In this article let’s take a look at pros and cons of joining an early stage startup.
This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and share the article if you want to learn whether you should join and understand startup and is it good and worth it or not.
So without further ado let’s dive right in.
Table of Contents
Should I join an early stage start up, is it good?
In my opinion you should definitely join a startup and it is good choice As long as you are trying to gain new experience, learn new things, and grow your network but if you are trying to join a startup to earn more money then It is not possible and you should not join startup.
There are many advantages of joining a startup like you have more responsibility and learn new skills, gain practical experience, share in the company and get unique work experience, etc.
Let’s take a look at all the pros and cons of joining a startup to understand whether you should take the decision or not.
Pros and cons of joining early stage startup
Pros of joining early stage startup
More responsibility
one of the main advantages of working in a startup is having more responsibility as compared to working as an employee in a company.
It is because, majority of the startups have less than 10 people working in it so because there are few people working in a startup each employee will have more responsibility and more amount of work will be distributed among the employees.
And because you have more responsibility as a person in a startup, You have more freedom, You can be more productive because you also get share of the company through ESOP so The more effort you put in the startup and grow it, your income also grows likewise, and you can express your creativity and innovative ideas freely, share your knowledge and ideas & work on them but you will not have such freedom and responsibility if you work in a company, because there is a process & SOP you need to follow.
More opportunities to learn things and grow
Another advantage is you get more opportunities to learn things and grow if you join a startup as compared to working in a established company because
there will be few or no people to supervise your work so you are completely on your own and you can take your own decisions which develops individual thinking, and also grows your confidence.
Since you are starting the business from the scratch with limited funds and connections, You get opportunities to learn various things doing them yourself like growing a business, sales and marketing, decision making skills, negotiation skills, working under pressure, time management skills,
communication skills, leadership skills, etc and more importantly you can gain valuable experience of growing a company from scratch to many heights, and your contribution will be large in the company which can give you a lot of job satisfaction because your contribution will be recognised and appreciated by the team members in startup
Grow your network
Another advantage is that you can grow your network and increase your connections.
This happens because there are less number of people working in the startup, each employee would have larger roles to do so you will end up meeting a lot of people on social media and events while growing your startup from scratch, and you will also find your future business partner and lifelong friends by working in a startup.
Unique working experience
Another advantage is you can have unique work experience in startup as compared to a company.
Many founders of the startup understand the importance of having a good team and employees working for the success of the startup, so because there are limited number of people working in the startup, the expenses of the employees would be less so the founders can afford providing many benefits to the employees such as,
- Free drinks and food at work
- Free gym memberships
- Discounts on services or goods offered by the startup
- A casual environment in which to work
- Flexible hours and work-from-home options
- Unlimited paid-time-off (PTO)
- Pet-friendly workspaces
- Shorter work weeks
- Place to take naps during work
And more importantly you can directly collaborate and talk to the founder of the startup, communicate your ideas and thoughts about growing the startup to higher level directly and also learn new things from him like problem solving skills, so overall working in a startup is much more unique experience as compared to an established company as it is extremely difficult to have such an interaction and conversation with CEO of the company.
Flexible working hours
Another advantage of working in a startup is flexible working hours, especially if the startup is related to technology then as an employee and member of the startup you can work right from your home by using just your computer and internet connection you can stay connected with your team in the startup.
This is because, in the initial days of the startup, there will be limited funds and no revenue at all so there will most probably be no office setup, and You might not have to go to a particular office to work because of this you can work from your home itself and enjoy flexible working hours.
Get into senior positions fast
Another advantage is if the startup grows bigger and becomes a success since out of 100, 90 startups fail but remaining 10 will succeed so there are more chances that you will get into senior positions in the company fast and also become a CEO as compared to joining in the company later as an employee.
This is because if you continue working in the startup for long period then the shareholders of the startup and also the founder looks at your loyalty and there will be very little bureaucracy involved in the succession planning of the startup so best and experienced employees can get into senior positions of the startup, since you join the startup in the early stage you can get more chances to become CEO and get into senior positions of the company because of more experience working.
There are several examples like recently Parag agarwal became the CEO of Twitter replacing Jack Dorsey, Parag was selected because he was working in the company for more than a decade and joined Twitter when it was a startup in the initial years, Just like this, you can see several examples where people who joined the startup in the initial days are more likely to get into senior positions and become CEO as compared to those who just joined the company after it became successful, as working in the early stage of startup gives you an edge to get into a senior position.
These are all benefits of joining early-stage startup, Now let’s take a look at the disadvantages.
Cons of joining early-stage startup
More risk
One of the main disadvantages of working in early stage startup is that there is a higher risk involved with your job.
The data shows that more than 90% of the startups fail out of each 20% of the startups fail in the first year 30% fail in the second year and 50% fail in the first 5 years of the establishment.
So unlike working for company which is more established and permanent organisation startups are temporary organisations so there is high chance of them failing.
So if you are joining a startup then it is more likely going to fail unless the leadership is excellent, The founders have did good marketing, market research and created right product and this is a disadvantage as it can lead to less job security and also waste your effort & time you put in the years of working in the startup.
Stress of work
Another disadvantage of working at a early stage startup and startup in general is stress and workload on the employees.
Because you should know that startups are newly formed businesses so they lack money and funds to be able to hire people for work so if you are trying to join a startup then because there will be less number of people working in the company you will have more responsibility and obviously more workload and work pressure to complete the job within the deadline so it can have higher stress levels.
Low salary
Another disadvantage of working for startup is getting less salary as compared to a company because as I already mentioned earlier startup is a newly formed business and the lack funds and money.
And also the data shows that primary reason why many startups fail is because of lack of funds and money to run the business and pay for the employees.
And if you are working in a startup then you should expect a very little amount of money as compared to how much of work you are putting in.
And many startup founders also give their employees a share in their company called ESOPs instead of some salary due to lack of funds and money in the early stage, since you are getting paid less money, You can learn to be frugal, learn money management and properly spend money which can be gift in disguise.
to be honest most people do not join a startup for salary but for gaining experience and learning new skills so You should not be surprised if you get less salary or no salary at all in the initial months after joining the startup.
Less guidance and too much freedom
Another disadvantage is having less guidance and too much freedom because of less number of people working in startups.
This is a disadvantage for some people who want to work under someone as a guide, if you cannot work on your own, You want someone to guide you, joining a startup can be a bad idea for you as there is no one to supervise, because startups give you a lot of freedom to work on your own and express your creativity so it has both advantages and disadvantages to it.
Frequently changing job roles
Another disadvantage of joining a startup is changing the roles and jobs of people.
For example, if you join any tech startup then initially you might work as a web developer then as the time passes on, You would become a marketer, negotiator, and designer depending upon your startup needs because you are some shareholder in the company in the form of ESOP, also because there are a limited number of people working in the startup.
This as I already mentioned earlier gives you more responsibility and learning new skills but it is also a disadvantage because it is no longer a stable job, You have to be open-minded and learn new skills all the time.
So if you want a more stable, predictable and clear job responsibility, role then start up is not the right option for you.
Lack of structure and resources
Another disadvantage is the lack of structure and resources in the startup.
If you see any startup in the initial days lack a lot of structure and resources like the founder and the employee of the startup work together on the same table.
Because of this, there will be less hierarchy of power and influence in the organization, and the employees who joined the startup will be confused as to who is taking which role because there are a limited number of people and a single person can take multiple roles in a startup,
employees might face issues in understanding the influence and hierarchy of power in the startup, they will be unsure on whom they should report if they face certain issue and problem in the startup.
On the other hand you will have less facilities if you work in a startup because of less funds and revenue in initial days for the employees as compared to working in a company like big office, place to chill and enjoy, etc.
This is also a small disadvantage especially for the people who try to join a startup after working for a company and getting used to working under a hierarchy of power and influence like a boss, It can be a little inconvenient for them to work in a startup because work environment will be different in both startup and company.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the things you need to know about joining a startup.
Do comment down what are your thoughts about joining startup as a fresher in the comment section below.
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