“Oh Sh*t, What If We Don’t Make it?” – The Ups and Downs of Working for a Startup

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Today on our first post-book interview, we highlight Kevin, a business analytics manager for a growing subscription box service.

 

When people ask you “What do you do?” what do you say?

 

I tell them that I work for a startup in the for the retail space…the subscription retail model. I work in Business Analytics and Strategy. Anything involved with operations, member experience, thinking about rolling out a new strategic initiative…I’m the guy that gets involved in figuring out (1) does it work, (2) should we do it, and (3) if we do it, thinking through the strategy. Seeing if it was an impactful project or not.

 

What were you doing before this?

 

After school, I worked at an internet grocery delivery startup for 6 months. I was part of their Catalog Operations Team. That team makes sure everything you see on the storefront when you shop for groceries is correct. From the actual item itself, to the pricing, to availability, to the image…we want to make sure that it’s 100% correct if that’s possible.

 

Every week I ask myself, “Am I being challenged? Am I learning something new?” The answer has consistently been “Yes!”

 

What are your hours like?

 

It’s not too bad. Um, maybe 50, 55 a week. 50 to 55 hours a week.

 

It varies depending on what the workload is. I haven’t had to work too many nights or weekends which is nice. Some weeks are later than others. But I will say that it varies from startup to startup. In my last job, I was working quite a few nights and weekends. I worked quite a few nights at my internship as well.

 

Do you like it?

 

It’s been great. Every week I ask myself, “Am I being challenged? Am I learning something new?” The answer has consistently been “Yes!” since I’ve been here. My company is a jewelry subscription business and all it’s customers are women. Being a dude, I don’t know much about jewelry, so it’s kind of nice learning a new industry while I’m going through everything else that I’m doing.

 

That part is challenging and new and I’m learning a lot there. I’m also learning a lot in the actual work that I’m doing. That keeps me engaged and pretty happy. We don’t necessarily have the same perks like free lunch or dinner that I did at my last company, but that doesn’t matter to me. The work itself makes such a huge difference; the people I’m working with are smart and they challenge me.

 

What’s the best part of the job?

 

I think the best part right now is that we’re still small enough that what I’m doing is touching a lot of aspects of the company. I work on things that impact merchandising, member experience, marketing, or ops. I get to see the business from many different angles and think about it in ways that I never thought about it before.

 

I think if I were at a larger company, I’d be siloed to one specific area. I’d never get to see the whole big picture. I’m learning about how a startup works, how to scale a business, what fundraising looks like, what investors look for – things I’ve never really thought about before.

 

There are some days where I sit at my desk and and I think anxiously, “Oh shit what if we don’t make it? Do I have to start looking for a job?”

 

What’s the worst part of the job?

 

The uncertainty. We’re still small enough where we just got our A round funding, We’re still small enough where it’s not a sure thing that it’s going to be a real, profitable company. There are some days where I sit at my desk and and I think anxiously, “Oh shit what if we don’t make it? Do I have to start looking for a job?”

 

That’s probably the worst part of the job. If you work for a large company you don’t necessarily worry about it not existing a few months down the line. Whereas for me, I know what the runway looks like and there’s a real fear of it being the end.

 

If you would like to participate/be interviewed for the blog, contact me at nkem.nwankwo@lifeafterschool.co.