No, you're not a startup!
Hello, good morning dear reader!
It's been a while since our last encounter.. Well to be honest I have written a full article, but pledged to only share it or act upon it after I've finished writing 60 articles (so we still have a long way to go).
Anyway I'm just back from skiing after a long nice week in Poland.
While there, I've been contacted by a big major IT company and that's what brings me to writing this article.
This huge multinational is looking for Java engineers to work in their new department which feels, and I quote:
"like an entrepreneurial start-up, but with the support of the world's largest IT and consultancy"
And here's where lies the problem:
No mate, no! You're not a startup and your company doesn't feel like a startup!
This is a trend that has been on the rise in recent years. Many big companies and big corporations want to feel cool or look cool, and attract young talents by pretending being something they're not. By selling the whole startup lifestyle and startup dream.
I have personally worked briefly in a couple places where they brand one of their departments or teams as being that "independent with support of" kind of startup. I have heard of so many other companies doing the same or trying to do the same.
Well let me tell you what you are:
If you're doing things right and/or doing things the way you say you do, you're probably a company trying to embrace the future. You're probably a company that already realized that old ways of working in old rigid structures will be outcompeted sooner or later. You've realized that things are moving faster and faster, and that remaining a slow dinosaur with very complex hierarchies and a lot of bureaucracy, will only hurt your business no matter what.
You probably have a great company culture, or at least are working towards it:
If you're getting to the point where things are starting to feel "startuppy", where you have a great company culture; A culture of openness, transparency, cooperation... Well it probably means you're a company with a great company culture! But that's about it! You're not a startup and will never be.
You're a company that is embracing change, that is accepting that things need to be different now.
People are wanting more work-life balance, and you're listening to them. You're letting them work remotely.
People are wanting to have more input, and you're listening to them. You're giving them a bit more space for some autonomy.
People are complaining of things being slow (your business is struggling because of it as well), so you're listening to them. You're removing unnecessary decision loops.
You're a company that gives free breakfast and free beers on Fridays:
You tell me you have so much benefits, and your employees love it so much!
Well that's awesome! That's great! Really well done, well done for you for realizing that people nowadays move jobs in the blink of an eye (Oh and specially those "bloody spoiled" techies!) and you're managing to keep them for longer.
No joke, you're probably one of the top companies to work for!
Thank you for caring about your employees and thank you for believing in them and for investing in them!
But mate, let me tell you what you're not. You're not a startup!
Ok I get it, you might "feel" like a startup! You might "look" like a startup! Your employees might seem to have the entrepreneurial spirit!
But how can you be a startup, and you're being backed by that large mother/sister/umbrella/holding company (whatever it is you name it)? You're being backed by the group. You're being backed by the core business.
Here's what makes a startup a startup, and here's why you'll always remain different:
If you ask me, in my personal opinion the most important aspect of a startup is the lack of resources.
Do you really think all that fast-paced aspect of startups, is really just a choice?
Do you really think that startup owners and teams would mind for things to be slow at times and to just wait for that pay to come at the end of the month while decisions are being passed across the company and being waited for?
Well let me tell you; you're wrong.
Startups are the way they are and work the way they do, mainly because of the lack of resources.
Because they have to!
Everyone working in a startup is conscious of that clock ticking.
Startups have what is referred to as the "startup death clock".
Startups have very limited funding. They might even not have any funding at all yet.
Startups can be bootstrapped; which means founders are putting their own money.
Startups can be funded by family/friends or different type of investors.
This is all a lot of pressure. This is not free money.
This is money given or being put in order to achieve something the founders have promised to achieve. Founders have promised to deliver, and they will deliver! They have to deliver!
This is the first major difference between a real startup and a startup wannabee.
If you're part of a big company and being backed by that company and have unlimited funding or at least don't have to worry that much about funding, then you'll never really think like a startup.
Your life and the life of the company isn't on the line!
This is how a startup really feels. Beyond free beers and healthy basket fruits, there is that feeling that every single day is a new challenge, a race against the clock, and a bet against all odds.
What does lack of funds and lack of resources really mean?
Scarcity in startups really mean one major thing. As a startup founder you have no option of "throwing teams around" wherever and whenever you need.
Want to build that new product? Want to build that new feature?
You've only got your 1 or 2 developers to do the job. Your developer is probably working on something else as well at the same time. He's already busy building and fixing other stuff... He's working on your infrastructure, making a million changes, and acting as support for your clients and customers.
Hence your developer doesn't have any time to waste on your long useless but cool "agile meetings" that are everything but agile.
Your developer needs to be efficient. Your team needs to be efficient. Communication has to be smooth and friction-less.
There's not a single second to waste on any bullshit!
Want to start that marketing campaign? You can't just send that email and have your army of digital marketing people spending as much as needed. Your army of marketers won't have time and money to create tons of videos, infographics, articles, ads... Your army of marketers is actually just 1 person with a tiny weekly budget to spend on everything! That's why that army of 1 needs to be constantly on their toes and be very meticulous at testing and a/b testing and seeing what works and what doesn't as soon as possible. They need to be speed! They need to be on it! Same as everyone else in the company!
There's a whole much more than just being a geek.
You can be working in your big cool company, you can work with an excellent team, but there's so much more for you to be able to work in startup.
We talked about why startups needs to be quick and efficient.
Startups also need to be ready to adapt and change extremely fast. Most startups will need to undergo multiple pivots in their core business and in their business model before making it (if they make it).
One day your product and services are for the mass market, another day you might find yourself needing to be specific to a smaller niche.
One day you're targeting some type of customers and seeking some strategic partnerships, the next day you might decide to go in a completely opposite direction!
Hopefully it's not changing every single day! But you get the gist of it 👌
In startups you need to not only embrace change, but be able to predict change.
I talk about it now from my perspective as a developer; building software in startups is so different! You have to build every piece, keeping in mind that tomorrow it might change (a bit, or even completely!). This would probably need to be a blog article of its own: "Building software in startups. What it takes & how to do it".
In startups you need to learn how to see and understand value. That little thing that makes so much difference; you need to work on it first. That beautiful nice-to-have addition that will take so long and might not even be worth it in the end, or that you're not even sure will still be needed later; you need to keep it on the side for now (don't forget about it though).
Basically in a startup you need to be an expert at prioritization and, even more important, an expert at constant re-prioritization.
In startups you need to be an example of how to be an excellent team player. You might argue that this is needed as well in all types of companies. Well yes, but in a startup it's a bit different. A bit very different actually. One simple example of a difference could be that in a big company, if something is not going completely the way you would have liked or wanted, well it can be sort of ok if that's what the team wants and what the team decided. At the end of the day a pillar of being a good team player is accepting things to not always be the way we want them to be.
But what if you're in startup? What if you're pretty sure that this little decision being made will make so much difference? What if this is what could make or break the company? See how different it is?
This means that, in a startup, you also need to be an excellent communicator, negotiator, and convincer.
In startups the list of how you need to be goes on and on. My intention for this article wasn't to write about that though (but I'll definitely write some other articles focusing on just that).
For now let me go back to the main topic.
You are not a startup and you will never be. Stop pretending being one.
You're a great, amazing, astonishing, incredible, spectacular company (feel free to add many more adjectives) but you're not a startup.
And actually, you know what?
Who said startups are always great?
Some startups are the worst you can ever imagine and they don't benefit in any way in being a startup!
Some startup founders know nothing or have no idea of how to run a startup.
Some startup employees should have probably never been given a job.
Startups can be stressful. Startups can be exhausting.
Startups are like little babies. Who doesn't love their own baby more than anything else? But we all know parenting is hard and is not just the way insurance companies try to portray it in ads.
Oh and, note to self: write an article about "how and why you need to be a strategic thinker (in startups)"
And that's it for today! Hope I was clear enough in describing my perception of startups and startup wannabees.
Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Maybe you've never worked in a startup before and you've never looked at things this way.
Maybe you totally get what I say. Just let us know! 😉
Until the next one!
Take it easy!
✌
It's been a while since our last encounter.. Well to be honest I have written a full article, but pledged to only share it or act upon it after I've finished writing 60 articles (so we still have a long way to go).
Anyway I'm just back from skiing after a long nice week in Poland.
 |
| Slashing through the snow |
While there, I've been contacted by a big major IT company and that's what brings me to writing this article.
This huge multinational is looking for Java engineers to work in their new department which feels, and I quote:
"like an entrepreneurial start-up, but with the support of the world's largest IT and consultancy"
And here's where lies the problem:
No mate, no! You're not a startup and your company doesn't feel like a startup!
This is a trend that has been on the rise in recent years. Many big companies and big corporations want to feel cool or look cool, and attract young talents by pretending being something they're not. By selling the whole startup lifestyle and startup dream.
I have personally worked briefly in a couple places where they brand one of their departments or teams as being that "independent with support of" kind of startup. I have heard of so many other companies doing the same or trying to do the same.
Well let me tell you what you are:
If you're doing things right and/or doing things the way you say you do, you're probably a company trying to embrace the future. You're probably a company that already realized that old ways of working in old rigid structures will be outcompeted sooner or later. You've realized that things are moving faster and faster, and that remaining a slow dinosaur with very complex hierarchies and a lot of bureaucracy, will only hurt your business no matter what.
You probably have a great company culture, or at least are working towards it:
If you're getting to the point where things are starting to feel "startuppy", where you have a great company culture; A culture of openness, transparency, cooperation... Well it probably means you're a company with a great company culture! But that's about it! You're not a startup and will never be.
You're a company that is embracing change, that is accepting that things need to be different now.
People are wanting more work-life balance, and you're listening to them. You're letting them work remotely.
People are wanting to have more input, and you're listening to them. You're giving them a bit more space for some autonomy.
People are complaining of things being slow (your business is struggling because of it as well), so you're listening to them. You're removing unnecessary decision loops.
You're a company that gives free breakfast and free beers on Fridays:
You tell me you have so much benefits, and your employees love it so much!
Well that's awesome! That's great! Really well done, well done for you for realizing that people nowadays move jobs in the blink of an eye (Oh and specially those "bloody spoiled" techies!) and you're managing to keep them for longer.
No joke, you're probably one of the top companies to work for!
Thank you for caring about your employees and thank you for believing in them and for investing in them!
But mate, let me tell you what you're not. You're not a startup!
Ok I get it, you might "feel" like a startup! You might "look" like a startup! Your employees might seem to have the entrepreneurial spirit!
But how can you be a startup, and you're being backed by that large mother/sister/umbrella/holding company (whatever it is you name it)? You're being backed by the group. You're being backed by the core business.
Here's what makes a startup a startup, and here's why you'll always remain different:
If you ask me, in my personal opinion the most important aspect of a startup is the lack of resources.
Do you really think all that fast-paced aspect of startups, is really just a choice?
Do you really think that startup owners and teams would mind for things to be slow at times and to just wait for that pay to come at the end of the month while decisions are being passed across the company and being waited for?
Well let me tell you; you're wrong.
Startups are the way they are and work the way they do, mainly because of the lack of resources.
Because they have to!
Everyone working in a startup is conscious of that clock ticking.
Startups have what is referred to as the "startup death clock".
 |
| The startup death clock. How long can you still survive? |
Startups have very limited funding. They might even not have any funding at all yet.
Startups can be bootstrapped; which means founders are putting their own money.
Startups can be funded by family/friends or different type of investors.
This is all a lot of pressure. This is not free money.
This is money given or being put in order to achieve something the founders have promised to achieve. Founders have promised to deliver, and they will deliver! They have to deliver!
This is the first major difference between a real startup and a startup wannabee.
If you're part of a big company and being backed by that company and have unlimited funding or at least don't have to worry that much about funding, then you'll never really think like a startup.
Your life and the life of the company isn't on the line!
This is how a startup really feels. Beyond free beers and healthy basket fruits, there is that feeling that every single day is a new challenge, a race against the clock, and a bet against all odds.
What does lack of funds and lack of resources really mean?
Scarcity in startups really mean one major thing. As a startup founder you have no option of "throwing teams around" wherever and whenever you need.
Want to build that new product? Want to build that new feature?
You've only got your 1 or 2 developers to do the job. Your developer is probably working on something else as well at the same time. He's already busy building and fixing other stuff... He's working on your infrastructure, making a million changes, and acting as support for your clients and customers.
Hence your developer doesn't have any time to waste on your long useless but cool "agile meetings" that are everything but agile.
Your developer needs to be efficient. Your team needs to be efficient. Communication has to be smooth and friction-less.
There's not a single second to waste on any bullshit!
 |
| No bullshit allowed. In our offices, when I was @emolument |
Want to start that marketing campaign? You can't just send that email and have your army of digital marketing people spending as much as needed. Your army of marketers won't have time and money to create tons of videos, infographics, articles, ads... Your army of marketers is actually just 1 person with a tiny weekly budget to spend on everything! That's why that army of 1 needs to be constantly on their toes and be very meticulous at testing and a/b testing and seeing what works and what doesn't as soon as possible. They need to be speed! They need to be on it! Same as everyone else in the company!
There's a whole much more than just being a geek.
You can be working in your big cool company, you can work with an excellent team, but there's so much more for you to be able to work in startup.
We talked about why startups needs to be quick and efficient.
Startups also need to be ready to adapt and change extremely fast. Most startups will need to undergo multiple pivots in their core business and in their business model before making it (if they make it).
One day your product and services are for the mass market, another day you might find yourself needing to be specific to a smaller niche.
One day you're targeting some type of customers and seeking some strategic partnerships, the next day you might decide to go in a completely opposite direction!
Hopefully it's not changing every single day! But you get the gist of it 👌
In startups you need to not only embrace change, but be able to predict change.
I talk about it now from my perspective as a developer; building software in startups is so different! You have to build every piece, keeping in mind that tomorrow it might change (a bit, or even completely!). This would probably need to be a blog article of its own: "Building software in startups. What it takes & how to do it".
In startups you need to learn how to see and understand value. That little thing that makes so much difference; you need to work on it first. That beautiful nice-to-have addition that will take so long and might not even be worth it in the end, or that you're not even sure will still be needed later; you need to keep it on the side for now (don't forget about it though).
Basically in a startup you need to be an expert at prioritization and, even more important, an expert at constant re-prioritization.
In startups you need to be an example of how to be an excellent team player. You might argue that this is needed as well in all types of companies. Well yes, but in a startup it's a bit different. A bit very different actually. One simple example of a difference could be that in a big company, if something is not going completely the way you would have liked or wanted, well it can be sort of ok if that's what the team wants and what the team decided. At the end of the day a pillar of being a good team player is accepting things to not always be the way we want them to be.
But what if you're in startup? What if you're pretty sure that this little decision being made will make so much difference? What if this is what could make or break the company? See how different it is?
This means that, in a startup, you also need to be an excellent communicator, negotiator, and convincer.
In startups the list of how you need to be goes on and on. My intention for this article wasn't to write about that though (but I'll definitely write some other articles focusing on just that).
For now let me go back to the main topic.
You are not a startup and you will never be. Stop pretending being one.
You're a great, amazing, astonishing, incredible, spectacular company (feel free to add many more adjectives) but you're not a startup.
And actually, you know what?
Who said startups are always great?
Some startups are the worst you can ever imagine and they don't benefit in any way in being a startup!
Some startup founders know nothing or have no idea of how to run a startup.
Some startup employees should have probably never been given a job.
Startups can be stressful. Startups can be exhausting.
Startups are like little babies. Who doesn't love their own baby more than anything else? But we all know parenting is hard and is not just the way insurance companies try to portray it in ads.
 |
| Startups are like babies. Adorable, but they'll cry and make you cry at times. |
Oh and, note to self: write an article about "how and why you need to be a strategic thinker (in startups)"
And that's it for today! Hope I was clear enough in describing my perception of startups and startup wannabees.
Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Maybe you've never worked in a startup before and you've never looked at things this way.
Maybe you totally get what I say. Just let us know! 😉
Until the next one!
Take it easy!
✌
Great piece Jad! I feel like in a real startup you have to be very careful with your decisions and prioritise effectively, as you said. Whereas in a corporate type 'startup', it's a lot less 'make or break', probably not at all. Nice one mate 👍🏾
ReplyDeleteCheers, thanks Ritesh! Yeah exactly in real startups everything is on the line! They way I see it also is like a swimming pool swimmer vs a guy swimming for his life in the middle of the ocean. The first one might be used to swimming very long times and distances, but in the middle of the ocean the stress and all other circumstances are not the same! He can't have his protein shake before and after training for example!
Delete