How to get a job at a start-up
Start-ups are enjoying a great image nowadays, and people are looking for ways to get a foot into this promising sector. In this article, I will explain the advantages & disadvantages of working in the start-up sector and how to apply successfully.
The charm of the start-up industry
Many of us are associating start-ups with a modern work environment, flexible working hours, and the promise to have a real impact on the company’s product and services. Media all across the world is contributing to this hype, stressing the success of the so-called unicorns (start-ups who made it and are evaluated with millions of dollars). Working in a start-up can be like a rollercoaster, and many are intrigued by the fast-paced environment and tremendous growth rates .
Most start-ups market themselves as hip, urban, diverse and attract employees with a great skillset. Learning curves seem to be extremely high and a highly-ambitious, committed, and goal-oriented work culture is promoted.
Are you ready to join this corporate culture? Do you have what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur? Are you enthusiastic about the speed?
Here are some indicators to check before applying at start-ups in your city:
Pro:
- Take on real responsibility: Be responsible for yourself and your own actions
- Wear different hats
- Be part of a fast-paced company journey
- Learn a lot!!
- See your ideas become a reality
- Have a real impact on the company's portfolio
- 100% identification with the product (pro if aligned, definitely a con if not)
Contra:
- The workload is heavy (do not underestimate)
- Flexible working hours will most likely end up in working on weekends and evenings
- No job guarantee (due to unpredictable growth rates)
- 100% work focus. As an expert in that field told me recently: Either have a wife/husband already, or you will stay single 🙂
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So, if you are interested in committing yourself 110% to the job keep on reading. If not, you might want to reevaluate your thirst for working at a start-up. The start-up atmosphere is consuming and will ask everything from you. Take a moment to reflect on what is important to you in your life, think about how vital work-life-balance is to you, re-check the pros and cons and decide if this is the path you want to follow.
To summarize we can state that working at a start-up is more than „just“ a career – it’s a lifestyle. It’s a 100% commitment to making it work and to let it be fulfilling to yourself. Research companies you are interested in and ask their employees out for a coffee to get a better feeling for what it looks like. Each start-up is different, depending on so many factors (size, industry, founder structure, location, funding situation, etc.) so there is plenty of different „lifestyles“ to chose from.
Typical jobs at a start-up
Let’s see what kind of job positions are offered within start-ups and what kind of skills are required. If you find your skillset check out the different job title that are used to describe the position. This will help you finding the right postings on the job portals.
Web Development
These guys are the backbone of the whole company and put ideas into real code.
Useful skills:
Front-end web development (HTML,
CSS, JavaScript, responsive design,
JSON, AJAX, AngularJS), back-end web
development (Ruby on Rails, APIs, Node.
js, Heroku, MongoDB), collaboration,
problem-solving, product development,
programming fundamentals
Job Titles:
UX Design
Take on the customer’s view of the company and make his experience as smooth as possible. Think about user flows and making the service as smooth as possible.
Useful skills:
Job Titles:
UX designer, user interface (UI) designer, product designer, user researcher, information architect
Product management
Usually, product managers work very closely with the founders and are responsible for product development and making it beneficial to the company.
Useful skills:
Customer development, Agile and Lean methodologies, SWOT analysis, communication, prototyping, user interviews, wireframing and storyboarding, business model design, market research, project management, pricing and financial modeling
Job Titles:
Chief product officer, product manager,
product lead, product owner
Data sciene & Analytics
Data is the modern currency of all businesses worldwide, and Data Scientist knows how to read data and turn it into useful information to improve the product.
Useful skills:
Python, machine learning, SQL, UNIX, Git, R, Tableau, Excel, modeling techniques, data visualization, big data, natural language processing, statistics, critical thinking, storytelling and presentation skills
Job Titles:
Data scientist, data analyst, quantitative researcher, machine learning engineer, data science analyst, data engineer.
Digital marketing
Digital marketers combine traditional marketing know-how with modern technologies. They evaluate success on the basis of data and rethink traditional marketing as a whole.
Useful skills:
Email marketing, branding, content strategy, social media, paid social, customer relationship management (CRM), search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), marketing analytics, business strategy
Job Titles:
Chief marketing officer, director of digital marketing, digital marketing manager, email marketing manager, digital marketing coordinator, content producer, content marketer, content strategist, social media manager
When is the best time to join a start-up?
As stated, start-ups are developing very fast. You are either growing a 100% quarter-to-quarter, or you are out. Therefore working in a start-up is very time conscious business. It is essential to think about when to join: Are you more the brave explorer who wants to be in the company from the very beginning, being ok with earning less but working more? Or do you prefer at least some kinds of processes and routines and want to join in a later stage?
Here is a chart of the different funding stages you can find in a start-up. Each stage brings along changes to the company’s culture, employees‘ responsibility, and a different form of seriousness.
How to get a job at a start-up company
I have been to a couple of events about this topic, and I want to share with you my Top 4 takeaways. If you are serious about applying for start-up jobs check where you are at the moment and take the time to invest in your preparation. Competition is definitely real, but it’s all about mindset and preparation:
1. Know how to tell your story
Networking with people is definitely more efficient than browsing through job boards. Especially in the start-up sector, it is all about going out there and selling yourself. Be prepared before showing up at networking events. Especially here in the US, people are very interested in helping you out. However, you have to equip yourself with a short, sexy, catchy elevator pitch. Something like a little tweet that summarizes: Your preferred industry, your desired company size, and the type of role you are looking for. In my career workbook for Expat Partners, I have a whole chapter on how to establish a successful elevator pitch. Check it out here.
2. Gain instant experience before applying
Many of us are thinking about applying for a start-up while working the traditional corporate 9 to 5 job. Hence, we have to proof, that we can translate our skills to this new working environment. Break down your current tasks in bullet and check which ones are useful in the new work environment and which will be hard to sell. Think about how to add knowledge of a new industry without working there: Make yourself an expert, read, tweet, and write about it. Connect with people in the industry and learn what’s important right now. Become the best client in the industry you are looking forward to entering. Learn all about the customer experience, the competition, and have ideas for improvement handy before the interview.
3. In the interview: Become the master of the number game
As stated, start-ups are acting in a highly competitive field with a „winner takes it all“ attitude. Hence, successful founders, no matter how emotionally attached to the product, are very number-focused. They wake up in the morning checking the spreadsheet with the most critical KPIs (Key Performance Indicator), and they are getting to bed doing so. Get yourself in the position of the founder: What KPIs are relevant to this specific business? How important are return rates of goods and how could they decrease it? What about customer loyalty? What is done already and what could be improved. Show your ideas in the interview and get a feeling for what KPI is important and then think about: How could you as an individual contribute to the company’s success?
4. The importance of funding cycles
Most founders will spend the majority of the new gained budget into their workforce. So if you want to ride the golden wave look out for start-ups that are about to get their new funding or just transferred to a new funding stage. Worst timing is probably when funding is running low, and you can’t be hired even though you would be a perfect match.
Here are a few of my favorite resources to stay on top of venture capital news:
Start-ups & Expats
Different factors are making start-ups either a best or worst choice for expats and expat partners. While it is more about your personal mindset, here are my pros & cons from an expat partner perspective:
Pro:
- Perfect opportunity to shape your skillset. You will learn a lot! The advantage of having to wear multiple heads will add a lot of skills you did not imagine before!
- You will have an incredible competitive profile if you find companies that are also focusing on your home country. Watch out for start-ups that want to expand to your market and your default knowledge will be of great value.
- Getting rid of bureaucracy: While being sponsored by a start-up can get tricky you will definitely profit from the flexible arrangements you can make in terms of your role, the use of your skills and your compensation package (as long as you won't ask for more vacation days :-))
Contra:
- For the founder, each hiring decision is more than just a job. Founders are well aware that the right or wrong employee will decide on the company's success or failure. So the hiring process can often be quite emotional- it's the founder's baby that is on stake here. Hiring an expat might seem risky for many thinking about cultural differences or potential cultural misunderstandings.
- It will consume you 100%. If you are thinking about embracing the new local culture, starting new hobbies, getting to know people, and travel the country, working in a start-up won't help you there. The fast-paced work environment is challenging, and many told me that the start-up job is all they can think about next to sleeping and eating 🙂
- Work permit: Depending on the funding stage, the start-up might not have an HR department yet. If you are looking for a company that will sponsor you a work permit, this is definitely something to have in mind for.
So, what do you think about entering the start-up sector? Interested? Ready to take action? Or are you more aware of your personal attitude towards the company culture now? Let me know in the comments below. I truly hope you find this post helpful to decide and get the job that you want!
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