How to tell your dad that you're working for a startup

At least there was no decision to make when we first started walking: that was all down to instinct. 

But when it comes to choosing a career path, instinct often doesn't come in handy. We have to make a decision on how to make our first step without any idea whether it's the right direction or not. And so often we go for the known, the path that others have walked before. We follow in their footsteps because they didn't turn out so bad - now did they?

Saying that, the working world is changing. And with that should come a change in mindset too: the more data we get then better our estimates can be on what could be the right move for me. Specifically me. In the stage of my life that I'm in now.

With this, you see universities - and the type of career fairs that they hold - changing. Instead of the top 4 banks presenting, you will also see some high-potential newcomers to the market on campus. Instead of thinking that the established route is the best way to go, universities have begun to encourage students to step out of this mould, and to have a more holistic view of what the working world has to offer.

For this, Aarhus University asked me to come and speak about working for a startup: and this post should (hopefully) bring across the learnings I shared there. And naturally, working at a startup means being decidedly different. I thought it might be useful to write about the topic: How to tell your dad that you're working for a startup.

How to tell your dad that you're working for a startup? 

I don't know about your dads, but I know mine.

"No Jessie...what is a startup?" - Dad

And while my dad might not have much in common with people working at startups: this is a question that we all have in common. What is a startup? It could be how long the company has been around for (is it 30 years old, or did it launch 6 months ago?), or how much revenue the company brings in year on year. Perhaps it's better to look at the company's valuation.

Another thing to consider is this the number of employees a company has. According to Crunchbase, one of the key factors to determine whether you're still a startup or an established company is your number of employees. The magic number is 500.

Provided that your company has <500 employees (and a couple of other factors) you're a startup (baby!). That might be different to what you'd expect, but I'm going to focus on the simple element of number of employees.

I'm not trying to coax you into working in a specific industry, for a specific company (love you Pleo), or in a specific role. That's up to you. What I can do is speak about what I know: people. And that makes sense. Here in Denmark I work for one of the fastest growing startups there is, and my role is head of people. Headcount and growth through hiring is what I do.

To start off with, let's rely on hindsight at one of the biggest success stories of hyper-growth: Facebook. In the first 4 years of the company it went from 7 > 450 employees. Today, it sits at over 35 000 employees. Today we can all agree that this is an established company: and no longer a startup. I'm also willing to guess that today most of us see the journey that this company has been through, and (whatever our position on its politics/ ethics) would have found it very exciting to have been part of it at some stage.

What I can't guess is which stage you would have found most appealing to join: though I can guarantee that different parts of that growth case appeal to different people, personalities, and stages of life. 

This brings me onto my first topic:

Dad... can you please ask your HR team if I can get into that traineeship?

This is the type of career start for those of you who are looking for a safe, predictable, and established career path. Whether you're joining a political party, or working at a law firm there's a pattern with these companies. This career path would have existed before you, it exists now, and will exist when you're not in it. It's reliable, and it works. It's also familiar. You've probably heard of this path the most: it most probably is your go-to when you think of what to do when you're finished with university.

Perhaps a less conventional view of joining the family business, but an example of a well-established career path nevertheless. The Executive Office of the President employees approximately 4000 people.

If this is exactly what you're looking for, I suggest that you go for it. And go big! Work for a corporate with >500 employees. Find people with niche knowledge and learn from them. You'll see bureaucracy and policies: learn from them and figure out why they're there. These types of companies have a reputation and familiarity for a reason: they're doing something right. Figure out what that is and apply it to your career

To give you an example of this, I studied law and just before I graduated I decided not to pursue the law path that I'd been planning. Suddenly my careful research, admired law firms, past internships, and community service were obsolete. I didn't know what the working world looked like outside of law, and I didn't know if there was a place for me in it. I joined an International Management Trainee programme at an established company - which helped me to affirm to myself that there was a place for me after all.

If this speaks to you, you might be someone who is looking for this type of affirmation. Perhaps this will give you the self-confidence to know that a reputable company sees you as one of them. Or maybe you're looking for a risk-free, defined path (similar to a degree) and you feel that this is an environment to which you're familiar and in which you'd thrive.

The things you can miss out on here are accelerated growth (normally there will be a set career path with durations attached to it that you will follow) and flexibility.

This brings me to my second topic:

Dad, can you please pass me the business section of the newspaper?

This probably speaks to those of you who are interested in the more traditional path that I mentioned above but you have itchy feet, an entrepreneurial heart, and want to be able to grow at your own pace: not at one that is considered average.

You're the type of people who probably are willing to take on more risk because you see a potential reward of more responsibility, the chance to be a leader more quickly, and the opportunity to build something (and build up yourself) at the same time.

The companies that will be most attractive to you would likely be hyper-growth ones. Look into companies that have more than 50 employees.

And on that note, let's go back to the Facebook employee numbers. As you might remember, you saw Facebook going from 7 > 450 from Year 1 > Year 4. If you take a look at the graph, you can see that this growth is exponential. But that's Facebook who boasts one of the strongest growth stories in the world. Are there any companies in Denmark that share a similar hyper-growth model?

If you look at this table, I've compared some of the Danish companies's first years to that of Facebook's. I've used Pleo, Peakon, Templafy, and Too Good To Go's employee data (estimates from LinkedIn). And while none of these companies might be Facebook, the growth correlation is clearly there. So to answer my question, yes, we don't necessarily need to go all the way to Silicon Valley to be able to experience hyper-growth.

The important thing to realise here is why. Why are these companies growing? First up, I'm not talking about companies hiring an army of unpaid interns. Instead, I'm talking about the type of companies who have a product-market fit: and they've raised more money to bring that product to the world. 

To use an example, Pleo was around 50 people when I joined.

That was in September. By 12 December at our team camp in Saalbach, we were 80.

At the end of the year, our headcount was at 85. Today, we're 100. By the end of the year we should be sitting at 170.

This type of hyper-growth stage will likely appeal to those craving leadership, who want to build something, and also who want to experience growth and scaling. As an employer I can tell you that this is one of the most up-and-coming experiences that companies are looking for: if you've been part of a scaling up company before, you'll bring learnings and apply them to the new company.

If you take me, for example, I used to work for Wolt and joined when there were 30 of us. A year later there were 100. This has really helped me at Pleo - I've been able to know what works and what to look out for that just might not when you scale up. When I interviewed at Pleo I was up against directors from famous corporates with decorated CVs. This was one of the things that made me stand out.

And if we go to our last topic, it's:

Dad, I don't want to be a lawyer

If you're not sure what you want to do, but know what you don't want to do, then this one's for you. Just to reassure you, most of us have no idea what we want to do when we start out, and most people have at least one career pivot in their lives. This is completely normal. Acknowledging you is just going to help you find what you actually want.

You should consider companies with a size between 5-50 employees. These types of companies have an all-hands-on-deck approach which means that you'll be exposed to a wide range of things. These type of companies can have a medium risk: you might not find your place or your passion there, and similarly the company might not be showing signs of succeeding just yet. Saying that, you'll get a diverse range of experience and that will likely take you one step closer to what you want - even if it is by finding out what you don't want.

So now I've discussed how to look at your career based on the stage that companies are in, the rest is up to you. You need to think about the industries that excite you, and about roles that you feel you'll really excel in.

Make your dad proud

That's not the point here. What's much more important is this:

Make yourself proud

And the easiest way to do that is to know that you've put in consideration to what you want to do: you've educated yourself in what's out there, and you've been introspective to figure out what's best for you. Chances are it's not a flashy name or a fickle perk like a gym membership.