Most people would imagine that working in a small startup comes with its own set of challenges and yes, they would be right. It is as exciting as it is frightening and stressful as it is fun. A year later, the crew is now bigger than ever, making strides in the website business and looking back to those early avocadots days.
A Year in Web Design
Whether you began your career at a startup or a huge corporation, one can no longer afford to underestimate the significance of selecting a path which fosters their personal growth.
Coming from very different professional backgrounds, namely data analysis, business consulting and design engineering, it is safe to say that while we all loved our day-to-day we shared the desire to start something new.
We all wanted to be part of a startup; a new business giving us the chance to build something new and unique. Determined to make an impact we just went for it and while 1 year of full engagement is by no means sufficient to draw conclusions, here are some things we have learned while working together.
Complexity is Part of the Game
I had always assumed that one of the perks in working in a small web design company would be the simplicity of things; oh well.
Apparently, smaller companies vastly face the same problems as their larger counterparts only on a much smaller scale. Take problem-solving for example. In a larger organisation, as Andreas had always explained, there are frameworks designed so that every question is channelled to the right person who then directs you to the answer. This is very much so not the case in a startup!
It is essentially a game of chicken over where the buck will stop and the stakes are your business itself! There’s actually nobody to ask and as such, you must learn how to navigate these issues and fast. Products needed to be defined and markets had to be researched but regardless of the complexity, a team of great people was all that was needed to get the show running.
Work Becomes You
Or at least becomes a big part of you – depends on striking your work/life balance.
When we started avocadots, we expected to be investing much more hours, and that expectation did in fact become true. What I seemed to have missed, however, is the way in which I (and the rest of the crew) would become invested in our job.
Launching your own business or startup undoubtedly, and perhaps understandably, comes with a certain sense of emotional ownership. You begin to become attached to a company whose success mirrors your own. We were no longer working for anyone but ourselves.
Exciting, yes, but also frightening. There is nobody to put you into schedule but the trust of your co-workers and your desire to grow a bit bigger today. We’ve all had to level-up our productivity hacks and fit two working days into one. In doing so, weekdays grow longer and weekends become an extra workday – and welcomed so!
As work becomes a bigger part of you, it all then rests on whether that specific part is something worth growing. That’s why avocadots is only run by people who love what they are doing.
The avocadots Crew
It’s Rewarding AF
The reward is actually hidden in the mounting insecurities. Bear with me!
Working in a startup inevitably involves learning new things and that inevitable includes dealing with your insecurities. That’s not to say that any of us lacked confidence in our skills or quality of our work but doing stuff you never done before (very much the case in startups) can be daunting and definitely uncomfortable for most!
It is that much more rewarding then, when after weeks of wearing different hats and taking on more tasks than you thought possible you see that project completed.
Whether you were setting up the digital marketing team or auditing a website, it is a feeling of incomparable satisfaction to present your progress at the weekly meeting knowing you gave it your best.
Good days and bad days, one thing is for certain; we are very happy to have started avocadots and that much more proud to be able to share all this with you.