of this "status symbol" that got me into TED in the first place?

I wanted to go to college early not because it would make me look good. Matter of fact, it was a terrible decision for my social life and for my future as a "normal" college student. Going to college early means that I would have to transfer into another college as a junior, but most colleges have a much lower admission rate for transfer students. I went to college early for other reasons: to be in an open environment where students were actually motivated to learn. Kids here don't care so much about looking good. They want to learn, regardless of the grades they receive. I feel as if TED is similar in this regard. They actively seek members who want to inspire each other with brilliant ideas. They're TEDsters because they want to help each other and help the world more than they want to help themselves.

This does NOT mean that people who aren't part of TED are dumb. It simply means that they have an extremely limited number of spots and they want to attract quality attendees who think less about status and more about the core reasons for being a TEDster.

Just think about. What are your true reasons for wanting to go to TED? One reader suggested, "would TED matter if you couldn't wear nametags?"