When and if you decide to work with a start-up, people give you a million reasons to dissuade you. Foremost being start-ups aren’t established, there is no certainty in a company that isn’t making a billion dollars each month. Second being, you might not get enough money, and third there is too much work, you don’t have a life. Another reason could be, your list of responsibilities is too large.
Maybe all of this right, you certainly have a lot of work and too many responsibilities. The targets are huge and there are lesser people to work on these targets. And money isn’t great either. Before I go ahead with anything I will make it clear I don’t have any experience working with a corporate and most probably I never will.
Infact the only work experience I have is a few months of working in a start-up. I have been frowned up, no maybe, looked down upon for making this choice. I could have studied more or opted to go through the awfully taxing and monotonous procedure of college placements. I didn’t deem myself suitable for the latter, and I was not sure what I wanted to study. And this is why I chose to work with a start-up to figure out my life and career. And trust me when I say, I have never learnt more in 20 years of my life, than I have in the past few months.
I set out thinking I will become a writer, and conquer the media world but the universe had better plans. I learnt how to write but something else – that is code – something that an engineering college couldn’t teach me in 4 years and something I believed I could never do. Sometimes, you surprise yourself. I am still not acing at it, but I love it, I have learnt to learn instead of giving up easily.
At a start-up you are expected to do a lot, including things you didn’t sign up for. But that’s what makes it a joyride, being able to do the unexpected and the impossible.There are times when it is more than exasperating and things are not the way you want them to be. But in the end all of it is worth it. You begin to realize you are not working for money, there is altogether a different reason to work and that is to make things work. You never know you might be next Whatsapp or Instatgram, and that hope never can die.
You have the freedom to think, innovate and make your own decisions. And that’s what I love about the entire experience. Most of my friends are working in corporates and IT companies, I haven’t yet met anyone enjoying and loving their work.
A start-up allows you to be you - it helps you rediscover your creative self. I am sure I am never regretting this decision. I still don’t know the direction I am in, but I like the journey and to me it seems to be the right direction.