How to work at a Startup?

Working at an early stage / pre-PMF startup is a different kinda of a gamble.

The first thing to understand is that a startup isn't a small version of a big company.

So, if you come from corporate, throw that playbook out of the window.

If you come from Big Tech, throw that idea of work out of the window.

Here is a manifesto I wrote to clarify my thinking. Everything here is up for debate.

Product Market Fit

Finding Product Market Fit is the highest priority.

Till we find product market fit - we will ignore most best practices.

We will eliminate everything distracting from this goal.

Speed

Repeat after me:

You could be going faster. Repeat it. You could be going faster.

Until we hit PMF, the only thing that keeps momentum is our focus on increasing the rate of shipping / rate of learning.

Working Hard is a Must

We will be constantly performing little miracles. And this will be painfull.

It's kind of like going to the Gym and bench pressing 5 kg and keeping adding 1.5 kg every week.

We'd be increasing how fast we ship and how much we ship.

Pre-PMF, if you see someone working hard on the team and think, "He is working too hard. He needs to take a break," you shouldn't join a startup.

Your first thought should be - "This person is damn impressive. I am not working hard enough. How can I get to his level of shipping?". This mentality makes everyone perform little miracles.

Truth be told - you will end up working 60+ hours in these early days.

About 40 of those hours will be direct work, but you'd spend the rest of the hours trying to find ways to improve the company and yourself because a startup's growth curve is steep.

Growth Curve

Startups have a steep growth curve, and you need to expect that.

If you can't keep up with the startup's growth, you will let the team down. This is one of the harshest truths.

Boundaries

Identify your boundaries for work and life. This is important cause some people at a startup will work at various levels of intensity and times.

Some will work on the weekend; some will work all night for a few days.

So, letting others know when you are available and when you are off is important.

Rest

Take rest seriously. Avoid screens. Meditate and eat healthily. Think of yourself as a pro athlete.

Ship

It's easier to pick projects and tasks that don't make an impact.

Always ask yourself whether what you are doing is navigating the startup towards PMF.

And what's the fastest version of your work that can be shipped?

Write

Learn how to communicate well.

Write memos.

Record looms.

Try to clarify your thinking as much as possible before working with someone else.

Focus

You'll sometimes be wearing many hats; sometimes, you'll be firefighting.

So your attention is going to be choppy.

Be aware of this.

Identify the one thing in the company that matters in getting to PMF. This should be the north start metric.

And concentrate most on it.

Let others know what you are not going to do in order to focus on this.

Feedback

You'd be given candid feedback.

We'd expect the same.

If you think we aren't doing something right. Tell us. Or the person that can do something about it. Be extremely open and candid. This will eliminate gossip.

Seek the Truth

It's easy to be comfortable with half-truths.

Or certain lies you tell yourself to keep making progress.

So, always seek the truth. This is painful, but as always, the truth liberates a lot of anxiety down the road.