One important thing to consider within this framework is where you are in your career.
It was incredibly frustrating working for FAANG and a unicorn as a recent grad - I had zero seat at the table and it was maddening how little progress was made.
When I moved to smaller startups, I was able to join as a senior leader with agency. Even though we faced the fear of running out of money and layoffs and tons of pressure to grow with limited resources, it ended up being far less stressful because of that agency.
Yes, and the flipside of this is that the startup thing gets old as you age. Most people don’t want to be looking for new jobs in every 1-3 years into their 40s and 50s, which is what early-stage is like for most people (usually the company fails, or succeeds but changes so much that you’re no longer the great fit you once were.)
All I wanted when I was young was dynamic, risky, early stage - now I’d love to get into a big tanker but it’s hard to do without more specialization than you often get at startups.
Elena - love your piece and it is highly relevant to me right now. I'm a new parent so curious to know what archetype(s) would probably make sense for my current life stage with a newborn and the months/year(s) to come. I have high ambition and desire for achievement, but am a newcomer to this career crossroad.
Absolutely love this post, having a dilemma of pivoting from a tanker to an early stage pre-series A startup early in my career (2 years of work exp) this post gave me much more clarity on making my decision. Thanks!
Amazing post, it's so important to think about where you are going to work as it will surely have an impact on the skills you learn and then your career
this is soooo useful and timely for me! I live in Nigeria and work remotely for a US startup, and even though I get a lot of really good feedback about my work, I’ve recently started craving a lot of mentorship and guidance from seniors who have threaded similar paths.
Lots of ‘putting out the fires’ but so little strategic growth and mentorship.
My observation from having worked at multiple startups (pre-A through to post D), is there is one more archetype which is somewhat similar to declining giant, except much smaller and hasn't really achieved any real success in the past. A zombie, dead but doesnt realise it yet. Not dying fast enough to run out of cash soon, but definitely declining with little hope for turnaround. All the real talent moves on, leaving folks behind who either can't leave (founders) or the low performers who are just cashing pay checks till it finally folds.
excellent stuff!! love that you draw upon your own experiences and really demonstrates, in a simple way, and makes me glad that we dont really live in a culture of staying at the same place for 50 years (well - some countries still do i suppose)
This is very helpful, Elena. I actually switched from fitness to tech 3 years ago and have worked mostly with early stage startups (1st was seed to series B, 2nd was series A to B). Wore multiple hats in both roles, gained so much exposure across various functions, and worked at an exhilarating pace.
No regrets at all, but I’m now looking to add more depth so I can be a T-shaped person; no longer just wanna have breadth.
Curious to know what stage you think would be best. I’m thinking lifestyle boat might be great.
One important thing to consider within this framework is where you are in your career.
It was incredibly frustrating working for FAANG and a unicorn as a recent grad - I had zero seat at the table and it was maddening how little progress was made.
When I moved to smaller startups, I was able to join as a senior leader with agency. Even though we faced the fear of running out of money and layoffs and tons of pressure to grow with limited resources, it ended up being far less stressful because of that agency.
Yes, and the flipside of this is that the startup thing gets old as you age. Most people don’t want to be looking for new jobs in every 1-3 years into their 40s and 50s, which is what early-stage is like for most people (usually the company fails, or succeeds but changes so much that you’re no longer the great fit you once were.)
All I wanted when I was young was dynamic, risky, early stage - now I’d love to get into a big tanker but it’s hard to do without more specialization than you often get at startups.
Elena - love your piece and it is highly relevant to me right now. I'm a new parent so curious to know what archetype(s) would probably make sense for my current life stage with a newborn and the months/year(s) to come. I have high ambition and desire for achievement, but am a newcomer to this career crossroad.
go for tanker on lifestyle boat!
Absolutely love this post, having a dilemma of pivoting from a tanker to an early stage pre-series A startup early in my career (2 years of work exp) this post gave me much more clarity on making my decision. Thanks!
This is really clearly mapped and well-articulated – 12 years of things I've learned by being in the thick of it distilled into one clean post.
Amazing post, it's so important to think about where you are going to work as it will surely have an impact on the skills you learn and then your career
this is soooo useful and timely for me! I live in Nigeria and work remotely for a US startup, and even though I get a lot of really good feedback about my work, I’ve recently started craving a lot of mentorship and guidance from seniors who have threaded similar paths.
Lots of ‘putting out the fires’ but so little strategic growth and mentorship.
Loved this. Thanks for putting it together!
This is gold!
As someone who has made the wrong decision in the past, this is really helps to focus on why.
My observation from having worked at multiple startups (pre-A through to post D), is there is one more archetype which is somewhat similar to declining giant, except much smaller and hasn't really achieved any real success in the past. A zombie, dead but doesnt realise it yet. Not dying fast enough to run out of cash soon, but definitely declining with little hope for turnaround. All the real talent moves on, leaving folks behind who either can't leave (founders) or the low performers who are just cashing pay checks till it finally folds.
Great post and framework, thank you. What are other examples of Lifestyle Boat companies?
If the size of the circles represented # of job opportunities, my sense is that the Lifestyle Boats circle would be tiny!
excellent stuff!! love that you draw upon your own experiences and really demonstrates, in a simple way, and makes me glad that we dont really live in a culture of staying at the same place for 50 years (well - some countries still do i suppose)
this is such a great read, thank you for writing this! gave me lots of insights to reflect about myself and my career growth
This is gold, thank you for this!
This is very helpful, Elena. I actually switched from fitness to tech 3 years ago and have worked mostly with early stage startups (1st was seed to series B, 2nd was series A to B). Wore multiple hats in both roles, gained so much exposure across various functions, and worked at an exhilarating pace.
No regrets at all, but I’m now looking to add more depth so I can be a T-shaped person; no longer just wanna have breadth.
Curious to know what stage you think would be best. I’m thinking lifestyle boat might be great.
This reminds me of a booked titled
The First 90 days.
It also speaks to these and how some archetypes are more fragile upon your arrival and gives you some play by play situations.
Thanks Elena!!!