Startup Work 3 - Size Matters

"Startup" evokes different things to different people.

Is Stripe still a startup, even after a Series H round valuing it at $95B?

Working at a startup can mean working for companies of significantly different employee counts, revenue, years in business, etc.

(I always liked The Information's use of "private tech" to describe the startup tech sector, which nods towards the various sizes of startups.)

Generally speaking, the earlier stage the company, the fewer roles there are total, so those roles tend to be broad in scope.

Companies by stage tend to hire as follows:

Pre-seed: founding team
Seed: product / engineering, first 1-2 business hires
A: early department heads and a few key hires under each
B: scale early teams, as well as start to build Ops, Client Success/Support, Administration (HR/legal)
C and beyond: more "corporate" org chart with specialized roles, hierarchies, scaling across all functions

(Note this is top of mind and something I want to research more details on.)

If you are more junior in your career or are less sure where you want to focus, there are plenty of opportunities at Series B and C (or later) companies.

A junior Ops, marketing, or client success hire at Series B can be a team leader, rising as the company does by the Series C.

Early business hires tend to be very experienced generalists, thus can cover sales, marketing and ops in 1-2 people, or very specialized in the company's sector.

Be realistic about your skills and the value you bring to the company - which should include a demonstration of how you will role up your sleeves and pitch in no matter where you land.