Make 2018 the year you join a startup
Losing that Christmas weight, finally getting that HD WAM, eating more healthily or learning a new skill are all so 2017. Why not make 2018 the year you try to join a startup? Here at Textbook Ventures, we believe that it’s important students explore the startup world at least once during their time at uni; because let’s face it, you’ll be too tired once full-time work starts!
Once you take the blue pill into the startup world, whether you actually become a founder, stay in the startup world or leave, that’s completely up to you!
Why should I join one?
Great question, young Padawan. I hear a lot of students who hesitate to join a startup because of a few reasons: no reputation, lack of job security, or it doesn’t pay too well. While all of those reasons are true, the risks of joining a startup will only amplify as you get older and the opportunity to start or join a startup will greatly reduce as you have more responsibilities.
So why not do it now when it is actually the least risky? Being young can be scary, but it is also the best time for you to take a leap into the startup world because you have plenty of time and resources to make up for failures. Whether you succeed or fail, joining a startup is a great way to learn about life and yourself. Here are three reasons to join a startup:
1: Employers value startup experience
Yes, that’s right! With so many companies investing millions of dollars in “innovation”, there is a huge shift in what attributes employers look for in new hires.
When hiring young people, it is expected that they do not have the years of experience to develop their respective craft. That’s why employers have started to look for soft skills like having a growth mindset and problem solving skills, both of which can be developed through your experiences in a startup.
2: Meet a range of people
One of the benefits of being part of a startup is that there is an extensive external community where you can not only meet interesting people, but also learn. By joining a startup you’ll go to tech-focused “Meetups”, join industry groups like Sydney Startups, or get inspired by other entrepreneurs at startup demos. Textbook Ventures, is involved in major tech and industry meetups within the community so follow us on Facebook to get updated on future events and get involved!
I have also met some of my closest friends through the startup community and the best part is that the friends you make can join you in learning and growing together in your respective ventures.
3: Learn, a lot
Leaving the most important reason to last, joining a startup will naturally mean that you will learn a lot. The speedy pace at which a startup operates means that you will be bombarded with so many different problems during your time there. While everyone’s experiences are different, my time at my previous startups have taught me some incredible life lessons that I wanted to quickly expand on:
- Learn to learn from failure. Failure is a fact of life. But for many of us, we are still quite sheltered from real life until we actually graduate and take on responsibilities. Developing a growth mindset will mean that you will capitalise on failures instead of dwelling on them. In 2016, the startup company I was working for received a cease-and-desist letter that pretty much said we would be sued because of our name at the time (You Chews). This could have been avoided if we had investigated trademark rights further in the beginning. However, we managed to capitalise on this failure and used it as an opportunity to rebrand and revise our business model within one month.
- Don’t know something? Figure it out. Unlike large corporations, startups don’t have a team of 500 people to monitor one project; instead, one or two people are usually given this task. As a result when working in a startup you will learn how to develop, iterate, and manage projects and tasks all by yourself. In one of my previous startups my was official titled was “UX Designer”, but due to the limited manpower of the startup I was often involved in a wide range of projects like growth marketing, product management, and operations. As a result, I was able to learn so many useful technical skills and gain a well-rounded perspective on different areas of the business.
- Learning to be resourceful. Startups don’t have the luxury of having infinite resources like large companies do. Lacking human and monetary resources means that you have to learn to be creative with your solutions. With office rent being one of the biggest concerns for startup founders, there were times where we were actually office-less. To save money, we would leverage university WiFi (my whole team was using my student ID at one point) or get free office space as part of innovation programs.
Awesome, you’ve convinced me! How do I start joining one?
Unfortunately, there isn’t just one place for you to start looking at startup jobs. Just to kick you off, here are some helpful sites:
- Angelist, which is also a great site to check out startups in the Australian ecosystem
- Silicon Beach, an Australian-specific jobs and community board for the startup ecosystem.
- Ribit — a job site specifically aimed at students
- Virtual internships at Inside Sherpa
- Hatch has a range of part-time work for students for larger startups and corporate companies
- Your uni’s job boards will usually have some good opportunities
Other than the links above, we also post startup jobs on our Textbook Ventures page or through our mailing list.
With all of that being said…
Every person is different and every startup is different. Not all startups have leaders that care about their employees’ growth or wellbeing. And perhaps the startup world isn’t for you at all. In fact, there are some startups that have a bad reputation for exploiting workers, promoting unhealthy workplace culture, and lying to customers. Additionally, most startups cannot give you amazing pay and the job will often be really time-consuming. In such cases, it’s important to re-assess whether you want to stay or get out of that startup.
Despite this, the experience that you gain from joining a startup is invaluable. So this year, break the mould and join a startup; it might be the New Year’s resolution that changes your life!
Feel free to reach out
If you want further advice on jumping into the startup world, feel free to e-mail me at jenny@textbook.ventures. Always up for a coffee or a hot chocolate (if you don’t drink coffee) if you have any questions.
Feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook or our website!
