Your Roadmap for Joining a Startup
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This document provides advice for joining a startup company and highlights some key differences compared to traditional companies. It notes that startups involve high-intensity work, wearing multiple hats, self-starting initiative, and an unpredictable environment. For those seeking more structure, a startup may not be the best fit. However, for self-motivated learners looking to make an impact, startups offer opportunities to work with new technologies, learn rapidly, and be part of building something new. The document emphasizes demonstrating passion and skills through personal projects to stand out in a competitive startup job market.
Your Roadmap for Joining a Startup
- 2. Why Join a Startup?
- 4. Work with Amazing Teams
- 6. Learn, Grow + Accelerate Your Career
- 7. Be Part of Something Special
- 8. Is a Startup Right for You?
- 9. They’re Different than Traditional Companies High octane, intense, and a little chaotic • Building a company from the ground up involves a ton of hard work and navigating risk & uncertainty Lean & mean • You need to wear multiple hats, get “into the weeds” Value people who get things done • You must love to execute and get stuff done Need people who take initiative • Expect mentoring, but not extensive supervision If you’d prefer a more structured, supervised, predictable environment, then a startup is probably not for you
- 10. Top Opportunities Technical/Product Software Development Product Design & User Experience Data Science QA & Testing DevOps Product Management Electrical Engineer Mechanical Engineer Business Business/Sales Development Rep Analytics Sales/Field Engineer Growth Hacking Account Management Marketing Community Other
- 11. What Startups Look for in Candidates
- 12. The Bar is High(er) for Startups
- 13. What’s Really Important? Passion Curiosity Smarts Experience Humility Ability to Communicate Intangibles
- 14. Personal/Side Projects are Critical Show You can build things Are always learning Are passionate about your field Personal projects trump class projects • Devoting free time illustrates passion & curiosity to learn “Doing” more important than how you get there
- 15. Worth Noting “I would hire someone with a 2.0 GPA from a no-name college and tons of side projects using cool tech versus a 4.0 MIT CS grad who focuses only on school.”
- 16. Personality Traits Matter Intellectual curiosity • Evident desire to learn more about things Passion • Deeply care about your areas of interest (love it) Self-starter • Ambition & drive in how you go about things Do things differently • You didn’t just follow the herd Commitment to personal growth and learning • Explore topics outside your field of interest
- 17. Landing a Role
- 18. How to stand out • Passion • Proof • Personalization • Persistence • Patience Harsh Realities
- 19. Build Your Body of Work
- 20. “What I Know Now Didn’t Come from Class” Don’t limit yourself to just classes • Take advantage of what’s available to you Don’t waste time • Submit assignments early and work on your own projects Learn on your own • Khan Academy, Coursera, Code.org, OpenCourseWare Plenty of opportunities only a click away
- 21. More Ideas Tech / CS Specific Contribute to an open- source project Learn more programming languages Try different operating systems Create apps Read tech books Debug that web service that fails every single time someone tries to upload a video larger than 200MB Non-Tech / General Get involved with a campus startup Participate in a business plan or pitch competition Do a Startup Weekend, hackathon or makeathon Leverage class projects to work with companies Experiment with social media for business, non-profit, other applications
- 25. Understand What You Want to Do
- 26. Then… Convince employer that you wanted to work there your whole life • Resume should reinforce it • Follow-up notes should hammer the point home Keep your talking points to the job you applied for Be perceived as willing to throw yourself 100% into the opportunity at hand
- 27. Engaging with Employers Resume/CV (what’s important) • Name & contact info • Focus on your projects and work experience • Languages/tools/frameworks/etc • Educational info & GPA • Extra-curricular, hobbies – something remarkable Highlight your body of work • GitHub, online portfolio, personal website, blog Kill generic cover letter and send a personal email • Communicate why you want to work for the company • Personal touch, passion, and effort significantly increases probability of a response
- 28. Don’t Be This Person Michael, I am very interested in the ThinkBig opportunity I came across on the XXX career website. My experiences with YYY and ZZZ have equipped me to successfully handle making fact based decisions, business development, and strategic thinking. In particular, as a detail oriented, competitive, self starter with a strategic approach to achieving objectives, my ability to build a business case to drive forward inflection point decisions would ensure I am challenged to make an impact. I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. Please find my resume attached for your review. I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, XXXXX
- 29. Be This Person Researched startups hiring interns - Focused on those that fit his interests & (limited) background - Identified CEO’s contact info Sent personalized note to CEO - Introduced himself and background - Detailed passion for startups and why interested in the company - Outlined where/how he could make an impact 11 – Emails sent 7 – Conversations/interviews 1 – Great summer experience “Tino” – Freshman
- 30. Takeaways Project-based experiences rule the day • Take advantage of all the options on campus • Build your body of work • Illustrate & demonstrate what you can do Passion and fit needs to come through your resume and company interactions • Challenge yourself outside the classroom (and major) • Fall in love with what you do Personalize your communications
- 31. ThinkB1G Resources Openings • ThinkB1G.com/Startups Newsletter • ThinkB1G.com/Students Student Profile • ThinkB1G.com/Students Prepping for the Technical Interview • ThinkB1G.com/Students
- 32. Finding Opportunities VentureLoop.com • New openings at VC- backed startups AngelList • Openings at startups HelpU • Connects businesses to students TechGen
- 33. Intern at a tech startup? Get real, hands-on experience. Apply to TechGen – the common app for internships at Boston’s hottest tech startups 33 Sales * Marketing * Design Engineering * Product Management Go to TheTechGeneration.com to apply Follow #TechGen on twitter @TheTechGen • Browse our startups • Get noticed by companies • Find your internship
- 34. More Resources http://goo.gl/9GTWsu Google’s Guide to Technical Development: http://goo.gl/9GTWsu
- 35. Final Word
Editor's Notes
- #34: Are you looking for an internship and want to have real, hands-on experience? Tech Generation puts your resume in front of Boston’s hottest tech startups and to help you uncover amazing opportunities at those companies. As an intern through TechGen, you get to participate in cool events and workshops where you meet other interns and companies, learn new skills or build upon existing ones, explore new areas of Boston and build your network in this community of innovators. How it works: -apply to TechGen -explore our participating companies (like HourlyNerd, Nanigans, PillPack and more!) Companies will contact you directly if there is a match and will handle the hiring process. Once hired as an intern through TechGen, you will have access to our exclusive social and educational events – from networking to workshops, from TechTreks to competitions this program is here to make your summer internship experience as valuable and fun as possible.