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The experience win or fail is invaluable. You’ll be telling your story and contributions for years to come. It’s even better if you’re excited about the mission.
Ask about the revenue and how much they’ve raised or expecting to raise. What their strategy is for growth or finding product market fit.
You could lose a job even at the biggest companies right now. Take a gamble and learn how the sausage is made and decide what you want out of this experience. Who knows maybe you’ll become a VP or start your own business.
Everyone has made some great points. I’d just like to add two more ideas. It all comes down to your appetite for risk, more risk higher upside. Not sure if needed but some context for how startups raise vc money, it generally goes seed round, series A, B, C, D and so on. The closer you are to seed, the risker it is but higher the upside. When you’re interviewing, interview the startup on things like funding, their current financial state and what they expect in regard to employee equity. Have them explain how they structure employee equity and do some googling to check.
Second point is to heavily focus on a good founder and culture fit. If it is a smaller startup, any founder worth their salt will be interviewing every final round candidate. Evaluate the founder(s), if they have repeat exits from previous successful startups that’s a very good thing.
Overall, based on what you said, I’d tell you to look at primarily more mature startups (series B and on) and just trust your gut - if it doesn’t feel right it probably isn’t. Look for startups working on something you’re personally passionate about and take a risk, the experience is worth it.
Mentor
I’d focus on four issues: (1) industry; (2) size; (3) fit and (4) location. From the above, you’ve got (2) already picked - you want a company that’s raised > Series C and is a safer bet. It’s easier to enter startup would here anyways - more need for the consultant skill set, lower risk, and you get your feet wet with startups (really, scale ups at this point) and build a skill set that will make you highly recruitable to early stage startups should you want to do so in the future.
Once you know the size, look for companies in an industry you’re interested / experienced in and with a mission / roles that might work for you. Do you want fintech? digital health? Food? Logistics? Etc. see what jobs they have open on their career page, look at recent hires on LinkedIn, try to ping any second degree connections that work there.
Finally, location matters more to some than others. I don’t want to move to SF or NYC unless it’s for a dream job at this stage of my life, but it’s where most of the funding and talent are. Other industries have hubs (Seattle, Boston, SD, Austin, Miami, Etc.). This might be even more important to you than industry, so worth considering.
The experience is great no matter what happens. Truly invaluable…. And, if you end up loving the startup environment like I did, you’ll continue to grow and expand in that world. I just moved to a new (for me) startup because my previous employer was getting too far from that startup feel. I was drawn to this particular company because I absolutely believe in their technology and what they are trying to do - I am aligned and on board with their mission and vision.
Ditto to everyone saying it’s invaluable whether the startup succeeds or fails. I left a boring agency job for a startup that failed six months after I got there, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I loved wearing a bunch of hats, having a mile-long to-do list, and generally having autonomy to help figure out what was important for the company. I’m now looking for another startup to join. If anyone is looking for a solid creative leader, DM me! 😀
Flip a coin
I write a newsletter about this exact thing:
Startupon.substack.com
Financials, total addressable market, and year over growth. If they’re not will to share the revenue their driving, big red flag.
Evaluate the people leading sales… CRO and VP. They should have a long history of success and possibly prior exits.
But how to find start-up companies?
My fave is
https://angel.co/
Whatever you pick, you have to expect it will fail.
If you want to work for a startup for a job, stability, or even just income, you're in it for the WRONG reasons.
And since you implied needing stability, I'm going to come right out and say it clearly: you should not work for a startup.
We work for startups. We work ourselves. We handle 1-3 at a time, fewer when they can pay or the equity is good. We have no idea when they'll end. We have no idea if we're working tomorrow.
I'm exaggerating a bit. We don't work for a startup; we work for startups.
Why? 90% fail.
You'd have a better job betting on blackjack at a casino.
https://seobrien.com/working-for-a-startup
Find one where you WANT to work knowing tomorrow, your job might be taking out the trash because it has to be done.
Find them where?
1. Incubators
2. LinkedIn, Pitch book, ProductHunt, AngelList
3. Local meetups
4. Industry Specific innovation orgs (like mine in MediaTech)
Find one you love, and then find a few more so you have a pipeline for months from now when it's time to change 💗
Find a startup through your network. Working with someone you have worked with in the past who has a track record means your risk is lower and chance of success higher
After finding the opportunities/startups I was interested in, at minimum I would:
• Look up their profile/recent activity on CB/Pitckbook/TC for red flags
• Check out the backgrounds of their founders and leadership
• Check out their funding, then research the VCs
• See if anyone in my network has any insight/experience with them
For me, I wasn't looking to join a startup specifically, but if I was going to join a startup, I'd want something that was more established. I focused on Series C and later (keep in mind this doesn't always reflect company culture, it was just my layperson's barometer).
This is likely frowned upon, but I asked about runway during my final rounds of interviews of a Series B. I'm not sure if that was a great way to ask about stability, but they were very forthcoming. I didn't end up joining (went with an E), I appreciated their transparency.
Hi,
I'm about to accept an offer from a start up, and I've only worked for Fortune 500 companies. I had the same questions & worries as well. But I feel good & confident about joining this one & look forward to more of a casual culture. This kind of happened by accident I just applied to the role on LinkedIn, and later found out it was a start up. It is a mature start up though - series D. And they recently got more funding. Look the companies up in crunchbase & comparably to see their financials, funding & culture. To look for jobs in start ups I would use Venturesome. All the best!