All our life we have had known that after one point, we all need to settle down with a stable job and have a family. This traditional mindset is not limited to a certain region but finds its presence almost at every corner of the world. Within this mindset was the “ideal” image of working life. The one where we take jobs at exiting companies and have a stable source of income while we plan our retirements. Should I Work For A Startup? let’s find the answer to your question.
Should I Work For A Startup?
Similar to Newton’s first law of motion, which states, “a body at rest remains at rest unless an external force is applied on it”, the traditional mindset too remained constant until it was challenged, although much later.
The challenge, rather the change, was the “start-up” world.
What Is A Start -Up?
Every company or business starts somewhere, some from the scratch, some own the existing one and revive it. Similarly, “start-up” is a term used to refer to any company which is believed to be in the initial stages of its existence or operations, much likely to be coming into existence from scratch. Generally, a start-up is founded by one or more entrepreneurs. The aim of the start-ups is to develop or maybe produce a system, service, or product that the founders believe has a demand in the market, or will be successfully accepted in the market.
Even though the startups come as a challenge to the traditional market, it is quite important for a change. Every era of human history has come up with new ideas and inventions to survive the new realities, and in a way, start-ups offer these choices. They bring in new ideas, products, and services in the market, and these, in turn, change the market and societies. Furthermore, they create new opportunities, competitions and inspire others to come up with new ideas, and the cycle continues.
The recent years have seen an immense rise of many startups in the market and many more are expected to come in the future. As of 2021, the United States has been proven to be the leading country when it comes to start-ups with more than 63 thousand startups coming into the market and making their presence within the same year.
In fact, among the many names that have made a success in the world of the startup include the home delivery services operating in the United States such as “doordash” and “instacart”. These names have offered such a huge change and impact to societies. Moreover, the very same services provided much help during the pandemic.
Additionally, any privately owned start-up that reaches a value of more than $1 billion is called a unicorn start-up. And if the same reaches a value of more than $10 billion, they are known as decacorn. The United States has a total of more than 400 unicorns. These include the famous SpaceX, Brex, Reddit, and so on.
Should I Work For A Startup?
Joining startups and working for any new company sounds very thrilling, however, they come with some risks involved. Hence, before joining any startup, one must question whether they genuinely wish to work for a startup or not.
Below are some points to remember before making such a decision.
Pros Of A Start -Up
Not every start-up is proved beneficial for all. An article stated, only one out of every four start-ups has a fair chance of succeeding.
Generally, working in a start-up is seems like a good choice for people who have a stable income and wish to explore more. Since start-ups are new businesses, they cannot guarantee a stable income, hence, somebody who wishes to work for a start-up company has to take that risk on their own. Hence it is said, only the daring and the thrilling ones can work for a start-up.
- More relaxation and freedom
One major reason people prefer to work for a startup business or company is because of the freedom they get. Since the company or the business is new, the environment remains quite flexible and relaxed as compared to a traditional business, because of the absence of any structured way of operation.
Since traditional businesses have existed for quite some time, they have a definite structure of how they operate and follow a certain pattern of work. This is absent in a start-up since they are new to operating.
- More room for creativity and experiments
Taking forward the earlier argument, start-ups comes with much freedom, which in turn gives room for enough creativity and experiments. New ideas and suggestions are easily taken into considerations in start-ups as compared to a business that has a history of long-standing.
Since they do not follow a certain way of operating, the start-ups take their chances and use new ways, along with the traditional ways, to make their way into the market. Hence, people who love to think out of the box can get a good chance to invest their time and energy in a start-up and have their voices heard.
- Friendly environment
Similar to the earlier arguments, the environment of a start-up is much friendly as compared to an old business majorly because the entrepreneurs are known to one another. Hence they start with a trust, an already existing bond.
Lack of structure lets the employee connect in whichever way they prefer, and the same is the case for communications. Due to this, the environment at a start-up is rather friendly and non-hierarchical. This is the reason why the ideas are appreciated too since almost everybody will be interested in your inputs regarding any project.
- Start-up community
Carrying on with the above point, while working in a start-up, you end up forming an inclusive circle of other entrepreneurs. Even though there are competitions in the market when it comes to start-ups, contrary to the popular belief, the start-up community, in general, is very inclusive.
While working on new ideas and projects, people end up forming circles of know people and creating a contact of people whom they can contact in case of emergencies. Such contacts generally help anyone in the long run. In many cases, they help one another in each other’s projects for good.
In this way, the community, in general, ends up becoming very known and inclusive to the employees. This also adds to why they have more friendly and non-hierarchical relations within any one organization/business.
- More opportunities
Thanks to more relaxation, and a space for experiment and creativity, working in a start-up offers a wide range of opportunities to the employee. This means they also get to explore and learn new things. This opens their door to opportunities and helps them in the future too.
Moreover, within the start-up community, they get to work on their preferred works and designs, and this way, they generate contacts of their own that may appear very helpful in the future.
With these opportunities, people end up learning new knowledge and skills that come in handy in the future. So, any employee that might want to learn new things may take their chances and work for a start-up company or a business.
- Personal growth
Similar to the above point, with new opportunities comes new growth, on a personal level. While experimenting and working on new ideas and suggestions, the employee gets to explore, which ultimately leads to their personal growth.
For a person with a passion for a specific idea or project, the start-up world offers a major opportunity. They get to work for their passion and with all the goods and the bad, they get to learn new things, gain new knowledge and experiences.
Cons Of A Start -Up
Like the other side of the coin, the start-up world has another side of its world too. The side that offers the harsh realities, its negative side of risks. As much thrilling it sounds, in a good way, there are certain consequences that one shall always be aware of. Hence, for making an informed decision, one must consider the following points.
- Unusual Working Hours
Just like the beginning of any journey, the beginning of any start-up comes with too much work. And to meet the deadlines, one got to work quite recklessly for a long time. This means one may work for very long hours without any break, or during unusual hours that go against the traditional work hours. Either of the cases is not preferred by any employee voluntarily.
In addition, lack of structure and stability in the business just increase the working hours and with it, the workload. Hence, working in a start-up can come with immense pressure on the shoulders of the employee be it in terms of the work hours or the work to be done during those hours.
Only the ones who are immensely interested in their preferred work and love to spend quite a lot of time while working for their passion may end up working in a startup and with it, during unusual and not so fixed work hours.
- Little to No financial stability
One of the major reasons why people do not prefer to work in a start-up is the lack or complete absence of a salary, which goes against the complete idea of why people work in the first place. Hence, as mentioned above, one shall generally only prefer to work in a start-up when they are backed up with a stable income. Though it is not a compulsory quality, it is rather a preferable condition.
Since start-up companies are the ones that are beginning their journeys in the market, one ought to know that success isn’t guaranteed, and with it, a salary can not be guaranteed. It is also possible that the employee does not get any paycheck for a while. Hence, one should take a risk on their own before joining a start-up.
This is also the reason why many people who wish to work for a startup do it as a side job, to work for their interests. Many entrepreneurs, while working in traditionally already existing companies, work on their ideas for a start-up side by side. In this way, they ensure a stable income while also working on their ideas. However, this can get quite exhausting and that is why not many entrepreneurs continue doing this.
- Involvement of risks
Carrying forward with the above two points, no employee wishes to work for a business or a company where they may face an absence of salaries and unusual working hours. Hence, it makes working in a start-up not everybody’s first choice.
In addition, as mentioned above, the very nature of a start-up goes against the ideas of what you expect when you get a job. Lack of financial security and future security in a world where we see a rat race every single day makes people question their choices. Hence it is said since there is no guarantee of the success of the start-up, the employee joins them with their own risk.
- Lack of resources
Although not the case for every start-up, most entrepreneurs have minimal contacts in the job market. This in turns results in them having minimal resources, especially financial. Thus, every decision taken by any start-up involves many things that are to be considered.
In addition, the lack of such resources adds to the failure of many start-ups, for instance, the final product may not be completed on time, or ever. This is why many start-up businesses seek financial funding before beginning their journey.
- Unsure future
With so many risks involved, as mentioned above, the future remains uncertain. That is why, since there are no guarantees for success, people ought to have backup plans for their future, in case things do not turn the way one could have expected them to.
With an uncertain and unsure future, people usually prefer to go towards the other side of the start-up world. However, many risk-takers, usually during their early or mid ages of “ideal” working ages take the chances of working in a start-up. But deep down, one must always remember that they can end up coming back and working in the traditional market anytime, anyhow.
- Lack of professionalism
The very idea that provided the good side of the start-up world such as a relaxing and friendly environment, introduces the risks that come in handy. With the lack of a well-defined structure, the chances, and presence of lack of professionalism increase.
No matter what anybody says, professionalism in any business or organization is much needed to operate well and in an orderly manner. However, the very absence of such an order is seen in the non-hierarchical and over-friendly environment in a start-up.
Even though such a scenario is not seen in every start-up, but much of them, since there is no stable structure in a start-up business, or may not be quite as rigid as happens in a traditional business, the chances of informal relations and an over-friendly environment may grow to a huge extent that may affect the work in the start-up.
For instance, you may have to do quite a lot of work on your own because your “friend-cum-employee” couldn’t come to work for XYZ reasons. Or your team might not reach any confirmed decision because of the opposite interests of the team members in the absence of a real authoritative position.
- Extreme pressure
With an unusual workload, unstructured workforce, the pressure may rise to a new extent. This acts as a turn-off for any employee. This may not be the case all the time, but such pressure increases during the time the start-up business enters the market. Catering to the reactions in the market can put the employees in a tough position, whether for good or bad.
Moreover, the constant lack of resources and a small, and sometimes unorganized, team can affect the employee both mentally and physically. This in turns results in the poor performance of the start-up business in general.
Conclusion
To sum up, working in a startup sure comes with many favorable factors such as freedom, a friendly working environment, and space for creativity, however, the very same factors can also lead to many downfalls such as an unstructured and unusual working environment, along with extreme pressure and lack of financial security.
Hence, before abruptly joining a start-up business or company out of excitement, one must consider these points and make an informed decision.
