How to find a startup job?

How to find a job in a startup?

There is no sure fire way to landing your first startup job, but here is a bag of tricks for you.

1. Understand what you are looking for

You must be asking yourself 3 things:

#1 - What type of work do you want to do?

Here, you must understand that no job is tailored for you. You can find the best fit but never the perfect fit. And for all I care, you too may not know what you are looking for too early. But here is what I have to say - "it helps to start somewhere."

#2 - What industry would like you to work in?

Are you particular about brands? Are you looking for a particular kind of work? Do you like the work some companies do? You will be vague in the beginning. All of us are. But clarity will set in and your search will refine over time.

#3 - What should be the size of the company you want to work in?

If you want to have a safe and predictable journey and may be you want all systems in place, you should choose the large ones. If you are game to a lot of uncertainties, may be you seek employment in an early startup. If you want to have the best of both worlds, go for a mid sized company. With no experience, a big company may be a good choice, but you may never be near the top anytime soon.

2. Make a list of companies

Create a spreadsheet. Make a list of companies. May be you can browse AngelList, TechCrunch or Crunchbase and find interesting companies. Create a list of these companies. Create columns for location, size, and job listings (if there are any). Keep updating this list as you come across new companies.

3. Cold Email

The CEO’s email address is going to be [first-name]@[company website], and chances are it gets the attention of the CEO every single day. Use a free tool like https://verify-email.org/ to check if that email address is valid. Send them a short email containing:

An interesting subject line

Who you are (1 sentence)

Why you love what they do (1 sentence)

How you're going to contribute (1 sentence)

If emailing the CEO doesn't work, try emailing everyone else. What do you have to lose?

4. Work for cheap

This is your first startup- what do you expect? Get your foot in the door- if your pay is greater or equal to cost of living, then you're in a great place. Starting off on a contract basis isn't a bad idea.

5. Hustle

Add value on week one. Work your ass off to show the team that you were worth the risk.

How is that for a start? Try these for the next six months and you will see a new path ahead of you.