The Smart Millennial’s Guide to Startup Careers (a 3-Step Prep Pack)

Note: This post is a guest blog by my friend Emily Ceskavich who has explored the startup life first-hand in her work as a marketer who specializes in Recruitment and Talent Acquisition. Here’s her advice for anyone who is considering whether to take the plunge and join a startup for the next step in their career. This article was originally posted on www.smartmillennials.com

When it comes to preparing for a startup career, you need to have one goal before going in.

Be ready to pivot at any time.

I made that obnoxiously bold for a reason. It’s really the only goal you need to have because if your startup is successful (or, if it’s not) chances are, your prep plans will change drastically as your journey progresses.

You don’t need to understand everything that the founder is thinking or planning. You don’t need to see what they see in order to enjoy working for them or make a good career decision for yourself concerning them.

If you do decide to work for a startup, however, you need to believe in the founder’s vision and commit to your role in the process. Startups are no place for people who take half measures.

This road will get bumpy and there are a lot of distracted drivers on it who can crash into you at any time. Many startups fall due to wavering beliefs and conditional commitments.

If the founder of this startup you’re considering shows you their plans, and you understand their vision, then it’s on you to accept the task fully or gracefully take yourself out of the running.

These are 3 steps you can take to give yourself this flexibility.

Step 1: Set up your reserves.

Trust in their vision, but verify that you have enough saved to cover yourself in case things go downhill. The decision to join a startup, in my opinion, should be made independent of the financial need or reward.

If it takes off and you all get shamefully rich, then that’s splendid. If the startup runs out of money or if the founder mismanages it into the ground, then it still doesn’t need to be a failed experience from your perspective as a hungry careerist.

Some people decide to keep their full-time job and work on their risk career on weekends. That’s what I did. By the time I was ready to jump in with both feet, I had built up a safety fund that would cover my expenses for 6 months as I worked on actioning Plan B if I needed to leave sooner than I might want to or plan for. 

IMPORTANT: If you have debt that stresses you out now, then it’s just going to get worse and more distracting if you decide to place all of your eggs in the startup basket. Consider finding steady income as a safety, even if it’s a weekend job that doesn’t require much abstract thinking (you might want to save your brain power for the week).

Steps 2: Give yourself an evaluation period and stick to it.

Doing this will help you become resilient to the risks that are naturally going to feel scary in the moment. It will also keep your eye open for ways to make it work rather than give up or distract yourself away from the source of the problem. For 6 months, as long as the founder holds up their end of the bargain as an employer, commit to giving this experience your absolute best. Soak in everything. Learn everything. Do everything.

Delve deep into any fears that might be scaring you away from your best performance, and then turn the lights out.

In these first 6 months, don’t just move past fear. Explore it and face your demons head on. By the time that evaluation period is up, you will have a clear idea of whether this is the right place for you or whether you’d like to continue down this path in your career.

Your judgement won’t be clouded by fears or the need to seek comfort if you’ve already conditioned yourself to feel them without running away. Unplug your night light.

Step 3: Know what you’re willing to sacrifice and what you aren’t

When you work for a startup, unless you have 51% ownership of the business, then you work for someone. The allure of entrepreneurship calls many good people to mistake a close company culture for ownership in the company. Don’t let someone else’s career priorities dictate yours.

Don’t sacrifice the things that are most important to you because you’re afraid of being seen as disloyal.

If you realize that you don’t want to make certain sacrifices anymore, or if the business is moving in a direction that you don’t want to be a part of anymore, then leave. It’s okay to leave and let people be pissed off about it.

Good people who deserve your attention will understand or eventually come around. If they seem upset, chances are, they’re thinking about how you leaving affects them. That’s natural. It’s human nature to project those resulting emotions onto the person causing disruption.

Still want to chase your dreams with a startup?

Go get ‘em, you scrappy millennial.

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