Jul 24, 2023 · 5 min read
The narrative around startups is intoxicating. It’s a story of scrappy teams, rapid innovation, and the chance to build something from the ground up. Having navigated both large corporate structures and the intense world of early-stage companies, I've seen the appeal firsthand. But I've also seen many talented professionals get burned by a reality that doesn't match the hype.
This isn't about discouraging ambition. It's about going in with your eyes wide open. Based on my own experiences and observations of countless peers, here are five hard truths you need to consider before trading in your corporate stability for a startup dream.
In a large company, your role is well-defined. If you're a Senior Product Manager, you manage a specific product area with clear counterparts and predictable tasks.
At a startup, your title is often just a starting point. Hired as a "Product Manager"? Congratulations, you're also now a sales engineer for tricky demos, a technical writer for the new API documentation, and the front-line support contact for your first enterprise customer. The company needs a job done, and you are the closest person with a pulse and the right credentials. This "all hands on deck" mentality is necessary for survival, but it means you'll spend significant time on work far outside your core expertise.
In a mature organization, technical debt is a known problem to be managed. At a startup, it’s often a core feature of the business strategy. The pressure to ship features and show traction to investors means that "good enough for the demo" often becomes the default standard.
You'll watch as core architecture is compromised to land a single, demanding customer. The best engineering practices you know thorough testing, scalable design, refactoring are frequently sacrificed for speed. At first, it feels like a necessary evil. Over time, it can become the only way the company knows how to build, creating a fragile system that grinds progress to a halt just as you're supposed to be scaling.
Startups are often led by brilliant founders with a powerful vision. What they often lack is deep managerial experience. They might be first-time CEOs, first-time VPs, or first-time managers of any kind. As a result, critical functions like performance feedback, conflict resolution, and career development are often inconsistent or nonexistent.
You may find yourself in a high-stress environment with no clear person to turn to for guidance. Your manager is likely just as overwhelmed as you are, focused on the company's survival rather than your personal growth. You're not just joining a company that's learning; you're joining a leadership team that's learning, and you'll feel the growing pains directly.
At a large company, you have a built-in peer group. I could bounce ideas off CPO or VP. There was a community of practice that provided support, shared knowledge, and a crucial sounding board for difficult decisions.
At a startup, you might be the only one in your role. If you're the first Head of Product, there is no other Head of Product to talk to. You report to the CEO and work alongside the CTO, but no one else truly shares your specific context and challenges. This isolation can be intense. You're expected to have the answers, but you have no internal peers to help you find them.
Mature companies run on process. There are established workflows for planning, budgeting, and shipping code that provide predictability.
Startups run on chaos. The "process" is often a series of frantic Slack messages, last-minute decisions, and heroic individual efforts. The focus is on adapting and reacting, not on building repeatable systems. While this allows for incredible speed, it also means your work life will be defined by constant fire-fighting, unpredictability, and a persistent feeling of being just one step away from disaster.
You might wonder why anyone would ever join a startup. There is one powerful, compelling reason: the unmatched thrill of direct impact.
At a large corporation, your work is a small contribution to a massive machine. The line between your effort and the company's success is long and blurry.
At a startup, that line is direct and immediate. You can have an idea on a Monday, build it with your team by Wednesday, ship it to customers on Thursday, and watch the usage metrics climb on Friday. You can sit in a sales call, hear a customer's problem, and personally deliver the solution a week later. There is no filter, no bureaucracy, no layers of management diluting your impact. You pull a lever, and the entire company moves.
This accelerated feedback loop between your actions and the market's reaction is the most intense learning experience of your professional life. It’s more than just gaining skills; it's gaining a deep, intuitive understanding of how a business actually works.
The choice between a startup and an established corporation isn't about good versus bad; it's about understanding the fundamental trade-offs. You are exchanging the predictability of process, the clarity of a defined role, and the comfort of experienced leadership for something else entirely: raw, unfiltered impact.
The right choice depends on what you want to optimize for in your career right now. There is no single right answer, only the right answer for you. If you do decide to take the leap, remember that in an environment defined by chaos, the quality of the people you surround yourself with is the only thing that truly matters. Choose your team wisely.