11 Things You’ll Learn At A Startup

1. Silence = no growth. If you’re a quiet person, that’s well and fine. If you never contribute, you will not migrate a centimeter from where you’re sitting eight hours a day (let’s be real, ten hours a day). This is true in any workplace.

2. The office consists of people who are grinding it out, 200% committed to the company because they want to change the world, and people who are there because they have no idea what they want to do and lunch is provided every day. This is true in any workplace with free lunch.

3. If you fall into the first employee segment with blood-oath level faith in the company, you will relocate without hesitation when it uproots you on a three-week notice.

4. The CEO is young. Your boss is your age. They are where they are because their belief in the company is greater than the fear of risk.

5. Risk is real, and eminent, and it’s entirely plausible that you won’t have a job in 60 days.

6. You might need to ask five different people five different things, because no one has all of the answers. At the same time, it’s likely that there is one person with all the answers, and you don’t need to schedule a meeting with them to get a minute of their time. You can walk up to them directly.

7. The company may grow rapidly without any new hires in sight. You are shouldering the workload of at least 1.75 employees, maybe three, and it isn’t reflected in your salary. But you’re young, there’s a constant hum of excitement in the air, and the massive responsibility is giving you more valuable experience than an entry-level job in any other environment could.

8. You will form an opinion when the company hires individuals abroad to do nearly the same work you do for a fraction of what you make. No matter what your opinion, you are directly experiencing globalization in your professional life, and it makes you question and affirm your beliefs about business.

9. If you’re a native of the city that the company is in, you may as well be a unicorn. Everyone is from the opposite coast or another country. By default, talking to your coworkers and hearing their stories will inspire and motivate you.

10. Young, sexy, cool companies riding the market trends come and go. To take off, at the center of the company needs to be heart- a concept that touches people and validates million dollar investments, and the money that you and I would ordinarily spend on a night out.

11. You will need nights out. A start-up, in essence, is work-hard, play-hard life.