Zoox CEO Aicha Evans on opting into startups: "If you're going to join a startup, you can't be afraid of hard."

Startup life can be really exciting. At LinkedIn, we’ve just come out with our annual list of the startups people want to work at most. I’ve been really involved with this project. These are companies like Doordash and Brooklinen that are on fire. Join one, and your whole career may get a great push forward.

But of course, startups are risky. Most never make this list. Many don’t make it at all. Joining one can be a gamble. You have to be smart about it--to pick the right company, and to join at the right time. So how do you do this?

Today’s guest is Aicha Evans. She runs the self-driving startup Zoox--it was on our list last year. And, it didn’t qualify this year--because it got bought! By Amazon last summer.  

Aicha chose to join an interesting company, at an interesting time. Her career journey--and the story of how she got this right--traces itself to three things:

1. She was a curious kid. A tinkerer and a traveler who put her entrepreneurial spirit to work wherever she was.
2. She was judicious in her timing--she waited to join a startup until she’d exhausted her learning opportunities--and shored up her safety net--in corporate life.
3. She chose wisely. 

You can download the episode to hear about it, or listen to it below. Then, please, share your own thoughts and tag them #HelloMonday so I can jump into the conversation.

??Here are some highlights….

On why you join a startup: "A lot of people think about money as the outcome. But I really think about what happens when you leave this earth. Did you leave it better?"

On passions: "You know you found it when you see it both in your work life, but also in your private life. So find that thing that no matter what."

On why money can't be the only motivation: "No matter how much money people make, they want more. They want something different, or what have you. They take it for granted."

On moving into management: "One of the toughest transitions, and I credit a lot of sponsors and coaches f[or helping me with this], was to switch from being the best doer to enabling the team overall, collectively to have the greatest output."

On how she chose a startup: "I wanted to work with founders that needed somebody like me (meaning someone who could operate at scale and bridge technology and getting to market) not because their board told them they needed somebody like that, but because they felt that they needed somebody like that. And yeah, Zoox basically ticked all the boxes."

On the actual work: " If you're going to join a startup, you can't be afraid of hard."

On the advice she takes from mentor Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel: "He says, 'bad companies die during a crisis; good companies survive; and great companies thrive."

?? Office Hours: Taking your questions

Have you worked for a startup? Are you considering it? This week on Office Hours, producer Sarah Storm and I will talk about our own experiences with startups. And, I'll share a little bit of what I've learned over the last 17 years of reporting on them.

If you haven't been to Office Hours, I encourage you to join us. It's our coffee break, quite literally--a time to get together with listeners for a little community. Sarah and I go live every Wednesday at 3pm EST to talk about the week's episode, get ideas for the future shows, and generally catch up. We've got a steady group of listeners who join us every week and quite a few people who pop in occasionally. Sometimes we invite guests; sometimes we keep it very informal. If you have an idea for a guest, or thoughts on startup life, or you just want to come see who puts the show together, RSVP below or email us for a link at [email protected].