Lets add some reality to these discussion.

to add a person, regardless of how much they are paid has a significant cost. So its never free to an employer. Paid or unpaid.

An unpaid intern is going to be someone we know is looking to Use Us to create value for themselves. That if the experience doesnt create value for them. They are gone. That in exchange for not being paid, they in essences have far more flexibility. They can stay or leave at their whim. We have nothing more to keep them showing up to work than the experience we create for them.

That is a far different challenge than someone just looking for a job.

This is particularly true when you are trying to create a new dimension to a business.

When we started MicroSolutions as one of the first local area networking systems integrators in 1983, we had unpaid people who saw the long term benefit of LANS. Many we hired and who benefited as the company established itself and then was sold to HR Block.

In 1995 we had unpaid people who saw the opportunity to get involved with broadcasting on the internet. Some got jobs and made millions. Others leveraged the positions to bigger and better things.

in 2001 we started HDNet under the proposition that eventually HDTVs would be ubiquitous and cost far less than 10k in future years. We brought on unpaid interns who went on to become full time employees and others that leveraged the experience into jobs. Like those in my companies before them, it was valuable to them to have experience and unique knowledge as an employee of a company that is an early innovator and a leader in their field.

in this case, I was looking for new ways to create a profitable media endeavor for the Mavs. One look around you is all it takes to see that making any media endeavor profitable is very difficult.

I was willing to absorb the overhead and use my existing employees and infrastructure to train the interns and then see if we could get anything going at all. Its an opportunity for the Mavs and for those who want to gain experience in trying to develop new sports media models.

So why not just pay them ? Whats 8 dollars an hour ? First of all its a paperwork nightmare. I had to ask HR if we could even do unpaid internships, which is a ridiculous concept in and of itself.

Starting or extending a business is no longer just about an idea and execution. Its about paperwork. Its about having employees to manage all that paperwork. Its about work rules.Its about insurance. Its about introducing hassle to existing employees who already have enough to do.

so to bring on say 10 paid interns isnt just about paying the interns, its about making the choice to either further burden existing employees, or to possibly hire another back office professionals who doesnt want to take a job with the possibility they could be fired a few weeks later because my new media idea didnt pan out.

Businesses live in a paperwork and overhead prison these days.

So instead of bringing on the unpaid interns, I had a meeting with our existing people and found 1 person who i could push a little harder to try to experiment with some things.

I dont think its the optimal way to test some ideas, but it will have to do.