Board 8 > Anyone worked for a startup before?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm interviewing for a medical startup this afternoon that seems really cool and will help a bunch of people (and ultimately cost way less money for those people than our current broken system), but I've heard "startup culture" is a completely different animal from both corporate and small business perspectives, which is my background.

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Poor pay, excessive work, no benefits. I kept doing it a bit part time while working this government job, but it's not worth it.

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trdl23 posted...

I've heard "startup culture" is a completely different animal from both corporate and small business perspectives, which is my background.

You should just ask about the hours. If you feel unconfident in the answer, let them know your concerns and see if they respond reassuringly. The interview is a 2-way street.

A startup is just a small business that's growing. You aren't necessarily going to have to work long hours just because you're at a startup. You're definitely more likely to run into unrealistic expectations at a startup when compared to another company, but it's not a foregone conclusion. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but they don't apply across-the-board.

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Make sure it's not a Theranos.

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i've worked for startups my entire career. it's okay. you set your own boundaries. if you show up a little early and leave on time, people will respect that

they might cross their fingers and hope newer workers drink the kool-aid and stay late, but i'm assuming employment is always at-will where you are. worst case scenario, if they start demanding you work late you can just work for a different company. i don't know what role you're being hired for, but startups generally look all right on a resume. startups are typically more vulnerable to having siloed information and needing every single employee.

you can ask what the hours are, and they can lie. i would ask once, and maybe ask about the overall culture as well.

there was a person at a startup i worked for that stayed past 7 every night. then they had this revelation that they wanted to date/have a life, started leaving at 5, and the company has continued to love them forever.

only thing i can think of is if you get roped into dev ops duties- they might want deployments to happen at night, in which case you can negotiate different working hours

the pay is generally less than working for a large company, but theoretically you might believe in the mission more or enjoy the comparative autonomy or higher responsibilities. stuff happens faster at a startup and there's less red tape. if you're young and want a work social life, there will be more young people to hang out.

the exception is if the company and concept is actually mind-blowingly good. the smart move is to repeatedly switch companies and boost your salary until you find one that you know will succeed, and get as much equity as possible

i can't give much advice without knowing your role, my knowledge is fairly specific

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Yeah it's hard to give generalized advice for startups since they're all different.

I worked for one for about a year, and it was fine. The pay was not good and I was working as a contractor, but it was interesting and the experience helped land me a much better job.

I guess I would just say, get a sense of their funding and future plans if you can so that you're not caught off guard when they decide to close things down or "pivot".

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VintageGin posted...

I worked for one for about a year, and it was fine. The pay was not good and I was working as a contractor, but it was interesting and the experience helped land me a much better job.

This was my experience as well, but I only stayed for four months because they needed extra hands for one specific project that had a very defined scope. Their management was a little bit older and had definitely been around the block a few times.

The atmosphere was pretty relaxed, luckily my pet allergies weren't bad back then because there were usually a few dogs or cats hanging out around the place.

I'm glad I did it, but I don't see myself going back to one soon.

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banananor posted...

startups are typically more vulnerable to having siloed information and needing every single employee.

I thought silos were a problem more for corporations. The thing with startups is there's more visibility into the executive team and operations and they're not so resistant to change

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