Whether you are thinking about starting a new career or changing your current career path. You might be thinking about joining a startup and you might be confused about it. You needn’t worry as we have prepared a list of 5 things to consider before joining a startup.
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Culture
The culture fit is critical at any organization or business. Whether you are an aspiring employee or part of the founding members, you must ensure that you completely understand and are fully compatible with the culture of the organization you are about to join.
You will work very closely with a very small number of people when you join a startup. You will be working together for launching a service or product. Hence your professional relationships can become an integral part of your life, like a family. There can be a loss in innovation and productivity if you are not passionate about the mission of a startup due to lack of interest.
Transparency
Upon launching the startups are usually small in size. Transparency leads to trust in any small business especially if you are involved in the day to day activities. Transparency is critical especially if the organization offers you equity or wants you to work in an executive role. There are very benefits of transparency especially if you work for endless hours with a small group of people.
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Finances
You must be completely aware of your financial situation as you cannot survive without it. When joining a startup, you may find out that a startup is using bootstrapping instead of relying on external investments. When a founder or group of founders start a company with small capital and use their personal finances then this is called bootstrapping.
Contracts, Ownership, and Equity
The knowledge of shares and equity is very important. The type of shares you are offered and the potential cash out opportunities are important things to know.
There are many types of shares which are offered at startups and some of them might never be tangible or have the potential for conversion unless the company decides to go public. If the startup you are joining offers you equity in their contract, and you can’t understand the verbiage and the technical terms used, then you need to consult someone who can simplify things for you and explain them to you in simple terms.
Flexibility
If you choose to join a startup then you should know that the entrepreneurs have a lot of workload on them. At startups, things might happen spontaneously and you might have to execute tasks with little to no prior notice. Some project might be working at a relaxed pace and then all of a sudden you might be called for hosting many services simultaneously.
You must make sure that the schedule of the startup you are about to join must align with your personal needs. You must ensure that flexibility is given in the workspace of your chosen startup and that your personality aligns with their values.
