After a month: was it worthy to change corporation to the startup?
by Gediminas Galkauskas, GoWorkaBit
Just a month ago, after 5 years of working at the corporation, I’ve decided to move on with my career in a startup. I have already written a text about this change and I am getting a question “So, how is it?” much more often. The time to share has just arrived*.
Don’t plan too much
At my previous workplace — international company — we have been planning. A lot. What will we say, how will we react if we will get such question and how — if other? That is normal, if you know that the shares of the mother company are being sold on the stock market, every piece of information can have an impact on the prices of the shares.
When I was planning first marketing actions of GoWorkaBit, new generation recruitment platform, I have heard: very well, but do not plan too much. It is better to do and just then to solve the problems if there are any. If something is not working, let’s leave it without sorrows, if it is working — let’s add some more oil to the fire. This point of view on planning reminds me of Marshmallow Challenge.
Higher goals and tolerance on mistakes
Corporations everything measure in KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators). The same is for the supplement for the salary. In this case when you are planning, you become more cautious and try to raise the ambitious goals moderately.
When I came to GoWorkaBit I learned a new word — OKR (Objectives and Key Results). More about it here. OKR also includes KPI’s, but it is a tool to make up goals, not a tool to evaluate the work you have done. It is recommended to set higher goals, which can cause you a discomfort. If you reach 70% of the goals set with OKR — it is already a success. This point of view allows to set more ambitious goals. And when you set higher goals, you achieve much more as well.
One more thing — tolerance on mistakes. At my ex-corporation nobody was fining for the mistakes, however, if there were less of them, everybody was more happy. At GoWorkaBit nobody forces me to make mistakes, however everybody says that I should not be afraid of experiment and making mistakes. Of course, if you make mistakes, you have to learn from them. I have to admit, that this gives motivation.
Openness and sharing
For corporations, it is very important to control the information which goes externally. When your shares are on the market, you have some restrictions. But there is also specific point of view: if you share less information about your business externally, less information competitors will have on you, and more advanced you will be.
GoWorkaBit has a totally different point of view — there is always an open doors’ day. Startup thinks that if you share the information and experience with businesses with the same attitude, the more advantages your business will have. This one I have to still learn J I like this point of view, but during the first month I’ve asked quite often: “Are we sure that we want to share this information with others?”.
Working how and when I want
“So where will be your office?” — I heard this question often. My startup does not have an office. It means that we don’t have our own gym, PlayStation and other interesting things, which are usually associated with startups. I can always choose where and how I want to work and I do that at a perfect Vilnius Tech Park coworking area. Before nobody was counting my working hours that much, but now the freedom is very big. The only thing which matters — to learn how to effectively use it.
During this month, I got convinces that startup is the same business, but with very different mindset, which inspires me. So the adventure continues;)
Remark*: although corporations have many features in common with each other, same as startups, in this case I am talking about my own experience, which can differ from working at other corporations or startups.
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