Reflections of a newbie in a high-growth start-up
Before joining Circular I had been with the same company close to 7 years. Although I went through several roles and even moved to a different country I could still do most of the things having my eyes closed. That’s how comfortable I had gotten with the organisation and the people I worked with. Not saying it wasn’t challenging at times, but I knew enough about the product, the processes and the people that even when it was a completely new project I had the confidence that I would figure it out.
Then I decided to switch things up! I left my comfort zone of 7 years to join another start-up. After my first day I got home and thought to myself “What have I done?!”, because I was so overwhelmed. And it’s not like I did a whole lot during my first day that would make me feel like that. It was from the immense pressure of the unknown that was ahead of me and from the feeling of not knowing anything about my new job.
I am now almost 1 month in and let me tell you — it does get better 🙂 I thought I’d share 5 things I learned from this initial experience and share some tips that might help you.
1) You will learn a lot and you will learn fast
On my 2nd day I was already right at it approving orders left and right. On my 3rd day I was asked to write up an experiment to grow our business which I have never done before. Every day has been something new and things change super fast. That means everyone has to be able to learn quickly and adjust the course if/when necessary.
Tip: Learn to go with the flow. You might not know everything yet and you don’t need to. Lean on your previous experiences and strengths you have developed over the years and trust that you can figure things out. The cool thing in a start-up is that you won’t be doing the “figuring out part” on your own as you can always bounce ideas with your colleagues.
2) You will make mistakes (and so will others in your team)
One Friday evening I noticed I had made a step in a process incorrectly. I was happy I caught it because that meant I could go back and fix it, so no customers would be impacted by it. I told my colleague that I have messed up a bit and she was eager to help me out, but luckily I already knew which customers needed to get checked out. It felt good to be able to clean up my own mess!
Tip: Even when you have a guideline/manual in front of you make sure these aren’t missing any important information because in a start-up things change really quickly and keeping everything up to date isn’t always feasible. But never just blindly follow! Keep your thinking hat on and start noticing patterns early on that could flag any potential errors.
3) You will get to do more than you signed up for
When you have a team of 15 people and 1 million things to get done it is inevitable that everyone has to do things that isn’t in their “role scope”. So far I have managed to help out in customer support, get a go at sourcing, organise a meeting for a business customer, help build internal processes that aren’t related to my team, help with customer engagement and education, growth etc.
Tip: In a start-up you can’t get stuck in your role. Every day brings things that someone has to do and that person might be you. Take this as an expansion of your role and opportunity to learn. It might not be sexy or fun, but it will help to bring the company forward or help out someone else in your team.
4) You have to speak up and collaborate
Luckily my previous company and role gave me a very strong foundation for that. My “default” setting is to ask questions, challenge and share ideas and/or feedback. One of our values at Circular is “Seek Unusual Knowledge” and two of my favourite virtues that go with it are “Treat ideas roughly, and people kindly” and “Ask why a lot”. It really helps to keep the environment healthy while focusing on getting the best outcome for the customer as a team.
Tip: I know it’s intimidating to share your ideas or challenge a founder on their idea, but it is necessary. Just because someone is in a certain position in the company doesn’t mean they always have the best ideas. Over the years I have learned that collaboration and partnering with people in your team actually results in way better outcomes.
5) You get to solve real customer problems
My previous company was also very mission driven and kept its customers in its heart all the time. Based on what I have seen over those few weeks I can confidently say it’s the same at Circular. When customer makes a request to receive their device earlier than our current delivery timelines indicate, we always try to do our best to make it happen. That means almost everyone in the team needs to pull their weight and get things done quickly.
Tip: It’s very rewarding feeling seeing a happy customer leaving a positive review and you know you helped to make it happen. So in everything you do make sure you think about the customers and what their needs are rather than what is easier or cheaper to do. Also, learn to listen customer feedback — do customer interviews and research, speak to your customers, listen to what challenges customer support faces etc. These are all good avenues for learning!
Working in a start-up will test you in all the imaginable ways, so it’s better to learn how to embrace the unknown and get comfortable with it rather than try to resist it. It’s also not for everybody. If you enjoy routine tasks, clear manuals and processes and slowly ticking at your desk then probably you won’t enjoy the fast based and ever changing environment and that’s OK too. You need to like and thrive in the “organised chaos” that most start-ups are.
I hope these 5 points either encouraged you to take on your first start-up gig or gave you a realisation that “this isn’t for me”. No matter what the outcome — the main thing is to find what makes you happy and do it well!
