Is a startup right for you?

Gauri Chabbra
Go to almost any business school and you will find that there are about three times as many people who claim to be interested in startups than actually pursuing their career path with a big company. Why? Because startups are interesting…
Newspapers splash stories about startups that made it big,or crashed or burned, and we always think, we can do better. In case you are a risk taker and have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, startups are just the right place for you.
Let us look at the good, the bad and the ugly side of startups…
THE GOOD:
For all of you who are fresh out of college startups are a place where you can satisfy your entrepreneurial itch as well as see all the theories you studied in the classroom translating into reality. You have a long list of reasons for going in for  a startup.
Diversity of skills:
In an established firm, there are specific roles for specific jobs. On the other hand, in a startup there is always a dearth of resources, both human and material, you will have to wear multiple hats and it would help you hone your diverse skills. Unless you are narrowly focused on just one field, in which case you should avoid startups, this can be a great thing. You will get to develop a more diverse skill set, which will help you in your future job search.
Leadership opportunities:
When or if your start up grows, you will be in a great place to lead your own team. Many people join a company and find that within months they are expected to manage new hires.
Each time a bit of your work shipped at a big company, you can say,” I did that”. And that would make you happy. At a startup, however, you are not only shaping the company in how you perform your immediate responsibilities, but you are also offering feedback on all aspects of business.
Rapid results and rewards:
For all those who wish to wish to see instantaneous results, startup is the only option.You won’t have to wait to see the results of your work in the real world, it would happen very soon and would be there for all to see. That holds true for any decisions you make as well.For better or for worse, the outcome is visiblewithin months enabling you to learn from your mistakes and successes faster.
Besides, if you get very lucky,you could be very rich, very soon.
Manpreet Singh Dargan, Sr. Quality Analyst, started his career with a startup firm Safaltek, in the tricity area. He says,”The company had a total head count of 20. I was appointed as a tester but I found myself interacting with clients, handling finances or thinking up new product ideas. Because of the flat organizational structure, I was able to interact directly with the CEO.  Instead of handling a small component of a larger project I was a part of the brainstorming, engineering and execution of a marketing campaign, product launch and was involved from start to finish. Before I realized, I was wearing multiple hats; that of a Business Analyst, Team Lead, and Domain Lead which would not have been possible in a large IT giant.
I also got an exposure of different testing tools, Project management tools, CMMI Level documentation and realized I had a very fast growth trajectory and within a span of 3 years, I joined another company and graduated to be the QA lead managing a team of 11 employees. It helped in developing leadership qualities, team work, time management and organizational skills.
Today, I work with the professionals who have come from highly reputed companies like HCL, Infosys, TCS, etc. I owe all this to my previous experience and working with a startup”.
THE BAD
Startup burn out is a real thing. The following stresses tend to wear on people the most:
Long hours:
With the amount of money and careers depending upon a start up’s success, long hours are critical.Those who do the bare minimum do not last long and startups do not have any qualms about firing under performers that bigger companies do.
Unclear job description:
You were hired to be a Marketing Manager and now you are looking for office space. And sometimes you are calling in people and interviewing them. Tough, seems like you are diluting your job description. You realize that by the time you actually start assuring quality, you have done a number of other odd jobs. That may mean you spend less time what you love doing.
Low pay:
With very few exceptions, startups tend to pay below industry standards and may compensate for the difference by paying you ESOPs( Employee Stock Options Plans), which are no use till start up is chugging at its own seams. Plus the perks and the flashy benefits are missing. The earliest employees of Tata, Reliance, Google and Yahoo have a lot of credibility, but who knows the XYZ company that was founded 3 years ago. Having to scrimp and save due to meager salary may frustrate you.
So, for all those who believe in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and wish to go by the affiliation needs would feel frustrated by some ‘no name’ company on your resume.
Learning curve:
You may learn the skills to multitask but there is hardly any chance to hone your core skills as there is a very negligible amount spent on training. Big companies can teach you a structured way of solving problems, under the guidance of more experienced professionals, while those at startups are learning on the go. And if your co- workers have never spent time at a big company they may have never been taught how real companies do things.
Bhanu Jain, a Quality Analyst who started her career with the IT giant Infosys says, “While pursuing my BCA I got recruited in the then Infosys Technologies Ltd via a campus placement drive. And I can proudly say that I was among the very few from my college to have got that big opportunity to start my career with a company of that stature.
On the first day of joining, I was, like my other batch mates, astounded to see the whole infrastructure that the company has – the buildings, the security, work force, facilities etc. During our training, we were educated a lot about how things are like in the IT sector. Our training included everything – from professional communication, office mannerisms to all the technical knowhow. This, in my opinion, is the biggest advantage of starting career in a big corporate – you get all the trainings up front. You get polished from a mere fresher to a corporate professional. Also, the starting salary package you get from corporates is comparatively higher than the ones provided by startups. As you go along the path of your career, you will, at each step, have people with vast experience around to mentor you.
That being said, we cannot disregard the fact that it’s the individual who has to work hard and smart to get noticed among the herd. You definitely have to broaden your skills to outshine others and not to be just a cog in the wheel”.
THE UGLY:
Rapid job switching:
The ugliest part of joining a startup is – before you realize, you may be jumping from one hot coal to another. The reasons may be –  an ego clash with the CEO(remember he is as new to the company as you are), the startup may buckle under its own pressure, another one may start veering in the wrong direction, and lucky number may be the one you decide to start yourself.
Rapid job switching becomes a part of your life, and you need to be prepared for this constant change.
The only silver lining here is that because your coworkers will have worked at so many places, you will be tapped into abroad network of people. You can build upon them.
Well, startups and big companies have their own share of opportunities and challenges.
It all depends on whether you wish to be a small fish in a big pondor a big fish in a small pond.

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