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4 mistakes to avoid working at a startup

4 mistakes to avoid working at a startup

The biggest mistakes I made over the years & how you can avoid them

Giammarco Pacifico
August 21, 2024

After a few weeks of covering somewhat diverse topics, from wealth to the power of writing, this issue goes back to Kickigai’s core: how to thrive in a startup job.

After years spent in the trenches scaling companies and helping founders, these are the 4 biggest mistakes, I wish everyone working at a startup knew.

When reading a job description for a startup, you probably think that this is what you’ll be required to do and the CEO (or whoever wrote the ad) knows what you will be doing.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Especially in startups with less than 20 people, nobody knows in advance what will work. Not the CEO. Not the investors. Not the executive with 20 years of experience.

They are all guessing.

Of course, some guesses are better than others and it will be your job to sort through the myriad of advice and ultimately decide what to do.

Many times you’ll start a new startup job with your set of tools, models and best practices only to realize that you should do something completely different nobody told you about.

If there is something you’re undeniably responsible for is finding out what you should work on.

#2: Believing everything you hear

This is what happens in every startup:

Customers love your product but they don’t sign up nor do they use the free trial
Big companies say they love your innovation and can’t wait to do a pilot but the deal never close
Investors look interested and engaged during the pitch but they end up ghosting you and never investing

I’ve lived through each one of these scenarios many times and the truth is that everybody lies, even if they do so in good faith.

This happens because people only act if they have a feeling of urgency.

Many of the early customers you speak to are your biggest fans who love to support you but the problem you’re solving is not big enough for them
Big companies are driven by metrics. Too often you’re one of their innovation KPIs without any urgency for them to try your product
Investors like your space and believe your story but have thousands of investment opportunities coming their way

I’ve seen people dealing with this by creating a false sense of urgency, using every possible trick to get people to act.

From sleazy marketing techniques that get customers to sign up, to forcing executives into a deal that is “too good to be true”, to always having oversubscribed investment rounds closing in 2 weeks.

Instead, the way to get to the truth is asking the right questions.

Or at least avoiding the wrong ones.

If you want to get better at this, check out The Mom Test.

#3: Thinking you have no competition

If you’re building a new medical device, designing a new drug or launching a platform using new technology you probably believe what you’re doing is unique.

And maybe the technology is new but the problem you’re solving is not.

I bet people already use other solutions, no matter how different they look from what you are building.

Many years ago, I launched an app for chronic patients and their caregivers. I had a bunch of reasons to justify why I was creating a new category and why patients had no similar options. Instead, they were already coping with their problems in other ways, and it turned out I had plenty of competition, even if none of them was digital.

The same happens with state-of-the-art medical devices.

I used to work with a company that developed a new minimally invasive tool for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a common yet delicate heart surgery. The device used a unique sensor technology for better movement and handheld accuracy, which they believed set them apart into a new category. After two years, it became obvious they couldn’t get enough clinical proof to make surgeons shift to their devices.

The competitions they refused to acknowledge beat them.

Very often a new technology is best fit for a subsegment of the market.

For example, younger patients with neurological disorders could benefit most from digital therapy or surgeons at cardiovascular clinics who deal with hard-to-treat patients could leverage new sensors and better positioning to help prevent common side effects.

Niching down into a smaller market sounds weird but it’s often the right choice.

#4: Not knowing when it’s time to quit

As a startup employee, you have a great perspective on the company’s future. Much better than investors or advisors.

Here is what I think you should look at if you’re thinking of quitting:

Growth
- Has revenue been growing for the past few years?
- If there is no revenue, what product milestones were recently achieved?
- Did past investments lead to tangible results or is the company changing trajectory?
Team
- Do you (still) enjoy working with your colleagues? Do you feel challenged by everyone around you?
- Are good people still in the company?
  A sign of a sinking ship is that every great talent leaves and the people remaining are barely doing their job not to get fired
Founders & Management
- Are the founders checked out? Does it feel they still care?
- Is senior management engaged? Or do they live in a fantasy world where everything is always perfect?
- Does the message in the all-hands meeting match the facts and numbers you see daily?
Culture
- Are you treated like a doormat? Are you asked to do the groundwork and work all the time with little respect?
- Are you bored? Does it feel like you’re going through the motions, doing meaningless work with no energy or enthusiasm?

These are just a few of the mistakes I made myself and I see startuppers make all the time. I probably have enough scars to write an entire book but I hope these nuggets will help you in your startup journey.

If you enjoyed this issue, share it with someone who works at an early-stage startup!

This week's top scientific reads

The AI Scientist: Towards Fully Automated Scientific Discovery (ArXiv)
Detects Consciousness in Unresponsive Patients (NEJM)
Biomolecular shifts that happen in our 40s and 60s (Nature)
New heart MRI accurately predicts heart failure risk (ESC Heart Failure)
First motion-compatible upright brain scanner (Nature)

Latest European funding rounds in health & bio

PLAIO raised €4.3M for its AI-driven pharma supply chain solution 🇮🇸
Roger raised €7M to commercialize its dental practice management software 🇩🇪
Hexarald closed a €13M round to develop its radiology platform which also provides teleradiology services 🇬🇧