Joe Teo
Joe Teo
Sep 4, 2018 · 2 min read

This is the recruitment ad from the Irish explorer — Ernest Shackleton when he was looking for men to join him on his Trans-Arctic exploration.

I found this really relatable as there are lots of parallel between his job ad and that of an early stage startup.


To anyone considering joining a startup,

1) You have to be motivated by the journey — learning and solving interesting problems

2) At this stage, building and learning > monetary compensation

3) Join a startup because your sense of adventure outweighs the inherent risk in a startup


“grayscale photography of ship on body of water near at snowy mountain” by Marius Fiskum on Unsplash

To startup founders, be transparent and honest about the inherent risks of your startup. It’s so much easier to pitch the opportunity and gloss over the risks associated with it.

This is so so important because you will

1) Attract the right people with the right motivation where the journey > compensation

2) It sets the right expectations of the journey — hard but rewarding

3) It will save you the stress caused from misaligned expectations and incentives down the road

Ernest Shackleton probably found the right men for the job because of his transparency and as a result, attracted people where their sense of adventure outweighed their fear.

First HeyOrca group pic (From left — Sahand, Me, Navid, Nadia) Sept 2015

About the author: Joe Teo is the Chief Executive Orca of HeyOrca. He and his pod of Orcas are on a mission to help marketing agencies around the world take back their day. He lives the #AgencyLife vicariously through his customers. Joe is passionate about startup building and learning about life.

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