Startups are the most interesting places to work
Hello everybody!
What do you know about working for startups? In my life, I saw and faced many interesting and unusual situations during my work, and I believe that just-born companies and projects are the most valuable places for work. The most important thing that I realized over all those years is that there are no identical startups, but a common thing for most of them is uncertainty in the future. Today, I am going to share my experience with you.
The startup definition
Firstly, let’s focus on the definition of the term “startup” itself. There is a stereotype that startup is a group of IT-related people that meet at a Starbucks in Silicon Valley, where they come up with new ideas and get tons of money for its implementation. Of course, it can be a case; but in the majority of situations, startup is just a beginning of a new business whose model is not defined yet. Also, it is based on some unknown process, the outcome of which is hardly predictable.
Let’s say when someone opens a shop by copying the whole business model of another similar firm — it is starting of a business. At the same time, when some enthusiastic people make an online shop with a mobile shopping card in a mobile app, delivering all goods by couriers, canceling selling areas, and without confirmation that this concept will work — it’s a startup. However, the edge between regular business and startup is very thin, and my example may be arguable. More or less I’ve worked for the second type of companies, where the center of all efforts was the implementation of some idea with no guarantee of success.
After touching on and defining some terms, let me continue. But before that, I would like to mention that everything I write here is my personal opinion.
New born startup
The first type of startup I participated in was the implementation of a solution from the scratch with a single investor and high risks. When I joined the founder (I was a team member №2), there wasn’t even a line of code. I was the first programmer, architect, QA, etc. The atmosphere was friendly, but we didn’t have enough experience. It was the problem for all participants, including me. The MVP implementation took three months (now I can write the same thing in a month). Additionally, the wrong marketing strategy was selected. As a result, the project progress was quite slow, and we just ran out of money, despite the fact that we received our first clients. The worst thing was that the depletion of resources coincided with the Crimea annexation when all potential investors were scared due to it. They felt uncertainty and did not want to give money to any risky projects. Eventually, the company was closed, and I went to freelance for a while.
Startup within the corporation
After working as a freelancer, I joined an unusual team — the startup within the corporation. Officially we were called the “Department of Advanced Development,” but in reality, we were a semi-autonomous team. We were absolutely independent in selecting programming languages, databases, and organizing the working process. At the same time, we could not control financial resources, the hiring process, or IT infrastructure. Fortunately, we could build a valuable product and even attract customers. Another significant feature was that we used Agile, while other departments used the standard waterfall method. While working in the team, I understood all the cons of working using Agile.
Startup with single investor
After working in startup within the corporation, I joined my first fully international company. What made this job special was that the company focused on attracting new users and burning money on marketing. Consequently, there was not enough attention to the technical part of the product, and it was not a surprise because the final goal of the founders, to my opinion, was to sell the company to a main investor. I worked there till founders quitted, and C-level positions were replaced by managers from the company-investor. However, the team itself was absolutely significant, and I really enjoyed working with them. At the same time, it was a great example of a startup that was built around non-technical processes. It was hard, but interesting, and I learned a lot.
At the end
In general, I really like working in startups. Of course, they usually don’t have benefits like pension plans or guarantees for the next 30 years like General Electric or Deutsche Bank, but the process of developing something new is much more interesting. All decisions are made faster, mistakes are normal, and nobody is afraid to make them. As a rule, horizontal ties are much better developed in startups, which is a huge plus for me.
What kind of startups or just interesting companies have you worked in? Tell your stories in the comments or send them to me in private messages. I will be really happy to know more about your experience.
Vladimir Bolshakov
