10 Reasons to Join a Startup During Your Early Career
Here are some snippets from my learning experience while working in a startup.
Many people are skeptical of joining startups, fearing the lack of job stability and work-life balance; I was one of those people long back. I still remember that one of my friends had got placed in a startup with a handsome package only to be in position when the startup withdrew the offer, and he ended up being without a job after graduating; it was quite a stressful time for him.
In 2017, after working for 1.5 years in India’s top service-based org- Infosys, I had realized that I wanted to do something different with my career. And, seeing how India’s startup industry had grown in the last few years, I wanted to be a part of it. After careful considerations and applying to many startups, I finally got an offer from i2e1 that had a strong connection with my alma mater, IIT Delhi. There were just too many positive points about i2e1 that made me excited to join their tribe.
To give a brief of their LOB (line of business), i2e1 is in the Wi-Fi technology space in India. If you have used public Wi-Fi in a cafe or restaurant, there’s a good probability that i2e1 is behind the technology. Ever since I worked for i2e1, I always recommend my friends and juniors to work in a startup at least once in their careers. I am going to list the valuable lessons I learned below.
1. Taking ownership
Unlike corporates, startups have fewer people responsible for decisions, making one person responsible for a lot of things. And, ownership is something that such an environment teaches you. Being the senior-most design resource in the startup, I was responsible for many things that would have been handled by multiple people in a larger org.
In i2e1, though I was hired as a UX designer, I collaborated with other teammates and took care of the branding, print design, offline and online marketing collaterals, marketing strategy, pitch presentations, and more. I spent some nights in the office to finish off the designs, I was dedicated to the product, and I was doing it purely out of passion, not an obligation. Prashant (the Product Manager) and I would regularly speak about creating new strategies for Linq (our product) on our way home in the Metro and in the cafeteria while having lunch. We would brainstorm ideas even outside office hours out of passion.
Don’t worry about working at late hours; such occasions are rare and female employees are not at all forced by companies to work late.
2. Accepting mistakes
Remember how we as kids would keep mum when we did something wrong? Or hide our mistakes in notebooks? And, growing up, we learned to blame other people or situations?
In startups, it’s the opposite. You own the good, and you also own the bad. Satyam and Nishit (founders), who lead i2e1, cultivated an amazing culture where accepting mistakes was not punished but rewarded. In the early days, I was surprised to see colleagues admitting that they made a mistake and shall fix it, but later I also was one of them.
The ‘ownership’ I spoke of above comes at the cost of ‘accountability.’ And, whenever we would see a drop in numbers in Google Analytics, I would proudly find and accept my mistake as a designer that we would fix and ship in the next build.
Anyway, when you look for a change in your career, make sure that you find companies with leaders like Satyam and Nishit who cultivate such open culture.
3. All are one
In India, an open-door policy and flat hierarchy are the gifts of startup culture. Even though most startups give fancy designations to employees, all employees are equal and have an equal say in everything. You don’t like something; the CEO is just sitting in the cafeteria for conversation. You like something; you are free to go any person to learn more about it. Everyone is approachable and given equal respect.
4. Cross-team collaboration
The open floor comes with an added advantage: talk with everyone. In MNCs, cubicles and separators are taller than the desktop monitors limiting conversations. As a designer, I never expected to work with teams other than the product.
But, in i2e1, I worked with every single person from every single team. There was always something or the other going around, and such opportunities only made me a better person with a stronger experience. I had built a great relationship with the engineering team, which made me grow exponentially in terms of product knowledge. I learned the entire company’s process, all the teams, and their functioning, be it sales, marketing, or even ops. In i2e1, everyone was so smart and intelligent that I often felt how deep the ocean of knowledge is.
I am a firm believer in finding opportunities to learn new things whenever and wherever possible. And, startups can certainly facilitate such experiences.
5. Habit to learn
Continuing from above, I have always been an avid reader, trying to learn new things, and in i2e1, I found many friends who were like me. Thanks to i2e1, my love for books came back. Almost everyone was a regular reader; I would speak to my colleagues: GB (Gaurav Bansal), GM (Gaurav Mehra), Vertika, Maanas, Anugrah, Rohit… and everyone to learn something new from what they had read.
Satyam and Prashant were my reading partners. Prashant and I would often travel together back home in the Metro, read books while standing, and exchange what we learned from the books we read.
And, it wasn’t just work-related; I learned a lot about other things from other colleagues too- learned about emerging technologies from Rohit, learned about Android from Tarun, learned about fitness from Ravi, and learned to solve Rubik’s cube from Sandy.
6. Doing things without boundaries
The larger the company becomes, the more rules start coming in. While rules make the game fair, they also make it slow and restricted. In larger organizations, a decision to change even a small text must go through several people in the hierarchy (otherwise called process).
But, in startups, you are your own boss, and of course, the CEO decides what’s final, thus making the process as fast as a bullet train. There are no toolkits, no (strict) design guidelines, no single way of doing the job, and no bureaucracy… enabling decision-making simple. Full freedom to explore creativity and an open platform to throw more ideas! I love this aspect the most.
Freedom to explore new ideas is what makes startups successful.
7. No/Not possible isn’t the first answer
This one is slightly controversial but important. In life and business, many decisions are difficult to take, there are many difficult tasks, and many people want things the easy way- by saying no to the difficult tasks. In larger companies, it is easy to say, “This is not possible,” and get away with responsibilities. And, there is a good probability that such a statement might not get questioned beyond a certain point.
In startups, difficulties and blockers are considered opportunities. Instead of saying no, i2e1 fostered a culture where teams are pushed to think beyond the obvious and find workarounds for the problems. If not possible one way, then what is the other way? The only ask is to achieve goals by trying all possible fair means.
8. Faster validation
In larger companies, only primary stakeholders have a say in decision-making, but in a startup, since everything is at an open table, everyone gets to speak their opinion.
In i2e1, thanks to the open culture again, my designs would get validated not only by-product and engineering but also by colleagues from finance, sales, ops, and even the support staff! Every person comes with a unique background and mindset. Such open feedback sessions make way for more creative ideas and problems that sometimes get overlooked.
Startups also give opportunities to get your hand dirty and be on the ground talking with real users of your product, allowing you to watch them use the product in real-time and give feedback in the natural environment. For example, in i2e1, we would regularly go out in the market and speak to users.
9. Exponential learning
No matter what designation you get to hold in a large organization, you are ultimately a spoke in a giant wheel. But in the startup environment, all the above points that I mentioned hold true. You will learn much more in a short period than you would in an MNC (no offense). Startups teach you things that are beyond designation, responsibilities, roles, experience, and age.
10. Entrepreneurial and leadership mindset
Another important aspect! Working in an agile setup with like-minded people who are passionate about bringing changes, challenging the status quo, and disrupting the industry with innovation, you are bound to become a mini-CEO who doesn’t wish to settle for average.
#Bonus: Friendships beyond work
This is the section where I don’t have to write an individual’s name because, in i2e1, I was friends with every single person. We were just not colleagues but great friends. Well, I no longer work in i2e1, but to this date, I speak to many friends regularly. We even have a WhatsApp group for i2e1 alumni.
Closing notes
Startups are of different kinds, with different cultures, different working styles, and different outlooks towards work and employees. Therefore, it becomes very important that you look beyond big salary and research about the startup’s CEO, culture, and attitude towards the employees. Some startups could make your life hell, and some startups are doing far better than even big MNCs in terms of work culture. Choose your startup wisely, and don’t be afraid.
