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MenuHow can I work at a startup?
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Angellist is a good platform for startups, job finder and investor. I see there are lots of job opening there https://angel.co/jobs
Here are the steps I'd recommend:
1. Pick out a dozen startups whose products/services REALLY interest you.
2. Formulate a couple of interesting thoughts/questions/ideas about each of them. This link provides some general ones to ask. You should also think about a few very specific to the startup's product/service.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/...
3. Try to reach out to people who work at the startup through a variety of ways. For e.g. through shared contacts, an alma mater in common, writing brief inmails on Linkedin, or sharing your ideas with @theirtwitterhandle and getting to know their community manager, etc.
4. Learn from these discussions.
5. Repeat with more startups.
To work at a start-up can be both inspiring and empowering but before you get that feeling keep the following points in mind:
1. What Employers Look For: When you go to work for a start-up, you will be expected to start the job at full performance speed on day one. Companies look to hire people who are intrinsically motivated and have a track record of being able to learn things on their own time. You need to be self-motivated because a start-up will not have the processes setup that a large company has. There may not be a human resources manager to onboard you or a manager telling you exactly what to do. Candidates also need to be team-oriented but be able to work on their own when they need to. Learning marketing or a new programming language, for example, will be a signal that you meet that criteria. Share the skills you have developed with the hiring manager at interviews.
2. Start-up Salary Information: Start-up compensation can be comprised of several components. You may be paid a straight salary, or there may be an equity component of your compensation in addition to your paycheck. To get an idea of potential compensation, use Angel’s Start-up Salary and Equity Tool to get a sense of what you can earn. Select a role, location, skill, or market to view salaries and equity information for thousands of start-ups.
3. Work/Life Balance: When it comes to balancing your career and your life, don’t expect 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. hours and every evening and weekend off, but you may be able to work a flexible schedule from home, the perks may be incredible, and you’ll have the opportunity to grow with the company.
4. Where to Find Start-up Jobs:
a. Use Job Sites: AngelList is the best source for start-up jobs. You can apply directly to over 74,000 jobs with one application. You will also be able to view salary and equity details for each employer. When you register on the site, you will create a profile with your work experience and skills. You can share your profile publicly or keep it secret if you want to job search privately. Also search GitHub Jobs by title, location, company, and benefits. If you’re looking to partner and get in on the ground floor, Cofounders Lab is a site where potential entrepreneurs look for co-founders. Search Indeed and the other top job sites using “start-up” as a keyword. If you have a location where you would like to work, or if you are seeking a remote position, add those terms to your query. You will get a list of opportunities to explore.
b. Reach Out to Companies Directly: Review lists of the best start-ups to find companies that match your skillset and interests. Many start-ups are small, and it may only take an email or LinkedIn to get connected to a decision-maker. Writing a cold contact cover letter is a good way to get your credentials noticed.
c. Use Your Networking Connections: One of the best ways to find a job at a start-up is through networking. Who do you know? Search Crunchbase by person (and company) to find out what organizations your connections are affiliated with. You can also search by school to see which founders are alumni of your college. Also, check to see if your career services office can connect you to alumni at companies of interest. Browse your LinkedIn connections as well.
d. Meetup with Start-ups: Learning what businesses operate out of your local coworking spaces can be a good way to identify start-ups in your area. Attend as many tech conferences and events as you have time for. You will be able to meet prospective employers in a group or one-on-one environment to learn about opportunities. Many tech employers participate in job fairs. Attend as many as you can and note that a start-up job fair may have a different format than a traditional career fair.
e. Tap Social Media: Follow companies of interest on all their social media channels. You might line up your next job by reading a tweet or a LinkedIn post mention that the company is hiring. Respond right away, and you may be able to fast track the hiring process.
5. Check Out the Company: Some companies are better than others to work for, so spend time researching reviews of the workplace environment at start-ups. In some cases, even new companies have reviews on Glassdoor. Do your due diligence and look up the founders to see what other start-ups they have been involved with in the past and if there are any reports on what it's like to work for them. This can be a good indication of what you can expect if you take a job with them.
6. Get Ready to Interview: The hiring process may be a quick one, with fewer formalities than if you were interviewing with a traditional corporate employer. Be prepared for a phone interview, a video call, or an informal meeting on short notice. Start-up interview attire is typically more casual than what you’d wear to a formal job interview, but you should still look polished and professional. As with any job interview, take the time to follow up with a thank-you note or email.
7. Tips for Evaluating a Job Offer: When you get a job offer, it is important to carefully evaluate the compensation package. In addition to reviewing the salary and benefits, it is important to understand how the equity package works. Understanding how options work and how they are taxed is important because it can be a surprise when the time comes to exercise the options. The check may be less than you expect, and you may not have realized that you must shell out money to purchase the shares. One simple way to look at it is to consider the equity portion of the compensation as 0. Unless the start-up up is phenomenally successful, the chances are that you will not see anything from those options. So, if you are treating them as 0, and you are most likely going to make less on the salary side, you need to consider the other benefits before you accept.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
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VCs: What are some pitch deck pet peeves?
Avoid buzzwords: - every founder thinks their idea is disruptive/revolutionary - every founder says their financial projections are conservative Instead: - explain your validation & customer traction - explain the assumptions underlying your projections Avoid: - focusing extensively on the product/technology rather than on the business - misunderstanding the purpose of financial projections; they exist in a pitch deck to: a) validate the founders understanding of running a business b) provide a sense of magnitude of the opportunity versus the amount of capital requested c) confirm the go-to-market strategy (nothing undermines a pitch faster than financial projections disconnected from the declared go-to-market approach) d) generally discredit you as someone who understands how to build a company; for instance we'll capture 10% of our market, 1% of China, etc. Top down financial projections get big laughs from investors after you leave the room. bonus) don't show 90% profit margins. Ever. Even if you'll actually have them. Ever. Instead: - avoid false precision by rounding all projections to nearest thousands ($000) - include # units / # subscribers / # customers above revenue line; this goes hand-in-hand with building a bottom up revenue model and implicitly reveals assumptions. Investors will determine if you are realistic, conservative, or out of your mind based largely on the customer acquisition numbers and your explanation of how they will be achieved. - highlight your assumptions & milestones on first customers, cash flow break even, and other customer acquisition and expense metrics that are relevant Avoid: - thinking about investor money as your money - approaching the pitch from your mindset (I need money); investors have to be skeptics, so understand their perspective. - bad investors; it's tempting to think that any money is good money. You can't get an investor to leave once they are in without Herculean efforts and costs (and if you're asking for money, you can't afford it). If you're not on the same page with an investor on how to run/grow the business, you'll regret every waking hour. Instead: - it's their money; tell them how you are going to utilize their money to make them more money - you're a founder, a true believer. Your mantra should be "de-risk, de-risk, de-risk". Perception of risk is the #1 reason an investor says no. Many are legitimate, but often enough it's simply a perception that could have been addressed. - beyond the pitch, make the conversation 2-way. Ask questions of the investor (you might learn awesome things or uncover problems) and talk to at least two other founders they invested in more than 6 months ago.JP
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I finally found my billion-dollar startup idea. Now what?
The idea is a very small fraction of what it takes to earn the first million. Certainly billion. What actually matters is your ability to *execute*. Entrepreneurship means "having the talent of translating opportunities into money". Or, as Alexis Ohanian of Reddit said, "entrepreneur is just French for 'has ideas, does them'." As much as it may seem that transitioning off your 9-to-5 is the biggest hurdle, it's not. If you can't "get out of the gate" then you're also not ready to deal with the real challenges of business, like "competition that has 1,000x your funding" or "suppliers that jerk you around" or "customers who steal your intellectual property". It's easy to have a "billion dollar idea". I'd like to mine gold off of asteroids; I'm sure that would be worth billions. I'd also like to invest in Arctic real estate that will become coastal vacation property after fifty more years of warming. And, of course, to make a new social network that everyone loves. But saying these things is very very different from accomplishing them. Prove your concept by first taking a small step, such as making the first dollar. (Maybe try Noah Kagan's course at http://www.appsumo.com/how-make-your-first-dollar-open/). If you can't figure out a way to "make it go" without a giant investment, then you're kidding yourself about your ability to execute the business. If you *can* figure out a way to get a toehold, then by all means do it now! Happy to advise further, feel free to contact me for a call.AS
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How can a failed 40 year old tech entrepreneur find a job at a startup?
Carolyn's points are spot-on. Tactically speaking, I would suggest that you make contact with the recruiting partners at the top VCs. Greylock, a16z and others have partners specifically focused on helping their portfolio companies with recruiting. Cold calls and emails with a "I'm an entrepreneur that has built two companies, one of which grew to X in Y time, and the other grew to X in Y time. I'm interested in exploring opportunities within your portfolio who are looking to scale-up their growth and sales" should get some discussions initiated with these recruiting partners. Stage of company matters too. You're more likely to find a fit with a company who is post a $1m seed raise and already scaling-up. I'd also think a lot about what role you're interviewing for. The problem with a generalized entrepreneurial background is that it can be perceived as "jack of all trades, master of none." So in order to improve your resume, you might be best to be 2nd to a great growth lead or be the first hire under a VP Sales. Also, I'd suggest that you research the ages of the founders. If they are under 30, they are more likely to be biased to hire younger talent, but over 30, that bias often swings the other way. I'd recommend you call Carolyn if you want help on how best to present yourself to prospective employers. I'm happy to talk to you about your background and experience and recommend more specifically the kinds of companies and roles that might be the best fit for you. Best of luck!TW
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How much equity should I ask as a C-level executive in a new startup ?
As you may suspect, there really isn't a hard and fast answer. You can review averages to see that a CEO typically becomes a major shareholder in a startup, but your role and renumeration will be based on the perceived value you bring to the organization. You value someone's contribution through equity when you think that they will be able to add long-term benefits, you would prefer that they don't move company part way through the process, and to keep them from being enticed by a better salary (a reason for equity tied to a vesting arrangement). Another reason is when the company doesn't have salary money available but the potential is very strong. In this situation you should be especially diligent in your analysis because you will realize that even the best laid plans sometimes fall completely short. So to get the best mix, you have to be very real about the company's long-term growth potential, your role in achieving it, and the current liquidity necessary to run the operations. It should also be realized that equity needs to be distributed. You cannot distribute 110% and having your cap table recalculated such that your 5% turns into 1% in order to make room for the newly hired head of technology is rather demotivating for the team. Equity should be used to entice a valuable person to join, stay, and contribute. It should not be used in leu of salary that allows an employee to pay their bills. So, like a lot of questions, the answer is really, it depends. Analyzing the true picture of your long-term potential will allow you to more easily determine the correct mix.DH
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What is a good/average conversion rate % for an e-commerce (marketplace model) for customers who add to cart through to purchase order.
There is quite a bit of information available online about eCommerce conversions rates. According to a ton of sources, average visitor-to-sale conversion rates vary from 1-3%. This does not mean the Furniture conversions will be the same. The bigger problem is that visitor-to-sale conversions are not a good data point to use to measure or tune your eCommerce business. All business have some unique friction factors that will affect your final conversion rate. It's very important to understand each of these factors and how to overcome them. The best way to measure and optimize is to take a conversion funnel approach. Once you have defined your funnel you can optimize each conversion rate to better the total effect. For example: Top of the funnel: - All web site visitors, 100,000 / month First conversion: View a product page, 50% of all visitors Second Conversion: Add to Cart, 10% of people who view products Final Conversion: Complete Checkout, 80% of people who put items in a cart In this example we see that only 10% of people who actually view products put them in to a cart, but 80% of those people purchase. If you can figure out why visitors are not adding items to their cart and fix the issue to increase the conversion rate, revenue should increase significantly because of the high checkout rate. You can use free tools like Google Analytics to give you a wealth of information about your site visitor and their behavior or there are some great paid tools as well.DM
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