Joining a Startup

I recently joined a startup as a Business Development. This startup is a blockchain company that is focused on building blockchain related infrastructures and services. To be exact, they are currently building Explorers and Hub/Portal like pages and interfaces for various blockchain foundations. Almost like Etherscan and Blockscout. But what we have in mind is something a lot more complicated and advanced. But more on this matter later on in this weblog.

I want to write more about my journey up to this point as I have joined this startup. I initially started my career from a startup and moved two times to larger companies in between, of which all companies were crypto related. I was more than happy to have joined a company with a job position as a researcher back then, which was what I wanted. Although, starting my career from a startup had both the goods and the bads. Goods, such as unlimited use of everyday funds such as for coffee and lunch up to 20,000 KRW a day, which was a lot but I did not know that it was a lot. Being able to work in freedom whether it was at my desk in the main office, or working at the lounge with my macbook. Which brings me to one of the main 'Goods', all members were given a Macbook. I was amazed and actually quite happy with these benefits. Oh yes, another 'Good' point is that we were quite flexible with are work schedule and were free with when we came into work and when we would leave work assuming that we had our 8 hours of work done for that day.

Now, going to the 'Bads', because of the goods, I had only realized that those 'Goods' becamse the 'Bads' after moving into the larger companies. Such as, no flexible times of going to work and leaving work because we had to get to work by 9AM and only could leave after 6PM. But then again, I guess this can be arguable, as it did set a specific time to work and employees could go home after it. Another point is the 20,000 KRW per day I could use in the startup, but not here as we were only given 10,000 KRW for lunch. But, it did also have its benefits of a larger company, such as unlimited coffee from an actual commpany owned cafe.

Work culture

Now onto the work culture of such startups here in Korea. Some could argue that startups could be similar in turns of work culture all over the world and I too, believe so. Perhaps, Korea started to bring in a new kind of work culture as compared to the old, conservative styled work culture that pre-existed and dominated the country for decades. Having experience in all kinds of work culture, I can say that, many startups really stand out in terms of flexibility and freedom of work. But that doesn't mean in any way that you have the ultimate freedom to do anything you want to. Of course, there are rules to follow and probably a strategy of the company to follow. I have also come to realize that freedom often shifts responsibility onto the employees. These startups quitely expect ownership beyond the given job description that you have signed up for. At the beginning, you may not realize but, over time, it becomes clear that you start to accumulate on work and the need to perform so you can keep your job there. It is these points that not many talk about when working at startups but the main points that need to be discussed.

I guess another important point is that these startups have a horizontal hiearchy rather than a vertical one. This is a big difference worth noting. In the old vertical hiearchy, it take couple of layers to get approval or even dismissals but here, it takes only one layer, straight to the boss. It makes getting confirmation and approval for tasks more quick and seems to progress much faster. Really, it took me 4 layers to get approval for simple tasks in my old company: Team leader -> Department head -> VP -> President. That was how inefficient it was.

One final point that I really liked however, was how we would call each other my their desired names or nicknames, rather than their role or position as compared to the larger corporate companies. Instead of calling someone by their role such as, "Manager" or "VP", we would call them "John" or "Issac". Fun fact though, I never had an english name because I thought mine was already easy to pronounce in english.

Volatility

Now, this is another part that is not mentioned as this is the reality of startups people don't really talk about. The funding cycle is important. Let's face it, if a company doesn't have the money(the cash) or the funding to pay off employees, office monthly rents, infrastructure cots and benefits, you will know very quickly that the company is out of cash. From my experience, startups seem to have around 2~3 years of runway per funding, on average. There may be some outliers but that seemed to be occation. Therefore, the ocmpany needs to have some sort of stable cash income from the products that they are actually making, or get into another round of funding, so it stays alive for another 2~3 years without worry. What I wanted to point out is that, it is important to look for startups that are stable, especially with what they are doing; what they are actually making in products. If it is just another NFT making project like Madlads or the one before that, you know it will not last long. Just make sure to know what company you are getting into.

Then the lack of funding or cash will eventually lead to various stress for the founder and employees. One example that may show up right away is the reduction of benefits. No more lunch benefits, no more monthly subscriptions to AIs like GPT or learning services, etc. But there are differences to how the founders react in this kind of situation. You would be considered lucky, if the benefits have been reduced or your boss tells you of current circumstances, rather than being just fired.

But then again, once funding comes back online, benefits start again and it seems like the company is back to 100% HP(Hitpoints).

What I hope to learn this time

This place being my fourth company to have worked for, I hope that I will be here longer than the first three companies combined. Having a lot of experience (eg, at least a few years) I believe not only shows others that you are committed, but it also shows persistence and I guess, consistency also follows. It has already been almost 3 months in, and honestly I have done more than just my role and I am more than happy that I was given those opportunities. It does align with my boss's ideas of how one person must be able to manage more than one role, so it does make sense but, I too am enjoying it all.

I also want to have become someone who can do everything I couldn't do 'alone'. In other words, I want my future self to have learned a lot and achieved a lot, so that he will be in the position to make decisions alone, without having to consent to senior or superiors. It would mean that I would have grown, matured and became the one person I have always wanted to become, 'Head of' something. And I hope to learn that it not just about what I want on a monthly basis or just some incentives, but rather, it is about the pure experience which money and time cannot buy.

So what's next?

If you have the opportunity to work for a startup, you should take it. I think it is worth it to have the experience to have worked in various types of companies. Who knows, you might even get good stock options and if it becomes the next Tesla, then you for you. Just don't forget to send me some coffee! Good luck on your future lives.