When I was an undergraduate at Brown, I had a fairly simplistic view of occupations and career paths. I just thought that I wanted to do some kind of smart or intellectual work.
So, I went to law school and became a corporate lawyer. I didn’t enjoy it at all. I left in less than six months to co-found a start-up, and have worked at a variety of early-stage companies for the past 11 years, the last of which was acquired by a public company while I was the CEO.
Ive immensely enjoyed my time in the start-up realm I think the start-up world presents a great set of job experiences and growth opportunities for recent graduates, for a number of reasons:
1. The job changes. In the start-up world, your function will constantly shift as priorities change. One week youll be working on a sales pitch, the next youll be working on the product, the third week youll be putting together a projection for a potential investor. Youre always doing different things. Its impossible to get bored. Contrast this with a functional role where you may essentially do the same thing over and over again.
2. More Real Responsibility and Learning. In start-ups, relatively junior people often wind up doing work that they probably wouldnt be exposed to in larger organizations, simply because theres no one else around to do it. Your first web designer may fill in as the companys creative director, with his or her work seeing the light of day immediately. Theres less bureaucracy. Your work is likely to be impactful from day one, with your learning curve accelerated as a result.
3. Responsibilities grow. If a start-up company enjoys some level of success, it is likely to grow quickly. In that environment, your responsibilities quickly grow as well. Your first marketing person can quickly wind up a marketing manager in charge of 3 junior people if he/she is up to it. Its customary to see good people get great opportunities over time with limited bureaucracy.
4. High engagement/ownership. It is much easier to be excited for work when you see the impact of your efforts, and you know and like the senior team of the organization youre working for. Its also easier to be motivated if you have some stake in the company, whether financial or emotional.
5. Upside. In early stage companies, there is the possibility of some upside, whether your job grows into a senior role in a successful and growing company or even a financial reward if you wind up with some equity over the years (note that significant equity for junior hires is not the norm, even in most start-up companies, but its likely that youll be rewarded in some form for the companys success).
6. Purpose-driven. Smart people working together can achieve great things. They can find a better way to solve a particular problem, make innovative products that make a difference in peoples lives, or offer a value proposition thats more compelling than that of the dominant competitor. Its a lot easier to get up in the morning and hit the office if youre building something that youre excited about.
7. Company perspective. If you work in a start-up, you are much more likely to internalize and identify the priorities of the company and the key drivers of success. Though there are certain issues that you may not see day-to-day (e.g., funding), working in a start-up environment is a great way to develop a sense of what would make a difference for your company or for any other. This perspective is transferable and valuable to any employer (e.g., all managers want staff who are able to think like the owner and act in the best interests of the company).
8. Relationships. Start-ups are an intense environment. You will likely work long hours in close quarters with a small group of other people. The team bonding over hitting a common goal extends to all hours of the day. The chances are high that you will build multiple quality, long-lasting relationships as a result, including quite possibly with senior management.
Not to say that working for a start-up is perfect for everyone. Here are some of the things that may make it undesirable:
1. Financially unpredictable. Start-ups are risky, and the financial rewards are uncertain and uneven. For example, I took a 60%+ paycut for more than 5 years when I co-founded my first company, and there was no guarantee that Id ever get back to my earlier income, particularly after my first company failed. It may work out great, but most start-ups dont pay off in a financial sense.
2. Training is Doing, Doing is Training. Most start-ups dont have the time or resources to engage in extensive training of new, junior employees. Often times, youll learn on the job and have to figure things out for yourself. If you like being self-determined, this is great. If you want a lot of structure, this isnt ideal.
3. Unstructured. Generally, people are too busy getting things done to spend a lot of energy designing formal internal policies, processes, or procedures (or maybe theres a policy somewhere but no ones paying attention). As a junior hire, this may be beneficial because youre not tied down with lots of red tape. On the flip side, sometimes a degree of structure is beneficial, if only to make things more efficient and give you a sense of how companies organize themselves.
4. Low Market Recognition. One plus to working for a big company is that everyones heard of it. And if you decide to leave, you can point to your years at Procter and Gamble or Boston Consulting Group as a stepping stone. If you work for a small start-up and it fails, your experience may not be as clear to prospective employers. (if youre part of a start-up that succeeds this isnt much of a concern)
5. Uncertain progress. Start-up companies make progress at very non-linear rates. Some of them blow up in a good way (or bad way) in a very short period of time. Others toil away for years before receiving any notice. A majority of companies spend years in the trenches only to fail or run out of resources, leaving the founders and early employees primarily with hard-won lessons.
6. Lack of Socialization. If you work for a big company or professional services firm, you not only learn whatever it is the company trains you to do, you also learn how to traffic and interact in a corporate environment, the terminology/lingo, presentation skills, even how to dress nicely. This kind of training is transferable and helpful in a number of other settings. (Of course, many see skipping this as one of the big perks of start-up life!)
7. Relationships (again). Though building relationships is in some respects the best part of working for a start-up, the dependence and exposure to the people around you can cut the other way. CEOs and co-founders are people just like anyone else. Some of them are great leaders naturally looking to develop and reward their staff with phenomenal opportunities. Others will teach you more about what not to do rather than serve as effective role models.
Above are at least some of the virtues and relative downsides of working at a start-up. If youre interested, one thing Id advise is for you to give it a try early on in your career. For most people, the time to take a risk is in your 20s it gets harder to be lean and mean when you get older. Figure that there are 3 times to take a risk on your career earlier, later, or never.
If youre a recent college graduate interested in working for a start-up, apply for the Venture for America Fellowship here.