7 Things You Need To Know When You Work At A Tech Startup
1. Pulling rank.
Everyone in a startup should think of themselves as a permanent apprentice, regardless of their experience. If you’re doing it right you’re solving an old problem in a bold, new way and it’s therefore your first rodeo.
I once had a boss who exclaimed, “I am the managing director of Product, goddamit!” When the UX team told her that her last feature wasn’t testing well. After that outburst she was the soon-to-be-fired-Managing Director of Product.
2. Give all you can – the rest is just ego.
Your job is to make everyone feel a sense of ownership, pride and progress. That comes crashing down when you steal credit or withhold praise.
3. Everyone who’s in the office should be in the zone. Everyone else should leave.
Work late when you need to – not just to look busy. Someone who isn’t sleep-deprived or family deprived, or day-spent-hiking deprived has more insight, focus, perspective, and passion for their work. The optimal use of an hour is more important than the most hours. Investment banking associates work long hours to demonstrate obedience, startups work long hours to build something that is important and time sensitive.
4. Everything you know is an assumption that you must be willing to test.
If you’re not comfortable with that – then you’re in the wrong field.
5. If something is taking too long – abandon it.
After years of hitting product walls, and occasionally breaking through them I think all delays can be attributed to three things: a lack of team alignment, poorly measured technical complexity and inability to climb out of a rabbit hole that should have never been dug.
Pick a time-box, stick to it or get out.
6. Go in with a willingness to leave.
Anger and disenchantment are the lethal cancers that destroy startups where everything else is working well. Once you feel that way you should quit.
7. Once you don’t want to solve a problem over a coffee you should quit.
This is one of those litmus tests that I wish I had known at the outset. If you can’t bear to sit across from the person you need to solve a problem with, then you should quit. If you can’t build enough rapport to get unstuck, then you’ll stay stuck.
The inverse of this is an organization where everyone is looking out for each other and building something important. That is the most thrilling, fulfilling sense of forward momentum you can ever experience. Hope this helps!
Producer’s note: Someone on Quora asked: What are some cultural faux pas when working at a tech startup? Here is one of the best answers that’s been pulled from the thread.