📙 Our guide to thriving as an engineer at an early-stage startup
Engineering Success at Startups: Tips and Insights for Thriving in Early-Stage Companies
We’ve had the opportunity to be a part of multiple startups at multiple stages, but we had more experience in the early stages; some engineers have asked us what it takes to be part of a startup because, in some cases knowing how to code may not be enough, so here are some thoughts and tips on how to thrive and what do you need as an early stage engineer.
As an engineer at an early-stage startup, you face unique challenges and opportunities. Your work can significantly impact the direction and success of the company, and you are likely to wear many hats 🎩 and use a wide range of tools 🛠️.
Navigating this stage is exciting but sometimes daunting, so we think there are some critical points that you have to take into account when you are part of one of these teams:
💪Solid team: your team is your most valuable asset at this stage. Look for individuals with diverse skills and experiences (generalists) that can complement each other and bring unique perspectives; collaboration, trust, and open communication are necessary to create a team with an unfair advantage.
📖 Learn, learn, learn and learn: Early-stage startups characterized by rapid change and uncertainty. As part of the founding team, you will need to embrace this as an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual. Be open to fresh ideas (even when they sound dumb) and approaches, and don't be afraid to try something new.
🧬Morph: Startups are constantly evolving; I (Dan) personally like the word "morph" better to describe this, and what works today may not work tomorrow, so be ready to adapt and pivot as needed; this may involve shifting the focus, approach, or even revamping your entire business, or as I always tell my team, write code that you are willing to delete in 3 months.
🗣Customer-first: It may sound silly, but your customers are crucial for your startup success, so listen to their needs and feedback; This doesn't mean they're always right or that you should go and build everything they tell you, but you should always strive to give them the best possible experience. This may involve conducting regular customer research and making changes based on your learning.
💲Fail fast and cheap: Failure is now your best friend, who will teach you everything; failure is an inevitable part of the startup journey. Don't let it get you down 🥲 instead, learn. If you are willing to take risks, the reward will be enormous.
🗓 Plan but only a little: With so much chaos, you will feel overwhelmed and lose track of important tasks and deadlines; as an engineer, It's also easy to get distracted by this empty canvas; remember you don't need to build everything from scratch, the most valuable asset is time so make sure you get the most out it.
It may be that you come from an inspirational world where becoming part of a FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) is the goal of any engineer, so here are some examples of differences between engineers at early-stage startups and engineers at those large companies:
⚖️Scale: Early-stage startups are small, with limited resources and narrow focus, while large organizations are enormous, with thousands of employees and a global reach; This can mean many things, but my mom always said:
"Más vale ser cabeza de ratón que cola de león"
"Better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion “ 🐭 | 🦁
👨🏻🔬Specialization: Engineers at these companies are often highly specialized, while engineers at early-stage startups may be expected to take in a broader range of responsibilities (generalists)
🏎 Speed: In the early-stage startup, we typically try to move faster, as we are more constrained to time and money. In a lot of cases, getting to the next fundraising series is the most important mission of some companies.
If you take no risks, you win no victories: Early-stage startups are riskier than FANG companies (Ha!, tell that to the current market), but they also offer the potential for greater rewards 💰.
👨🏻💼Culture: The culture in startups is often more relaxed and innovative, sometimes flat. In big organizations, the culture tends to be more hierarchical and bureaucratic.
Being an engineer at an early-stage startup can be an exciting and rewarding experience; work with your founders on building a solid team, prioritizing learning and growth, being prepared to morph or pivot, keeping your customers at the forefront, adopting failure, with this, you will set yourself and your team up for success and make a real impact.
TLDR;
Your team is your most valuable asset at this stage; create a solid team,
You will need to adapt(morph) to circumstances fast and pivot if needed.
Fail fast; learn more.
Customer-first, but listen to them, don't obey them to the letter
Plan but only a little**;** make sure you get the most out of your time and resources.
If you take no risks, you win no victories ( 🐭 | 🦁 )