There are 4 Kinds of Companies - Which One Should You Choose?

But choose wisely, for while the true Grail will bring you life, the false Grail will take it from you. - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

One of the hardest questions to answer is which company is right for you. Especially if you are faced with multiple options, like many in the tech or other hot industries are. Answering the question is really a matter of where you are in your life, what kind of person you are, and what you are looking for. It’s an intensely personal question that ultimately only you can answer. Here’s what I’ve discovered throughout my career about the types of companies that are out there and what is good or bad about each:

• Category 1 - The Stealth Company: The stealth company is unique in that it’s not live yet, and in most cases, nobody even knows that it exists. Working at a stealth company has many awesome benefits. You get to do a little of everything. And I do mean everything. You are part of the DNA of the company and get to create the culture, philosophy, and way in which the company executes. You also get to be insanely creative with marketing, launches, sales motions, product creation, because you are trying to re-write the playbook. The downsides of the stealth company is that it’s hard to attract talent and it’s hard to compete against larger players or get traction with your product for many reasons. But for some, that’s part of the challenge to become a hero. I’m currently working at a Stealth Company :)

• Category 2 - The Already Launched Smaller-Midsize Company: This company type is live, launched, and moving along steadily. People know it exists, but companies in this category are often struggling to get traction or break out of their niche position. Joining this kind of company is tough, because you are in essence looking at a turnaround situation if you want to do anything meaningful. But it’s tough changing people’s perception around what a company is or does, it’s tough changing morale of people at a company that’s just kind of doing okay. I think this kind of company is among the toughest out there, but there is a real opportunity to be a hero if you can turn it into a rocketship or a dominant player. It just won’t be easy getting there. When I worked at Vignette, it was a category 2 company, struggling to break out of it’s niche.

• Category 3 - The Rocketship: This kind of company is on fire! It’s growing like crazy, people love it, and you join and just enjoy the ride. You get to participate in something magical and contribute to the growth and further direction of the company while creating a new category or crushing existing ones. These kinds of companies are hard to get into (as most want to work there), but if you join a company that’s already a rocketship, then your job is often to just go faster and further without stopping to slow down. Often times keeping up with the rocketship is tough for a long period of time, as it can burn you out, but the ride, while it lasts, is incredibly fun. My time at Box was definitely being on the Rocketship. Box is now turning into a hybrid of a rocketship and a big company (see below).

• Category 4 - The Big Company: This kind of company has gone through the various stages, survived, and come out as a market leader. The pay and benefits are usually awesome at bigger companies, though unless you were one of the early employees or get hired as an executive, trying to get ahead here is a long, tough slog through layers and layers of bureaucracy and politics. The projects you end up working on can be either super exhilarating or boring as hell, depending on which department you are in, which leader you are aligned to, and your personal skill set. The Big Company is the place you should go to if you want to learn from some of the best, spruce up your resume, or just have stability for a while. They’ve obviously become big because they’ve executed and hired well, and have a market-leading product. The Big Company is not the place to go to if you want to work on the most cutting edge technology or feel like everyday is a thrill ride. I’ve worked at Salesforce and Veritas, both of which are big companies. Salesforce seems to still be in Rocketship mode, which is impressive!

Of course this is a simplified categorization as there is a lot of fluidity around companies and their evolution. Companies go from Rocketships to Big Companies, or from Stealth to Launched, etc, You can even have a Stealth Project in a Big Company, or Rocketship product line in a Big or Launched company that suddenly takes off.

My point is, if you are looking to make a career move, you should think very carefully around which kind of company you are joining as you’ll probably be presented with a lot of options and they are not all created equal. It depends on what is right for you in this current moment and then making the most of it. Listening to your gut is never a bad thing either.

Good luck.