Finding a startup job is difficult. There are more risks (most startups fail!). Information is scarce, and the best options are sometimes hidden and hard to find.
So, how do you successfully navigate the startup job search?Learned over the last 6 months. After spending six months talking with startups in the area earlier this month about new opportunities urlaunched websites like.
Leaving a cool place isn’t easy, so I wanted to do it right and got a lot of advice. The best tips I’ve gotten are:
1. Take it slow.
Job search is no fun, so everyone is tempted to take the first chance. Resist! If you’re looking for something other than entry-level jobs, finding the right job will take some time. 6 months is normal. It’s much better to wait for the perfect job and land on it than to rush the search and finish the job you want to quit after 6 months.
2. Tell the manager what you are looking for.
If possible, you should meet with the manager beforehand. If you have a strong relationship and your manager is smart, he will help you. Shortly after starting the job search, I spoke to HubSpot manager Mike Volpe. He was very supportive and provided many important introductions and strong references to potential employers.
3. Find a company that can make a big impact.
Find startups that bring new technologies. If you can teach a company a new skill, you will have a greater impact than if you had the same skills as the other five marketers or engineers in the company. I like BookBub because they are planning exciting new content initiatives that my marketing and media background can help with.
4. Look at the numbers.
Startups are risky, but you should do as much as possible to minimize your risk. One way to avoid being a bad company is to collect as much data as possible about your company’s appeal. I knew BookBub was a real deal when CEO Josh Schanker took me through the company’s latest board meeting, emphasizing millions of members, incredible member engagement (see Facebook comments) and tremendous revenue growth. If a startup doesn’t want to share this type of information with you, this is a red flag. I’ll start looking for other options.
5. Look for companies with big and disruptive opportunities.
Is the company you are interviewing making some incremental changes? Or are you making a major change? It’s good to work with a disruptive company. When new business opportunities are limited, opportunities are limited. If a new company thinks big (trying to change an entire industry), chances are great. I love BookBub. Because it offers a tremendous opportunity to completely change the way authors advertise their books and how readers find them.
6. Make sure you are building the right skills.
When I started my search, I found many companies looking for traditional B2B marketers. I ended up turning my back on these companies because I didn’t want to develop traditional B2B marketing skills. Instead, I want to build inbound B2B marketing experience based on my B2C marketing knowledge. This is another reason I’m drawn to BookBub, a company that does both B2B and B2C marketing.
7. Make sure the company you choose has realistic expectations.
While searching, I spoke to a few companies that didn’t do any inbound marketing (no blogs, no social followers, no SEO) but were looking for marketers who could generate huge new lead streams with virtually no new spend on one issue. Month. Impossible. Inbound is great, but like most things, it takes time and money. I am far from this company.
8. Find a company with a good network.
A company’s network is another great way to measure potential customers. Startups are more likely to succeed if they have good investors and advisors, and team members have strong prior experience and strong relationships. BookBub’s network, including NextView Ventures and Founder Collective, and many strong relationships with startups and the publishing industry have been very attractive to me. The added benefit of a strong network that we’ve seen firsthand at HubSpot is that when it’s time to find your next new job, you can open up new opportunities for your company.
9. Use a spreadsheet to rank every company you talk to.
There are a lot of companies you need to talk to if you understand correctly. And speaking with many companies, you need to make systematic comparisons. For the search, we created a table in which each company was listed and ranked according to criteria such as “role adaptation”, “business risk”, “business opportunity” and “team quality”. The table didn’t bring any surprises, but it helped me keep track of all my options, think clearly and prioritize.
10. After doing your research, choose something that interests you.
After collecting company performance data, putting everything into a spreadsheet and doing some research, a few great companies were on the list. I chose BookBub for a number of reasons. I loved the team, it was a unique opportunity to combine my media and marketing experience, and I loved the book. But in the end BookBub was a company I was crazy excited about. This is paramount because, like most people, you do your best when you are excited.
One last thing, the most important factor in your search for a startup job search is what was already decided at the time of your search: your current job. HubSpot’s success and HubSpot’s success have been one of the biggest things I’ve ever had. You can’t change the experience and job you currently have, but you can be diligent, ask the right questions, and be patient. Choose wisely and you will pay off later.