How to get a job at a Startup

It’s the new trend nowadays to want to work in the fast-paced startup world. You can bring your dog to work, it’s super “chill…” You know…

How to get a job at a StartupIt’s the new trend nowadays to want to work in the fast-paced startup world. You can bring your dog to work, it’s super “chill…” You know…


It’s the new trend nowadays to want to work in the fast-paced startup world. You can bring your dog to work, it’s super “chill…” You know, it’s “cool.” But getting a job at one of these lucrative destinations is not the easiest thing in the world. Indeed, startups look for a special breed of individual.

Something I learned very quickly:

No-one has time to tell you what to do.

The truth is that in a startup, there are so many things that have to be done. Literally every facet of business is on the to-do list. So while telling the founder, “I am willing to do anything to help” shows your hustle, it is not really helpful. It shows you do not know where to start.

Rather, you should come to the founder with a tactical and specific plan that you can do for his/her company. Do not think twice about pay/benefits. Get the job done as quickly as possible, and don’t fuck it up.

In the startup world, two things are really important: quality and speed. An impossible dilemma, but the reality. You have to create brilliant work in a really short amount of time. That is how you impress a founder, by working just as hard as they do. Only then, will you get his empathy.


I’d also recommend skipping the lines and rolling with a (good) cold email instead of sorting through formal applications.


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Tagged in Startup, Entrepreneurship, Business

By jordangonen on March 13, 2016.

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Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.