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Asking for a Talent #2: joining a startup before launching your own

Asking for a Talent #2: joining a startup before launching your own

Non-obvious advantages and how to do it right

Giammarco Pacifico
June 12, 2024

Many scientists and engineers get interested in startups because they are thinking about starting their own, usually right out of academia but are unsure about the next steps.

“Should I join a startup before launching my own?
If so, how long should I stay there?”

If these are questions you ask yourself, this article is for you.

It’s no secret that one of the best things you can do as a young researcher who is considering launching a deep-tech startup is to learn the basics of business by working at a young startup.

If you’re not convinced yet, here is why you should consider that:

Going beyond the buzzwords

If you only study business, you’ll sound like every MBA graduate: full of fancy lingo that helps you nail a consulting interview but has no practical use. Instead, getting your hands dirty by solving a challenge is the only way to learn how complex its execution is.

On a side note, this is also a great way to determine expertise.
Fake experts always talk in general terms about high-level concepts while real experts can tell you about all the metrics they track to achieve a result, what worked/failed in the past and what they are doing differently now.
If you’re starting a company, you’d rather be an expert who ultimately delegates to their team.

Meeting people in easy mode

If you’re just leaving academia and considering a spin-out, you probably know almost nobody outside of that world. Working alongside startup founders will give you access to their network too, which is priceless if you’re going to launch a company

Finding co-founders and validating problems

If you don’t have an idea for a company yet or you have a PoC (Proof of Concept) from your research but are lacking applications, working at a startup in your same field is the perfect opportunity to learn all about customers as well as the internal challenges of building a company.

This will give you countless ideas to start your company as there are a ton of problems out there.

Gaining some employee perspective

The only way to know what employees want is to be one first. This will be extremely important when it becomes your turn to work with other people. Even at the very beginning where you might only work with freelancers, learning how to balance a great culture with getting things done is not an easy feat and the best way to succeed is to know how the other side thinks.

Now that you know about the benefits, let’s talk about the hardest part: choosing the right company (you don’t want to join a sinking ship) and the right role (nobody wants to waste time learning something else).

Here are 3 things you should look for:

#1 - Working closely with the founder(s)

If you’re an individual contributor working in the lab all day, it will be impossible to learn what you need to start a company.

If you can, try to work directly with the CEO but working closely with any founder or being part of the senior management team works too.

If you don’t have enough experience for senior positions, look for roles such as Founders Associate, Chief of Staff or similar ones where you’ll get to shadow the founder. If you’re ambitious and curious you might even like these roles a lot and stay there for a while but in any case, what you learn will be worth the effort.

#2 - Joining a growing startup

This is the easiest way to make sure you learn a ton. Joining a fast-growing company requires you to grow just as fast and here are a few things to look for:

The company has previously raised €2-4M and has just closed a €6-10M investment round
There is a working prototype (medtech) or strong animal data (biotech)
There are 10-20 employees

If you want to learn more about how to find the right startup check this out ⬇️

How to find the right startup to join

The identikit of good startups and the most common red flags to watch out for.

https://kickigai.beehiiv.com/p/find-the-right-startups

#3 - Great people to work with

Before joining any startup, try to meet and speak with a lot of people who are working there to get a sense of who might become your future colleague. It’s very common for employees working at a startup to launch a company together so this is your best chance to find your future co-founders or early employees.

I’m a huge fan of working at a startup before launching your own but this is not always the right path for everyone. Waiting too long before taking the leap while waiting to gain more experience is the easiest way to kill your project before it even starts.

How long should you stay before leaving?

I recommend between 1.5 and 2 years.

The first six months are needed to get up to speed on the market, customers and product
The following six months is when you start diving deep into the nuances of the challenges in front of you and you start developing some expertise
The remaining part is where your contribution truly starts to have an impact on the company and you are now the go-to person for a few things

In most cases, this is the best time to leave and start your own company taking with you both the skills and reputation you’ve built so far.

If you enjoyed this issue, share it with someone who wants to launch a startup!

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