Thanks for the feedback! I hadn't noticed the scaling on the upgrades not matching the upgrade description until after I launched the alpha. However, I am already working on the next minor version, which will have the fix for that. It turns out I was doing it correctly in the upgrade that multiplies your clicks, and I had just forgotten to apply it to other upgrades.
I had identified the click speed on interns being too slow as a potential pain point, and all feedback is pointing to that being an accurate assessment. I'm going to try some other scaling algorithms, which will hopefully get the ball rolling earlier, without dropping off too hard with player progress.