Page 114 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)
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Start-ups have no clear hierarchies who’s always looking to solve a problem,
or paths to advancement. But from their make the solution more efficient, make it
embryonic stages through more-mature repeatable, and keep iterating from there.
ones, they need good managers to create Think like an owner. Working at a
and effectively run departments such as start-up, you’re expected to become
marketing, product development, and emotionally invested. The sense of
sales. And one can accrue numerous mission and adventure is greater than
personal and professional rewards working at a traditional organization, and your
for these young organizations. In nearly efforts are clearly and directly linked to
every interview I’ve conducted with the value and success of the enterprise.
start-up joiners, they have emphasized how You must therefore be someone who
much they value the autonomy, creativity, can care deeply about not just your own
and growth they experience in their jobs— work but all aspects of your company. My
all elements critical to fulfillment. dad’s measure of employee commitment
So it’s important for those in business— involved a hypothetical staple on the
from newly minted MBAs and junior rug near the front desk of his company:
executives to seasoned leaders—to better He wanted people who, no matter their
understand how these companies operate, position, would stop, pick up the staple,
to envision how they themselves might and throw it out. At a big company you
contribute, and, if the situation feels right, might walk past thinking, Someone else—the
to make the leap. cleaners—will get it. But not at a start-up. In
an entrepreneurial organization everyone
must think like an owner, always asking,
ASSESSING YOUR FIT “What can I personally do to make this
To work at a start-up, you’ll need to do place even more awesome?”
three things you might not have learned
in school or in jobs at larger companies:
manage uncertainty, push the limits, and PICKING THE RIGHT COMPANY
think like an owner. If you feel that you’re right for a start-up, you
Manage uncertainty. Start-ups next have to choose the right company for
represent giant experiments. Every you. My advice is to approach this important
initiative is new. One hypothesis after decision methodically, in four steps.
another is being tested. Titles, functional Pick a domain. First, find a field
boundaries, roles, and responsibilities you’re passionate about. This means
are often fluid. The team works as one, asking yourself a series of questions:
inventing, creating, moving toward “Do I prefer a business that focuses on
shifting goals—all while working without consumers or on businesses? What kind
a playbook. Given this organizational of customers would I like to serve? Which
dynamism, which continues even through brands do I admire the most? What are
the later stages, anyone working for a START-UPS REPRESENT my favorite websites, apps, or subjects to
start-up has to be comfortable with large read about?” These questions can force
doses of ambiguity and uncertainty. GIANT EXPERIMENTS. you to think very tangibly. For example,
Push the limits. My father was an
entrepreneur, and I remember that whenever EVERY INITIATIVE IS NEW. if TripAdvisor is your favorite app, you
clearly love to travel and should perhaps
he was confronted with an obstacle— look for a start-up in that sector. When
having to stand in a long line at a popular SO ANYONE WORKING you’re reading a newspaper, a website,
museum, for example—he would look for FOR ONE HAS TO or a magazine, which stories do you read
a way around it, not by cutting in line but immediately and thoroughly? If you tend
by testing assumptions. “Can’t we design BE COMFORTABLE to skip past headlines about, say, the media
a more efficient system?” he would ask. business, you shouldn’t join a new online
“How can we get around this obstacle and WITH LARGE DOSES video service. If you dive into stories
speed things up?” This tendency to actively about autonomous vehicles or virtual and
question rather than passively settle is key OF AMBIGUITY augmented reality because you find the
to success at a start-up. If you want to work subjects intellectually stimulating, narrow
for one, you should be the sort of person AND UNCERTAINTY. your focus to those domains. I suggest
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 151 
