Why You Should Work For a Startup After College

If you got a job offer from Google or Goldman, chances are that your career path and bank account are on a great trajectory. But maybe you're willing to bypass that six figure offer sitting in your inbox for a role where you realize your impact through tangible business results. Maybe you want to dive in headfirst at a smaller company in a role with bigger responsibilities. Or maybe you didn't end up getting the dream job from the large company you were hoping for in the first place. Either way, don't worry -- there are plenty of other ways to jumpstart your career.

College students tend to obsess over “brand name” employers -- companies that, if you could just get that internship, will make you forever employable and the envy of all your peers.

However, working for a startup might be a better way to get your start in the working world. Here are a few reasons why.

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Large companies have set rules or procedures for getting things done. Startups will expect you to figure out the best way to do it. Here’s the fundamental difference:

Large company: Here’s what we need done, and here’s how to do it.

Startup: Here’s what we need done, figure out how to do it.

If you’re a person that likes to be creative and figure things out for yourself, you may be frustrated by the bureaucratic ways of a large company, especially if the way they’ve decided to do things isn’t necessarily the best. Perhaps you've always wanted to work in a product-facing role, but don't have much technical experience? Startups tend to think outside the box in terms of what they are looking for in a new hire. At Qualtrics, for example, the recruiting team looks for individuals who want to learn. Period. And they're willing to make a bet on people who may not have all of the traditional requirements for a given role. If you're willing to get your hands dirty and forge your own path to solutions, a startup will give you more flexibility to try new things and learn as you go.

Check Out Qualtrics' Company Culture

Get resilient.

Startups have inherent ups and downs that large companies don’t. Some days you’ll feel like your company is going to be the next Facebook, and others you’ll worry more about the future and realize how hard it is to build a successful business. You’ll learn to not sweat your setbacks and keep pushing towards success. The ugly truth is that only 10% of startups actually do "make it" but whether your company succeeds or doesn't, you'll come out on top with an invaluable experience and a sense of grit that will stick with you long after you leave your first job.

Autonomy

At a big company, you’ll likely have a manager telling you what to do on a daily (or hourly) basis. At a startup, you’ll have much more autonomy to decide your own workstream. If you’re an independent thinker who likes to manage your own schedule, a startup job may free you up from any micromanagement and let you work how you do best.

Upside

If your big company does well, a year from now you’ll likely be looking at a small pay bump. Two or three years from now, if you continue to excel, you might get a promotion. At a startup, change happens far more rapidly. There’s always more work to be done, and as long as you continue proving yourself at every step, you’ll be given more responsibility -- and fast. Startups give you the opportunity to get your foot in the door at at foundational level and make a sizable impact on the success of the business, especially if you join at an early stage. Kallyope, for example, just raised $110 million in series B funding, and employees not only get to push forward the mission statements, but they actually have a hand in writing them!

Also, while startups may not pay as much as large companies in terms of salary, if you join early enough they often compensate with company equity. If your startup gets acquired, or goes public, you could earn yourself a nice financial bonus.

A note about risk

The reputation of startups is that they’re “risky.” In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. By the time you join, most startups will have enough funding to pay a near market salary for their employees, so you won’t have to live on Ramen (unless you want to).

A year from now, if things go poorly, your startup might not exist. That’s something that probably won’t happen to Goldman Sachs or Google. But you won’t walk away from a year or two at a startup with nothing to show. You’ll have learned an incredible amount, through the good times and the bad, working with incredibly talented people to attempt something that is really really hard to do. There’s a reason that entrepreneurs who have started companies and failed raise more money from investors than 1st time entrepreneurs -- experience matters.

Ok, so now you think you want to check out some startups, but you're not sure where to start? We work with tons of awesome companies saving and changing the world and we love to give recommendations, so just ask one of us! You can also check out fellowship programs like Venture for America that give you the training and network you need to succeed in the startup world.

Learn More About VFA's Fellows Program

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