| Congratulations on your next chapter. Some things I really wish I was told before I went on a one-year stint at a tech startup: - Workplace policies have only ever been communicated to you, you're now going to see them in action. Expect contradictions immediately, and set the tone early for your expectations based on your hiring contract (i.e. If they told you it's 9-5 but you observe this not so and you're de facto expected to be there much longer, do not ignore this. Address immediately.) - Do everything you can to make your boss / the founders look good. This includes your own job, of course, but show initiative in all manners of the organization. Know a potential lead for new business? Make it known. Have a suggestion that will speed up your teams output? Prepare a succinct explanation of it. - Do whatever you can to be positive, it will be welcomed and deeply appreciated. Founders are constantly smelling burning money and putting out fires when possible. If you can smile occasionally it'll distract everyone from the multitude of Horrible Looming Realities that follow every startup. If you're known as a "nice colleague" it'll do you wonders. - Learn more about your own output. If you work in a better environment than the one work has created, attempt to foster one that calls for better work. Not everybody loves working in an open concept office/shared workspace. - Back up all requests / suggestions / comments with data. Nobody likes a 'talking head.' If you can speak your bosses language (increasing value exchange) you'll have their ear no matter if they follow your requests or not. It is extremely important you tie every comment you make about building a better product/company clearly ties back to what you are all there to do. - Keep a work journal. This helped me immensely to process all the lessons learnt in startup land. And I cannot recommend how important it is to reflect on your work. Even 5 minutes of writing in a doc every evening will do you wonders at making better decisions, especially as your team starts to inevitably grow. Best of luck! |