Today marks my 2nd anniversary at Root! 🚀

It’s been a wild ride and I couldn’t help but reflect on the journey so far. Leaving my cushy corporate law firm life to sweat it out in the trenches of a startup has had many ups and downs, but it’s also been one of the most rewarding experiences of my professional life.

So, if you’re toying with the idea of diving headfirst into startup life, these are 5 reasons why I think everyone should experience the magic of working at a startup at least once in their career.

1. Scarcity is the Mother of Invention

Startup life is a race to profitability. Except, the clock is your company’s cash runway and there are a million things to do to reach the finish line in one piece.

This scarcity isn’t just a challenge; it’s also the best forcing function for innovation and learning. 

With fewer resources, you’ll amaze yourself at just how creative you can be when solving hard problems under constraints.

You’ll learn how to do more with less and focus your time, resources and energy on what really matters. If you’re a startup lawyer, this means you literally can’t afford to outsource every legal issue to external lawyers.

It’s incredibly scary at first, but you learn by figuring out and with time and patience you’ll surprise yourself at how adept you are at navigating out of your comfort zone. 

2. Red Tape? Forget About It!

You’ll be amazed at how quickly ideas turn into action at a startup. 

Without layers of approvals, sign-offs and processes to wade through, decisions are made super fast and the team rallies to execute with insane agility. 

The ability to move fast isn’t just a competitive advantage for startups though – it’s what startups have to do to survive. Red tape & bureaucracy can be fatal because it slows down learning and innovation, and ultimately growth. 

If something ain’t working, change it. If something ain’t adding value, stop it. If something could be done better, do it.

3. Everything is a Hustle

There’s a unique sense of urgency at a startup that’s easy to miss when everyone shows up to work everyday in a t-shirt and jeans.

The team is constantly pushing to get to the next product launch, or the next deployment or the next sales growth milestone as quickly as possible, whatever it takes.

Everything is a hustle and having a ‘get sh*t done’ attitude is a given.

Focusing on the output of your work rather than the time you spend on it is a drastic mindset shift, especially for lawyers coming from practice. For starters, without the pressure of billing 1000s of hours, you’re actually incentivised to become ultra efficient at simply getting things done. 

I was recently reminded in a conversation with a teammate of George Patton’s famous quote: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”. 

This perfectly describes startup life.

4. You’re an Owner

No, I’m not talking about share options (well, not exclusively).

The beauty of startup life is that you’re not pushing some far-off CEO or board’s corporate agenda. 

You’re helping craft the future of the business with your bare hands in the hope of one day proudly saying you’re ex-[insert startup name here].  Your contributions can have a tangible and sizable impact on the destiny of the business.  

Every new customer, every new partner signed up, every product launched, every fundraising round – the company’s wins are that much closer to home, and all the more sweeter. You can very often draw a short, straight line between the effort of your labour and the impact on the company.

It’s skin in the game in a very real sense.

5. You’ll Wear Many Hats

Depending on your role, you might get to wear many hats.  

If you’re a hat person and this sounds like your idea of fun, working at a startup could be an opportunity to explore different parts of your skillset and personality. When I first joined Root as Operations Manager, my role was a pot pourri of things including (but not limited to) legal and compliance. 

You add massive value by being versatile and flexible, and being able to effortlessly collaborate across multiple departments makes you incredibly marketable to any future employers.

By being curious, you’re able to grow into a well-rounded generalist. In no other environment are you able to work as intimately with software developers, product, finance, sales and people ops and so on.

And if you’re deliberate about it, you can stack the right combination of skills that can set you up for the rest of your career.

So, what are you waiting for? 

Make no mistake, working at a startup isn’t for the faint-hearted. In the last year or so, many startups failed and seeing so many talented and highly skilled people being laid off is incredibly sad. 

That said, if you can find the right opportunity, working at a startup will change your approach to work forever and maybe, just maybe, could be a career defining move.

I’m keen to hear your startup tale. Let me know in the comments below! 🚀✨

*This is the first in a series of Startup Life blogs I’ll be posting in the coming weeks. Keep an eye out to read more!