This essay is written in collaboration with Startup Edition – find this week’s essays here.
The startup life seems glamorous from afar, and sometimes from up close. There are rebels, pirates, and ninjas here. There are rags-to-riches stories and others who fall from grace after flying too close to the sun. In short, there are all of the archetypes you wish to see in the startup world. So how do you get a job here?
The short version of this answer is: we do startups because we can’t not do startups. Startups are the fastest way to level up personally and professionally. Startups make powerful friendships and lifetime bonds among teammates. And startups are a place where people do amazing things and learn how to do things they’ve never done before.
Startups are also emotional roller coasters that demand the routine of a monk to fight the continual randomness of change. Startups give you the opportunity to make bigger mistakes than you’ve ever made before. And startups are the place where you can’t hide behind a meeting or a title to avoid doing work. You must own your problems, and your successes.
So, Why should you work for a startup?
You should work for a startup if you like challenges. You should work for a startup if you like the idea of lifelong learning. You should work for a startup if you’re a person who is resilient and doesn’t want to know what they are going to do day after day. And you should work for a startup if you want to push yourself to do more than you ever thought possible and only realize it when you look back and see what’s happened.
Ok, I’m good – how do I get started?
Startups need doers. They also need people who can seamlessly shift between strategy and tactics. You need to be able to roll up your sleeves and do whatever is necessary to ship your product, make your launch date, and finish your code. You also need to remember that you have a life – and to make space for yourself and the things that you believe it – or you will be consumed rather than tempered in the startup fire.
Start by doing, and with a beginner’s mind. That doesn’t mean that you need to do things at a beginner’s level, but rather to find the thing you know and can do better than anyone else. Now, find a way to present that skill as a benefit for a business. Next, find the business that need that benefit.
Finally, never think that you’re done learning. We’re all wired to think that life is static. In fact, there’s change happening all of the time. So if you want to survive in startups – and elsewhere – you need to be resilient and practice improving the way you respond to change.
This essay is written in collaboration with Startup Edition – find this week’s essays here.
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