S tartup culture is increasingly becoming more popular these days. This is due to the overwhelming amount of misinformation that makes people believe that startup culture entails unlimited paid time off and just having fun working whenever. When working under corporations, these things are absolutely impossible but people are allowed to dream and achieve them too. So, let us get into startup culture and tech.
To start, a startup is a small business started by a few entrepreneurs bringing a product into the market. Since startups have limited resources and funding, it mostly begins with hard work and persistence. Now startup culture, in simple words, is basically seeing how to work together and setting values and goals as a team. What kind of atmosphere do you want with your employees? You need them to be comfortable and be able to work with you creatively and without pressure to yield the best results.
It's important to know what you value and what your goals are. These values you create will become your guidelines on who to hire and who to fire. You have to make sure these values are personal to you and you don’t just copy some other startup. Remember this isn’t your company's values, it's your values. If they aren't personal to you then your employees will notice and won’t stick to them since they can tell when you don’t really care.
Of course, these values and rules you set, you should follow them better than anyone so that you can be a good role model for those you hire. It's also important that you give your feedback regularly. Let your employees know if they’ve done a good job or if there’s anything they can do better but always encourage them to want to do better not put them down at every mistake.
Make sure that when you create these values and goals, you stick to them and keep going back to them. Regularly check how everything is going and see if the values you chose worked for everyone and created a safe environment as you had intended.
While working you are given a purpose and feel like you’re on a mission and also since there’s less number of workers you notice every bit of effort put in and it's impossible for anyone else to take credit. The environment is also very relaxed since there's only a handful of workers and you all share the same goals and values. Since there’s no dress code or no real strictness, everyone feels like they’re in a safe place to express their creativity and since some things haven’t been tried out, you’re given a chance for trial and error since there's no real pressure.
There’s also an opportunity to take on more responsibility since only you and a handful of people work with you, you’ll be responsible for your whole field and will be able to take part in the decision making that working under a corporation you wouldn’t even hear about. Getting all this responsibility is also a great way to learn more about your division. There is no one who could teach you better than your own experiences.
You probably already know this but startups are a risk. You don't know how long it will be before you actually start growing or if you ever will. It’s also very hard to say how balanced your work and home life will be. Since startups take a lot of time and dedication, your work hours may go into weekends and holidays and there’s no telling when it will pay off. You can expect low pay and benefits along with the start of it. Also, the relaxed atmosphere is definitely positive for the team but it can cause disorganization as some may not know how to take charge of a situation while others would not like to be told what to do.
The bottom line with startup culture and tech is whether the cons outweigh the pros or vice versa, it never hurts to try. If you fail you can always try again after a while. After all, nothing can teach you better than your own experience.
