Five lessons from five early-stage startups

Startups are tough. 9/10 startups are likely to fail but the most important part is how much you grow.

My first exposure to startups was when I met a fellow university student in an elevator telling me about the company he was working on. He got me interested and asked if I had any interest in helping him with the Young Entrepreneurs Society at university. I ended up working for his company. All the companies I have worked at have been less than 10 people, raised venture capital, and have taught me so much,

So if you are working in early-stage startups or are looking to join one, here are five main lessons I have learned over the past few years.

1. Wear multiple hats

As an intern, I didn’t know what to expect from startups. I quickly got thrown into the deep end of doing anything to support the business. I ended up contributing towards:

• Marketing (Social Media, Paid Ads, Content Creation, Design, User Interviews
• Engineering (Front-end, back-end, data analytics)
• Operations (Sourcing of product, documentation, streamlining internal processes)
• Finances (How venture capital works, payroll)