10 Advantages of Working for a Start-up

For lots of candidates, working for a well-funded start-up can offer lots of opportunities to develop your knowledge and experience, whilst taking your career to a whole new level. Generally, you will be working as part of a small team where is likely you will be given responsibilities often far above those that you would receive in another company and be make decisions that both affect your career, but also the profitability of the company. For some candidates this is ideal, however for others, this is a total nightmare. In this blog post, we’re looking at start-ups and how they can seriously benefit your career over the longer term.

Risk Takers

Your typically start up is likely to be filled with extremely driven risk-takers who have taken a calculated risk. Generally start-ups, especially the smaller start-ups will not free cash flow and therefore will not be able to pay you market rate for your services. Rather than salary, they will provide you with shares in the business meaning that you’re success directly influences the value of those shares. If you work hard, those shares could be worth millions in the future.

Language Skills

Start-ups are generally trying to reach a global audience and therefore any language skills that you possess will give you an added vantage point from within. If you’re the only employee that speaks French and the company is focusing on developing the French market, you could easily be directed into a client facing role. Language skills can therefore help you develop your career or take your career in a different direction than you expected.

Pool Table, Climbing Walls and Even Free Food

Yes of course not every start-up has a Pool table in the office, but generally start-ups are about innovation and working hard whilst working in a fun environment. As a result the atmosphere is likely to be very different from a bank or traditional company where you will be encouraged to fit into the culture.

Your Own Rules

Generally a start-up’s culture will be far more relaxed that than a traditional company and this not only included the dress code, but also your working hours. Typically there are no suits, ties and other formal clothing required and whilst you will be required to attend meetings, if you’re a night owl and do your best work during the night it’s all possible with some negotiation. Start-ups generally want the best out of you and if your best work is done late at night, it’s possible to arrange this.

Responsibility

Apart from setting your own rules and diary, working in a start-up also gives you the opportunity for great responsibility at a much faster rate than you would in a traditional company. It’s not uncommon for graduates with only a few months of experience to be negotiating a contract directly with the opposite party or junior members of the team taking responsibility to impact the direction of the company.

Think Out Side The Box

Start-ups generally have limited resources meaning that you will need to make things happen often on shoe-string budgets and very little resources. Learning how to build something out of nothing is a great skills to have and working in a start-up will bring these skills to the forefront of you experience.

Mistakes

During your working career whether in a traditional company or a start-up, mistakes are common, however give the innovation that takes place within a start-up, you’re more likely to be forgiven for thinking big, but making a mistake. Start-ups will not forgive laziness, but will accept that not every idea their employees have will work out as they expected given the uncertainties surround innovation.

MBA’s

Personally I don’t think that an MBA is worth the money or the investment in time. That said, working in a start-up can easily be the equivalent to doing an MBA given the experience that you will gain in setting up and running a successful business.

Testing Ideas

Innovation is one pure trait of working in a start-up environment, however testing products is another and something that you need to get used to. Something that might seem a great idea on paper, in reality will be junk, however before you start testing it, you will not know.

Conclusion

Working in a start-up is not for the faint hearted. Those who make a success are typically calculated risk takers who believe in the business model and come with the drive and personal determination to make a success of their scenario.

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