Moving up in a young firm? Advice needed
Hello all
I need some advice on how i can advance quickly at my current firm. It is a startup and currently has 20 employees, mostly sales people, and a business angel backing it.
The firm are developing a new business area where i will be responsible for designing the product and organising the internal processes. They expect that they can triple their revenue in 3 years by introducing this new business area.
I am fairly young, just out of school, with no real experience (except internships) prior to this job. However i already made a great impression and are being held in high regard. I feel i can contribute alot and really be valuable to this company. I am a go-getter and i'm constantly coming up with new ideas and smarter ways of doing things, which recieves great feedback.
Is it possible for me to speed climb the ranks in a few years to the point where i join the management team (3 persons) or partner/equity holder (CEO + business angel)? Or will it be better to join an F50 company and get a few years of experience?
Best regards
/S
i think its better if you stay. you'll learn more/faster from a start up than an f50 in my opinion.
Working for a successful start-up is definitely the fastest way to "accelerate" your career. If you join a F50, promotions will be slow to come by, you probably won't learn as much / have as much responsibility considering you are young in your career.
Generally speaking, if you guys / the start-up is doing well and you're executing well on the your projects, you'll keep getting more responsibility / promoted simply because the effort required to hire someone new/more experienced (in addition to cash burn) and onboard them is high. If you do well and the company is doing well, the management team will probably not look to hire more senior people over you and simply keep handing tasks off to you. As you become a more integral part of the team / you are too busy, they'll likely hire people for you to manage (thus putting you in a higher management position). Your upside generally speaking will be limited by the number of people above you already (so if you're the only product manager for that product, you'll likely become the head of that product over time).
I currently work at a (think KPCB, Sequoia Cap, Accel Partners)-backed startup, and although I'm not C-level, I work with them daily, face to face. Nothing has been better for my experience, it's like getting a MBA AND they pay you!
You will not advance quickly (or at all), your typical advancements at F50 companies translate differently at a startup: increased vested equity compensation, bigger umbrella of roles, elbow room during board meetings, etc...
To the point of "bigger umbrella of roles", my CFO and VP of Strategic Development rely on me for a lot of things that occur inside and outside of the company (won two large clients, restructured operations department, closed Series C financing), something you will rarely find in a F50 leadership development program.
Depending on your responsibilities and your potential success, you can be easily adaptable for mid-level/executive roles at other companies.
Why do you even want to climb the ranks so quickly? "Title" means nothing, "Value" means everything. Take your time, it's all about the journey!
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