Founder Friday is a weekly guest post written by a founder who is based in or hails from the Silicon Prairie. Each month, a topic relevant to startups is presented and founders share lessons learned or best practices utilized on that topic. March’s topic is why you should work for a startup.
About the authors: Jeff Rohr is founder and CEO of Kansas City-based SquareOffs.
“I learned from my mom and dad, who didn’t have a formal education, but had doctorates of love. They told me that if you gave 110 percent all the time, a lot of beautiful things will happen. I may not always be right, but no one can ever accuse me of not having a genuine love and passion for whatever I do.” — Dick Vitale
Dickie V has it right. The passion to go out and get what you want, live your dream and know that you left it all on the floor is the only way to live for me.
Thanks to our sponsor
Watching the NCAA tournament, I can’t help but identify so many similarities with startup life: teams carefully formed with complementing skill sets, learning the power of the team is greater than any single talent, having a common vision to be the best, trusting in the players around you and knowing that only hard work will propel you to the top.
One more rep in the weight room or one more line of code may be the difference maker. Knowing all along that so many have and will fall along the path. It can be “flat-out scary, baby!”
Pregame
The lights go down over the hardwood and the highlight reel begins overhead, demonstrating all of the successes from those who have come before you. But now it’s your time. None of their last-second shots or championship rings are going to help you, but their voices of inspiration are in the back of your mind. The Star-Spangled Banner commences, the flash bulbs pop and the tip begins… you’ve made the leap, determined but perhaps shaky at the start.
“Am I prepared? Did I leave my job too soon? Do I have enough in savings? What was I thinking?”
All perfectly normal thoughts, but thoughts usually overcome by the vision of winning the Big One.
Enter the need for intestinal fortitude. This was not a choice for the faint of heart. You’re going to receive some hard fouls once in a while. You will sprain an ankle. You will lose a customer. You will have an unplanned expense.
“WhatsApp just exited for $19B. That sounds nice, but how will I know when it’s the right time to leave my nest of security?”
Most startup founders will relate a similar tale about the moment they knew it was time to take the plunge: It was when they couldn’t sleep because their business idea was burning in their brain until the early hours. They couldn’t let it go.
“Where should I start?”
Anywhere. For founders and non-founders alike, it doesn’t always need to be a leap. Go to practice. Hang out with the players. Unsure if the timing is right? Talk to the startups around you, go on a Startup Crawl and ask how you can get your feet wet. Getting started can mean committing as little as a few hours one night a week.
Young companies need people who are ready to jump in and get their hands dirty. A proactive approach is one that will appeal to most. Prior to jumping out into the great unknown, I was fortunate enough to work for a young company that quickly went from 28 to 75 employees in my first year.
A “take action and ask for forgiveness later” culture was definitely in place. I earned the opportunity to take three new products to market, each one its own mini-startup. This was a hugely invaluable experience and one that can be recreated by working with a startup near you. Saving up enough vacation time to take off one day a week to begin building my own vision also proved to be a great way to begin the transition.
Lastly, founders, you need an excellent coaching staff. Gathering a key group of advisors is the best decision you can make prior to game time, so that you don’t panic when the full-court press arrives.
Game Time
Get ready to play a lot of positions. Startups require athletes, not position players and that’s one of the beauties of it. No, not Andrew Wiggins, but think of it as each team member equaling a full department at a large company. At a young company, business development may entail wearing the multiple hats of marketing, lead generation, sales, implementation and reporting.
There are two types of people for whom this Jack-of-all-trades variety is especially helpful:
For future business owners, there is no better way than the startup environment to get much-needed firsthand business experience. Programs such as Venture for America and Kauffman’s StartupScholars are making a huge impact in helping to provide outside-the-classroom experience.
This mutually beneficial relationship is building tomorrow’s business leaders while getting startups much-needed and eager talent. They are making it more acceptable to tell the family that you’re not going to work for corporate America, that your dream is different. Programs subsidizing the salaries of these fellows also allow them to join very young companies that could not otherwise afford them, truly getting them in on the ground floor where so many game-time decisions are being made in the huddle.
The necessity to fulfill so many roles is also great for those of you who aren’t sure what you want to do for the rest of your life. This is the time and place to figure that out. There is no question that each day will be different, presenting you with a new set of opportunities and challenges. You will find out much more quickly not only where you excel, but what you really want to do for the rest of your life. Work should not feel so much like work when you find the right fit.
You are going to work hard. Much of the time it is not glamorous. There will be a lot of building, measuring and learning before getting your shot down. There will be a lot of late nights and caffeine. You have to be a doer, not a talker. Like March Madness, failure is not an option. You learn a lot of things about yourself and your team members when the game is on the line.
There will be timeouts for pivots, adjusting your strategy and model. The best athletes in the world all schedule time to relax. A work hard, play hard mentality can go a long way. If you thought about every little thing that could go wrong or what all of your competitors are doing, you’d probably lose your mind. Taking time out to dance in the locker room once in a while is vital.
Winning
Popping bottles and champagne baths…
The rewards of startup life always seem to outweigh the work put in. I’m one to go above and beyond at my work. But putting blood, sweat and tears into a job that may not reward your efforts could be the biggest risk of all. With a startup, you are so directly tied to the effort you put in, though the reward may not always be money. But, as Dickie V said, beautiful things will happen and people are driven for different reasons.
Payment may be lifelong friends, a rolodex full of connections or a healthy culture. We can talk ping pong, an all-you-can-eat candy station or mobile massage. Who doesn’t love that? At SquareOffs, we’ve designated nine reasons our startup is awesome:
- Character (Smart Ass Team, Kick Ass Product, Big Ass Market)
- Organic Fruit and Snacks
- Great Neighbors
- Beer Fridays
- Parties
- Lounge
- Field Trips
- Free Clothes
- Events
These things may make our day, but alone don’t make up an awesome work environment. The ideal work environment makes you feel like you are at your best, using your strengths and feeling energized. A noble cause doesn’t hurt either. For us, it is giving the world a voice and delivering the collective truth.
What else motivates you? Is it stellar team members from which you can learn, quotes on the wall, a window office, a colorful atmosphere, reaching your goals, recognition, occasional privacy, collaboration, press coverage or parties? All of these need to be taken into consideration.
One great thing about working at a startup is that you have the ability to quickly influence all of this. Along with other duties, I’m guessing that your chances are pretty good on landing the Chief Culture Officer position at a company of five.
In addition to a perfectly tailored work culture, a corporation can’t always provide:
- Let’s be real… a shot at the Big One
- Creative control
- Density of innovative thinking for faster learning
- A community supporting one another
- Skills that can be taken elsewhere (for example, learning something that is only company-specific or taking a position that may pigeon-hole your career)
- The inherent quality of being around like-minded people who refuse to accept the status quo
The goal of great coaches is to build great people. Many of these same lessons add to the book of wisdom that can be applied to your personal life: thinking lean, putting in the work to do something eight times (or 180 times to come up with your logo) knowing full well that you will only walk away with one version with which you are satisfied, or being forced to find balance between being a people person and gluing yourself to your desk.
Entrepreneurs and those who work for young companies often get asked if they would go back to a “normal” job. The answer is almost always a resounding “no.”
It’s not that they wouldn’t do outstanding work with all that they’ve learned. It’s that they’ve been “bitten” by the 
entrepreneurial bug after seeing the impact that they’ve made. Failure is part of life, but before ever going back to the corporate life, these same people would jump on board at another startup with the same inspiring people they associate with—getting one more chance at the title. Hitting the bottom of the net as time expires is something that you never forget. The dream is alive and “Awesome, baby, with a capital A.”
I show up to work every day knowing that I have one life to live and that I’m going to build something incredible. I will never look back. For those who want to be inspired, there’s no better option. Join us.
About the author: Jeff Rohr is a sports fan and CEO and founder of SquareOffs, a company that specializes in social online polls.
Credits: Jeff Rohr photo courtesy of Rohr, Dick Vitale photo from DickVitaleOnline.com, NCAA Championship Trophy from MidMajorMadness.com.
