Global Co-op Summary Athleo Experience
By Jeremy Vaygue, 3rd Year Student
I already knew a bit how the Co-op program works because I did a similar internship before in Israel. When I saw in the school newsletter that the Global Co-op was open, I directly applied. I knew it could help me grow and give me real work experience abroad. After a few weeks, I got accepted to a startup called Athleo, based in Berlin, that builds AI agents for gyms.
In Israel, I started working remotely. Every day I worked from home, which was sometimes a bit hard because most of the communication was through calls and messages. Sometimes things fell between the chairs, but it helped me understand the company better, their product and how the founders think. It was a good warm up before flying to Germany.
When I arrived in Berlin, everything changed. The pace, the people, and the energy in the incubator were completely different. We worked all day, every day, solving problems and learning new things. The vibe there was amazing exactly how I imagined startup life abroad.
At Athleo, I did many different things marketing, automation, research,helping with their pitch deck and more …
It wasn’t always easy, but I liked the mix of creativity and responsibility. I learned how to manage my time better, communicate better in English, and take initiative when things weren’t clear.
A very important point for me and something many people don’t understand. A lot of students told me they didn’t apply to the Global Co-op because they didn’t see a “cool” or “big corporate” company name in the list. But that’s a big mistake. When you work in a small startup with 3-4 people, you do everything all the time. I really believe that in two months at Athleo I learned and did more than some people do in a whole year in a big company, where they do the same task every day. Sometimes people choose the shiny name, but the real growth is in the small places.
This experience gave me much more than just a line on my CV. I learned what it really means to work in a startup and be part of a small team building something from zero. Living alone in another country also made me more confident and independent.
If I had to choose again, I would do the same. The Global Co-op is not just an internship, it is a life experience that teaches you a lot about work and even more about yourself.