A Note on Working at a Startup

Having met a lot of people who have a misconception of how is it to be working at a startup, I was motivated to write this.

Table of Index

• Where does the wrong idea comes from

A lot of people I meet and discuss work-opportunity at startups, seem to have this notion that startups have pathetic work culture.

Some quite popular notion among a huge mass is -

- Lots and lots of work
- Working Saturdays, and no limited or fixed work hours
- No definite hierarchy, unclear route of promotions and hikes.
- Financially unsecured. God knows when the company would shut down.

While most of these are very contextual (different companies have different dynamics, and they differ a lot), this narrative is not true for many startups.

Not all startups are same, like not all MNCs are same

Culture practices we should look for

There's no silver line when it comes to best or worst practices. Nevertheless, there are a few things that I look for, and a few which I avoid in a startup.

The good part -

Vision

Sounds cliche, right! Well what I look through their vision is, how confident are they on their bets.

Think of this, would you want to get operated upon by a doctor who practices part time, is not very confident of his skills ?? No, right. Then why would you join a team who's not sure of their vision. "If it works, if we grow, if we survive" aren't phrases used by visionary teams.

Things to avoid

Extreme work hours

Quantity doesn't naturally means Quality.
Companies who think that working a couple more hours would get them to scale or reach product-market fit faster, are usually not so competent. I avoid working Saturdays, love casual Fridays, no meeting days once a week or so.

Negotiations

Typically, companies that negotiate a lot are usually short-sighted. They don't have long term plans or good startegy for long term game.

My own experience

From my own experience, I can list a few things about the startups I have worked for

• Flexibility in working hours. You are free to pick up your own working hours, till you ensure that you do your job deligently, and are able to communicate with the rest of the team quite well.
• Monday to Friday working, with Fridays actually being casual.
• Infinite leaves policy. I have been told in all these startups on day one itself that I should not bother to count no of sick days left, or cancel my friend's or family's plans because there might not be leaves available. What they expect for a minimum is to keep the team aware of our plans, so that others aren't dependant and blocked by us.
• Quality learning resources and materials, and a decent package to invest in our health.

Conclusion

While it is quite possible that many startups don't have a relaxed work culture, that's not the entire narrative. It's in good interest of ours that we must do proper research about the startup we are joining, and not make assumptions.