The two most important things that prepared me for startup life
These days startups and being part of a startup have reached an almost cult like status. Or perhaps I just subscribe to all the wrong blogs (or right ones). The reality is that working at a startup is great. It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done in my career, but startup life definitely brings its’ own pros and cons. Thankfully there are a couple things I’ve experienced in my life that I feel have left me really well prepared for this roller coaster ride they call startup life.
What are they?
1. I worked at a big company
My big company experience taught me that process is important. Yes, believe it or not, despite being an all-in agile practitioner, I still do value process. Processes at a big company are designed to keep a big machine moving. You’d be surprised that a small machine can get bogged own sometimes as easily, if not easier, than a big one. Processes and learning to embrace them can act as insurance to keep your business moving and keep decisions being made on time. For me that’s an important lesson learned while I try to keep my startup boat moving forward.
I also learned that I don’t need to have all the answers. Chances are someone has answered it already. Even if your mousetrap is completely revolutionary, the way you iterate through your designs, the way that you gather feedback, and the way to approach your problems — these are all areas where you could probably make use of an existing model. Don’t reinvent the wheel when you don’t have to. Big companies sometimes force you to do this, and other times big companies simply give you access to more resources allowing you to discover these answers for yourself. Don’t work in a vacuum, even if you are a one-man shop.
Working at a big company also taught me humility. You know what? There are a lot of really smart people at big companies. Much smarter than I am, much more experienced. I guess it’s just a game of numbers, when you have thousands of coworkers, there are bound to be some that are superstars. These people were an awesome wealth of knowledge to learn from on the job. I met and worked with people with dozens of patents to their name, people who had tried and tested every marketing or sales strategy under the sun, and people who just generally had the longevity to be able to measure their careers in decades not years.
Big companies also deal with a lot of customers every day, that’s how they got so big. Whenever I have a painful conversation with one of our customers today, big or small, angry or happy. Rarely am I surprised. Looking back I had those conversations before… many times (at least in tone, or in theme) when I was at a big company. And I learned to deal with them with the support (and insurance) of an established brand with established relationships, and with people around me who knew how best to approach and address problems.
2. I had a kid
Startups are stressful. A LOT of blogs and books focus about how thrilling startup life is. Startup this, startup that. Who’s going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg or Aaron Levie? Which company will be the next big thing?
You know what? For most of us (and even for those bastions of success) startup life is VERY STRESSFUL. Managing very small budgets, managing investors, finding investors, all while trying to change the world with your idea. It is hard. All of it, and it can be a grind…
But I have a son. He’s 5. He keeps me centered. There is something incredible about your life that changes when you have a child. First and foremost, your perspective on what’s important, what’s not important, and what constitutes satisfaction and quality of life changes once someone calls you dad.
I love my startup. I love my team, and I love the idea we are building. But I love my son more.
No matter how stressful work life can get, I know that it will never be as important as hugging my boy. And for me, that gives me perspective. Knowing that success or failure of my startup won’t actually be the end of the world keeps me going.
I am not building a startup to get rich (really I’m not). I’m trying my darndest to build a startup, because I think we’ve got an amazing idea that can help a lot of other entrepreneurs, and ultimately will be something that I can look at, or look back at, be proud of, and show my son.
Whether we’re a success or we’re a failure (which in its own odd way is its own success) it doesn’t matter. I know that this experience will be (and already is) something that I’m incredibly proud of, that I can tell my son all about over a sandwich or while playing catch one day.
So there you have it. It could very well be the worst startup advice you’ve ever gotten. Or it could be the best. Most likely it’s somewhere in between. Well hopefully anyway ☺
