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Busyness at a startup

Busyness at a startup

What it looks like & 3 questions you should ask about busyness culture

Giammarco Pacifico
April 24, 2024

You often hear that working at a startup means working harder and being always busy.

Many times this is true but it’s not that simple.

If you’re working (or planning to work) at a startup, this article covers everything you need to know about being busy and the different types of “busyness” out there.

Why do many people chase being busy?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that “busyness” has become a badge of honour ambitious people proudly wear to show off their commitment and ultimately their success.

In startups, you are rarely given detailed instructions and one of the most common questions is “What should I focus on this week?”.

This flexibility is empowering but also scary, especially for an employee.

We’ve been trained to fill our time as much as possible to feel a sense of purpose during our working hours, even if we know that not all work is created equal.

❝

"They hired me so I must stay busy all day!"

Said every ambitious person while falling into the trap

In startups, there is an infinite number of things you could do: from countless little talks lingering around to a few complex and important decisions.

Many times being busy is a way to procrastinate those important tasks. It can be comforting to not think and just do. Anyone who worked in a startup knows how easy it is to spend days putting out fires and feeling like a lot was “done”.

If you’re busy, people see you as more competent, driven and having skills that are in high demand. This is the dream of every high-achiever.

Because it’s so accepted and well-understood, people also learn that looking busy is a hack to getting the same benefits. You’d be shocked by how many people pretend to be busy just to avoid tasks and situations they don’t want to be in. Being busy is the most accepted excuse in the workplace.

Of course, filling up your days for its own sake and pretending to be busy are easy ways to kill any company, especially a startup.

Why do many startups have a culture of busyness?

On one hand, the glorified hustle culture of the past decades painted every successful person as an extremely hard worker. So if you’re not always busy, you’re not pushing hard enough.

On the other hand, this is even stronger in startups where external pressure dominates everything. After a company makes promises to investors and customers everyone working there is expected to push as hard as possible.

What if your investors see you partying, instead of building a great company and fulfilling your promises?!

Because founders know they cannot do it alone, the pressure comes down to employees. Over time this can turn into a toxic culture of last-minute deliverables and patch-work without addressing the root causes.

The good news is that not all startups are like that.

Founders can also be good managers. The shift usually happens when they accept that people working with them have very different motivations and cannot do their best in the same environment where they thrive as founders.

Of course, not everything is up to the founders and there are many things startup employees can do to deal with startup busyness.

Here are a few things that work for me:

Saying no
I learned to rarely accept meetings with strangers and opt for emails instead of internal update meetings
Doing the hardest task first
I have the highest energy in the morning so I try to tackle the hardest task at the beginning of the day. If you’re a night owl, you should probably postpone such tasks until late in the day. The key is to find the time when you’re at your best and protect that time for important work
One task at a time
Multitasking makes me feel great (…that sweet dopamine of being super productive) but over time it kills the quality of my work
Don’t push people without understanding their purpose
If you’re working with someone else and you need them to push harder, try to understand what they care about. Why should they work hard? Why should they care? Otherwise, they’ll default to busyness

3 questions on “busyness” culture you should ask

I know addressing this topic is not easy when interviewing in a startup because of the fear of looking lazy. In reality, there is a huge range of potential answers you could get and these traits are ultimately part of the culture so you should be prepared for what’s really like working there.

How many hours is typical to work each week?
In Europe, employment contracts are required to stay between specific hours but the reality can be different. There is nothing good or bad about working more but it’s not for everyone.
Is there a standard/preferred way of working?
This is your chance to learn if they respect a 9-6 schedule vs flexible hours or if they have regular meetings vs working asynchronously.
What would be my tasks/responsibilities in the first 3-6 months?
Too many times busyness and chaos are the symptom of a lack of planning. If you’re joining a startup, management should know exactly what to expect from you. Otherwise, you’ll feel the urge to look busy.

❝

Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans

John Lennon

If you enjoyed this issue, share it with someone who is always busy.

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