You probably shouldn’t work at a startup
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It’s overrated—both financially and emotionally
Evan Armstrong is an investor, founder, and adviser. He's a lead writer at Every, where he writes the Napkin Math, a publication focused on business breakdowns, by the numbers. Find him on Twitter: @itsearmstrong.
TL;DR
- This article is for someone trying to decide whether to work at an early-stage, venture-backed startup.
- There is a romantic vision of startup employment that doesn’t hold up under close scrutiny.
- Business model risk is extreme and the financial opportunity cost is significant.
- Typically we assume that a startup is a better overall employment experience, this probably isn’t true for most people
- There are some circumstances where working at a startup makes sense! But it is important to go in with open eyes.
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This article was originally published on Every, a publication and writer collective focused on business.
Comments (9)
Steven Jang@steven_jang
WaveOn
Startups are overly glorified time to time.
In the end, it is just another form of company and work. Nothing magical there.
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Invisibility
I appreciate people should be going into startups with open eyes, but aren't all these downsides the magic of startups? If there was no risk, lots of work, etc, etc, it wouldn't be exciting and you wouldn't be able to chase the rewards/dream/goal.
Neomad
I've seen startup jobs fit like a glove for some kinda people:
- those people that don't like routine.
- those who want to be promoted fast (once I worked with a guy that went from analyst to director in 4 years)
- if you like the stock options (imagine if you have 0.25% stock options in a company that turns out to be a unicorn)
- they are fast learners and they adore exploring multiple subjects
I also have seen people who built a second family inside a startup because its culture was so amazing that people would spend a great amount of time together and it felt like home.
As for me, a startup sounds appealing because I do like to have high decision power and see my work impact the whole organization. I never NEVER had the opportunity to see that working in multinationals.
Its a matter of choosing which "cons list" you want because I can guarantee we have an equally large list of cons in big corps hehe
Absolutely right. I was offered for but I rejected and think it to be a good move.
I believe this post is written by someone who is motivated primarily by earning money. Well i worked at noth startups and investment banks (the big 4) but I haven't found the fun working in startups that I found working at startups.
Startups offer the best kind of work which large companies don't. Of course the money startups offer is not great but work is too good to offset the money part
Anania
@prasanna_sagar1 So true, working in start ups gives you a sense of accomplishment that you can see the impact that you are making in Big Corporation the feedback loop is delayed and in some positions you cannot even see it. In general Startups make you to be more creative and express you opinion and input more freely
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