Working in a Startup - The Good & The Bad

Why work in a Startup

Context

In the past few years, startups have grown exponentially, introducing us all to new innovations and ideas. Startups they hire people from different backgrounds, especially young people. Even seasoned professionals choose to work in startups, especially from consulting. In the past few years, Startups have been the biggest employers for students across all premium engineering and MBA colleges. When personally hiring across such colleges, I could sense a keen interest from all students to work in a Startup as they provide with most people the right platform to learn multiple things in a short period that is very hard to come by in typical organisations

To anyone interested to explore opportunities, let me elucidate what one gains while working in a Startup. These are based on my personal experiences while working in the Taxi Mobility space along with numerous conversations I was lucky to be part of people working across a wide spectrum of Startups in India

The Good

Responsibility and Learning opportunities

You are part of a small team from the start where your work approach and problem-solving ability paves the way for you. The learning curve is steep, wherein you are expected to grasp new concepts quickly and apply them without any delay. No matter what your level is in the team, you are expected to play active role, expected to deliver from day one.

As a result, you becomes more accountable, dependable, adaptable, and eager to learn new things for advancement. You are able to operate effectively in a startup since employees are empowered to make decisions when necessary.

Business Exposure?

You are exposed to difference facets of a business early on, allowing you to grasp what impact you have on the business quickly. Flexibility to explore other functions within a company is encouraged. This provides you with a long-term advantage as in today's time Generalists tend to find more sucess than specialists. (You can refer to this?book?to understand more on this)?

Career Opportunities?

Working for a startup offers excellent opportunity to take the initiative and lead, as your responsibilities scales along with the startup. Startups offer the great opportunity for young people with a thirst for experience to advance their career.?

Startup years are like dog years; there, one year is equivalent to seven elsewhere. The amount of learning I personally expereinced within one year was way beyond I could expect working in any large company within India. I worked in Jio for around a year and when I look at my first 3 months at TaxiFoSure, I could clearly see my learnings were almost 5X more.

Working with Smart People?

Startups are filled with enthusiastic, motivated individuals who genuinely want to work there. Perhaps the nicest feeling you can havecan have at work is waking up each morning eager to tackle a new challenge. You are challanged on an intellectuall level, which was one of the biggest joy I personnaly felt during my time. The numerous debates and discussions help you in ways thats it can only be experienced.

Most startup founders are available for interaction on a regular basis in both formal and informal setting, helping you gain a broader perspective . When working in Jio, it was a major event whenever Mukesh Ambani used to visit the office but in a Startup, chatting with the founder over a cup of coffee is pretty normal.

The Bad

Working in a startup presents an environment unlike any. Though it presents multiple advantages, not eveything is as rosy at it appears on the outside.

Choatic Environment

Changes happen too quickly and many a times, based on investor feedback. The changes are implemented in a jiffy leaving most employees unsettled. The constant change in focus causes one to feel disillusioned easily. You are expected to deliver unrealistic results and failure to do so puts one on the backburner, leading to job insecurity every other day. As the startups mature, the fun in the workplace ends and it soons becomes a chaotic workplace where you are confused on whats happening and whether what you are working will just be cancelled in a moments notice.

Work Life Balance

You are expected to put in long hours, which can range from 12-18 hours on a daily basis for 6-7 days a week. Trying to take time off form work is highly impossible as work loads just piles up that unless its an emergency, its hard to take time off for most people. Lately profit pressures have piled up on startups, it becomes more of a sweatshop nowadays than the informal ambiance that it was known for in the starting.

Once the startup hits a certain scale, expect experienced people from large organisations to join along the ride, who bring in a culture shift in the workplace. Meetings soon become the norm which lasts more than an hour and then you are expected to finish your daily work before calling it a day. The long days with never ending meetings leads to heavy burnout, which is common across middle and higher management levels. Very few have focussed on adjusting the culture for a better work life balance.

Work Environment

Though most people join a startup hearing stories of informal work culture that lets them dress casually, work at their convenience and superb pace of execution. It's a rare occurence unless the startup has developed a robus work culture and process. Very few startups have matured to this stage and within 2-3 years of operations, the culture become toxic in nature.

In most cases, I have noticed that young employees who joined at very early stage lack the experience to those who join later on, often leading to ego clashes. These soon spread toxicity within the team, leading to people to move to other teams internally or to newer organisations.

In lot of workplaces, maximising employee productivity is the norm, where a person is just treated as a number on an excel sheet. A conversation with any Cab driver or delivery person will shed light on how hard it has become for the people at lower levels to sustain similar earnings level .

Lately most startups have been pushed by investors to be operationally profitable, leading to drastic changes in their business model, leading to stressful work environment for everyone across the board.

Conclusion

Working?in?a?startup?provides?learning?opportunities?that?are?hard?to?come?by?anywhere?else.?In?my?personal?view,?if?you?are?comfortable?with?frequent?changes,?I?would?suggest?working?for?a?period?of?2-3?years?to?set?the?stage?for?better?future?career?prospects?.?The?problems?you?face?in?a?startup?are?multiplied?when?especially?in?comparison?to?working?for?a?conventional?MNC,?while?also?helping?you?learn?what?not?to?do?with?least?career?impact.?I?would?certainly?recommend?conversing?with?a?few?individuals?to?get?a?sense?of?the?company's?and?even?the?team?you?will?be?joining's to avoid future shocks.

Feel Free to drop me a message in case you wish to enquire on anything related to working in a Startup

Originally Published on my blog