{"id":10938,"date":"2015-01-20T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.wework.com\/?p=10938"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:43:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:43:22","slug":"taken-startup-job-20s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/taken-startup-job-20s","title":{"rendered":"Why I should have taken that startup job in my 20s"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I graduated from college in 1993, I got a job at Fidelity Investments as a customer service representative. It was a prestigious company in Boston, and after majoring in English, I was delighted to have an opportunity to be trained in\u00a0something<\/em>\u00a0in the financial services industry. It seemed practical and, at such a big and eminent organization, opportunities to climb the corporate ladder seemed limitless.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take me long before I realized that, no matter how limitless the opportunities seemed, moving up the corporate ladder would be slow and require\u00a0navigating tons of bureaucracy<\/a>. I also didn\u2019t like working odd-hour shifts, having my bathroom breaks monitored, or having to explain to crackpots why their mutual fund account went down that day.<\/p>\n

I knew I was unhappy, but I had no idea what else was out there in the world for someone without much work experience.<\/p>\n

One of my biggest regrets from my 20s is that I didn\u2019t know how to\u00a0explore career options<\/a>. And more specifically, I did not understand the concept of startups or equity. I thought working was about working for salary. But if you go to work for a startup, especially early on, you\u2019ll get something else: stock (or \u201cequity\u201d) in the company. And if the startup you work for succeeds, the stock you get could end up being worth significantly more than your salary.<\/p>\n

As a new grad in Boston in the 90s, I had no concept of this. But an ambitious person graduating from college today should think about it. There are a lot more startups today, and you can in effect become an early investor in one by going to work for it.<\/p>\n

Startups are companies that are designed to grow fast, usually because of technology. They usually represent new ideas that never existed before or that are a drastic improvement over what was previously available. Startups typically begin with just a few people and grow rapidly once the company figures out its product and secures funding.<\/p>\n

Yes, startups are very risky, and they often fail. But when they don\u2019t fail, their stock can become quite valuable.<\/p>\n

I wish I\u2019d taken a job as an early employee at a startup and gotten some equity when I graduated from college. I didn\u2019t have tons of experience but, boy, did I work hard and care about the work I did. Startups often have more flexibility on hiring people without credentials. They don\u2019t have corporate ladders, just stuff that needs to get done. You can often join doing one thing, learn on the job quickly, and work on something more important very soon, if you are effective enough.<\/p>\n

There are a few warnings that go along with working for equity. The biggest is that it\u2019s very hard to predict which startup will become the next Google and which will fail. It\u2019s also likely that you will have to take a lower salary until the company becomes successful enough to pay market rates. And lastly, you will probably have to work long hours.<\/p>\n

But that wouldn\u2019t have mattered to me in my 20s. I had no financial obligations except for rent. I had no kids. And for much of my 20s, I worked long hours anyway\u2014but others benefited financially from whatever I did, not me.<\/p>\n

And remember, working isn\u2019t just about making money. It\u2019s also a form of education. And at a startup,\u00a0you learn a lot faster<\/a>\u00a0about how companies work and how to make a great product than at a big company.<\/p>\n

If you feel really ambitious, instead of just going to work for a startup, you could start your own. Starting a startup is much harder than taking a job at one, but the benefits are also multiplied\u2014both the financial benefits and what you\u2019ll learn.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like there to be more Googles and Facebooks started by women. There are some on the horizon and I hope there will be more in the coming years. If you\u2019d like to read some inspirational stories by women who\u2019ve started startups, I\u2019d encourage you to read Y Combinator\u2019s\u00a0Female Founders Stories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My 20-year-old self didn\u2019t consider joining a startup\u2014or founding one\u2014as a career option, but I hope you will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I graduated from college in 1993, I got a job at Fidelity Investments as a customer service representative. It was a prestigious company in Boston, and after majoring in English, I was delighted to have an opportunity to be trained in\u00a0something\u00a0in the financial services industry. It seemed practical and, at such a big and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1406,"featured_media":10942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I should have taken that startup job in my 20s<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I graduated from college in 1993, I got a job at Fidelity Investments as a customer service representative. 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