On Metis

A quality from Ancient Greece for people working at startups

Giammarco Pacifico & Federica Montrone
March 20, 2024

What does it take to work at a startup?

If you’re a long-time reader, we have already talked about this topic in some previous issues (STEM professionals sharing the truth about working at a startup & How to excel at a startup). But today's article shatters the light on one unique yet comprehensive aspect which will help you thrive if you decide to work in such an environment.

It is called Metis.

This word comes from Greek and does not even have a proper translation.

It refers to the deity Metis, the first wife of Zeus, the King of the Gods, but most importantly, it refers to the combined quality of wisdom and cunning.
Metis was the deity embodying these qualities, but another well-known example is Ulysses who famously used his metis against Polyphemus and Troians.

Why am I bringing ancient Greek mythology today?

Because there is no better explanation of the required qualities to craft a winning strategy when working in a startup.

Every day, you will face new mutable complex problems, and this will require several qualities to guide you.

Among others, the following are the ones you should be most sensitive to if you choose this path.

Responsiveness

Most likely you won’t have all the time to make the best decision, yet your problem will likely be impellent and urge to be dealt with responsiveness.

You could simply let your FOBO (Fear Of a Better Option) kick in because a fast decision can be disastrous and generate even more damage. In other words, you could be stuck in an analysis paralysis that only gets worse as time goes by.

The truth is that how fast you react to something depends on the knowledge you master, your previous experiences and whether you have a resolutive mindset. This makes the whole difference between a “newbie” professional and a seasoned one. But if you ask me, even though experience might help, I would say that having a pragmatic approach is already a good starting point.

Wisdom

Velocity is essential, but only a fool jumps to conclusions without evaluating the risks. Risk is built-in in startups, so you better devise a strategy to deal with it without being pushed by a perceived urgency and FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

For example, buying a big stock of a particular material because you heard of global material shortage when you don't even have a good guess of what you would have needed in your product development, might not be the best idea.

Creativity

If you had access to all kinds of resources to find the right solution to any problem, you are not in a startup.

The majority of constraints to find proper solutions often come from a lack of resources but still, some problems need to be addressed ASAP. Creativity is crucial in those cases, representing the ability to craft a solution even when resources are limited, delivering valuable results, even if they are not tasselled.

Adaptability

Things will likely change almost every day. You better not be stressed out every time things go off the rails.

You gotta be ready, process the new situation quickly and make the most of the resources you have while keeping your attitude and energies high in the new scenario. It has a lot to do with responsiveness and wisdom as well: an adaptable person is also a very conscious one, who upon a new trigger (i.e. a changed situation) evaluates the situation, and is ready to react, rather than putting up with it.

All of the qualities listed above can very well be summarised by the word Metis.

To put it in another perspective, Metis also refers to the quality of deploying knowledge in a very practical way towards unpredictable and ever-changing situations that would require prompt action with the resources you have immediate access to.

One could argue that not every role or function has to face the same complex challenges and most life-or-death decisions are left to top management and founders.

But, I honestly cannot think about a single role where this kind of attitude is not required in the startup world: if you work in R&D you would need it as your bread and butter; if you work in Regulatory Affairs you would need to come up with the neatest regulatory strategy to guide your product to the market and well… if you are the CEO you must be the master of it all and navigate your ship to safe seas almost every day.

I am sure that everyone working in a startup could easily relate to this, but actually, is there an aspect in life where Metis wouldn't be good to be used?

If you enjoyed this issue, share it with someone who needs some Metis in their life.

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