Any experiences working for a startup company?

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

So I usually don't like posting about prospective jobs, because they're just that. Prospects. However, I have the need to ask you guys for your expert opinions.

Right now, I work as a Support Engineer for a major Business Intelligence software vendor. Out of the blue, I was contacted by a recruiter who saw my LinkedIn profile. Lately I've been getting a lot of inquiries and have done a few phone interviews, but nothing ever materializes due to me having no interest or the job not being a good fit. Like I said, I'm the one getting contacted. I haven't applied anywhere since starting this job about a year ago.

The opportunity I was just contacted for is for a Sr. Business Intelligence Engineer position. Right now, my job consists of supporting other BI Developers, Data Architects, Report Writers, and various other business programmers. I help them develop ETL scripts/workflows, metadata models, ad hoc reports, OLAP cubes, dashboards, server deployments, upgrades, LDAP integration, web server integration, and a host of other things related to our BI stack. And I absolutely love it. To date, this is the best job I've ever had. A year later and I still love everything about it: the people, the place, the products, and the knowledge I'm gaining.

So, as I stated, I was contacted for this new position, which is a major step up for me. The new company's office is out of state, so I'll be working from home mostly, with the occasional flight up to their offices. The job entails a lot of ETL development, data warehousing, and report writing. Salary is 90k - 100k+, which is a nice bump in pay for me. Currently, my commute is 40-45 min with tolls so working from home would save me money and wear and tear on my car. Not to mention, I'll get to spend more time with my wife.

All this sounds great right? Well, here's my concern. After doing some research on the company, I found that they're a startup that started two and a half years ago. Without going into too much detail, they deal with electronic medical records for clinics and hospital departments. They have less than 20 people in the entire company. I don't know why, but this bothers me. Does something like this sound stable? Has anyone ever worked for a startup before? What concerns should I have other than the company tanking shortly after I'm hired? Are there any questions I can ask during the interview that will give me any red flags about them? My phone interview is next week.

I'll admit, so far it seems tempting. The salary, the higher level position, and the amount of knowledge I'll gain tells me to go for it. But I'm worried about joining a company this small and in such an infancy stage. I realize that if the company does well, then this will do wonders for me, but I'm a bit of a pessimist when it comes to these types of things. I'm uncertain with risks like this. The recruiters passed my resume to the hiring manager and he likes my background and especially likes who my current employer is. I forgot to mention that they just signed a support contract with us (so, if I don't get the job, I'll still be supporting them anyway lol).

I'm trying not to get too concerned over it, because I know if I doesn't work out, I'll still have my current job that I love. But again, I wanted to ask you guys what you think about startups and what I should watch out for.

Everyone

I have not worked for a startup before. It is good that you did some research on the company first. Maybe you need to dig a little deeper before making a decision.

I was once contacted for an IT Manager position for some paper company out in Boston IIRC. I'd never heard of them before, so I did a little research, and found out that the company was in the middle of bankruptcy. That was a huge red flag. I told them I was no longer interested after finding that out.

If this startup has been doing well, it may be a great opportunity for you. Some questions I would ask would be:
Is the company profitable yet?
How much debt does the company have?
What are some short term and long term goals of the company?

bryanthetechie

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

I forgot to mention that they just signed a support contract with us (so, if I don't get the job, I'll still be supporting them anyway lol).

Be careful here. Does your current company have any contract clauses against you going to work for one of their clients? If they already signed the support contract, that may legally prevent you from getting hired on with the new company for a period of time (usually at least six months after you leave your current job).

Otherwise, I work for a late-stage startup and love it. We are stable and profitable, and the benefits are great. I would hesitate to take a job at a large corporation ever again if I could help it

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

Would asking about a company's debt or profitability be appropriate in an interview? I've read where people state to ask the company how much money they have in the bank right now. I'm a bit hesitant to ask such questions because I'm not sure where I'd be crossing the line. But I also want to watch out for myself.

Alif_Sadida_Ekin

bryanthetechie wrote: »

Be careful here. Does your current company have any contract clauses against you going to work for one of their clients? If they already signed the support contract, that may legally prevent you from getting hired on with the new company for a period of time (usually at least six months after you leave your current job).

I never signed such an agreement when hired here, but that's definitely good advice.

Everyone

Alif_Sadida_Ekin wrote: »

Would asking about a company's debt or profitability be appropriate in an interview? I've read where people state to ask the company how much money they have in the bank right now. I'm a bit hesitant to ask such questions because I'm not sure where I'd be crossing the line. But I also want to watch out for myself.

You should be interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you, so IMHO, no. I think I'd ask the question with a little more tact than "How much money do you have in the bank right now?" or "How much cash do you have on hand?"

Some places will tell you up front. When I interviewed for the hospital (a non-profit) that I ended up working at for a few years, they were very proud to tell me that they had been around for over 100 years and had no debt.

Financials for a lot of companies are publicly available, especially if they are traded on any stock markets. These companies will often tell you how they're doing during an interview too. The Fortune 500 company I work for now told me they were celebrating 100 years in business and had profits of $13 Billion the year before. Pretty easy to look that up and verify it.

Now a startup may be a little different, but I see no harm in asking.

whatthehell

Working for a startup is and should be like taking a calculated risk. If the company does well, you could do very well, have a very secure job, stock options, etc. If the company folds, you are back out on the street looking for something steady.

I have worked for both, and, TBH, working for a more established smaller company is my preference. Smaller company means less opportunities and pay increases, but if you are working for a comfortable salary, then you will at least be treated like a human, and not a number (as a large corp does).

Working for a large corp yields more opportunities, but also more policits, BS, more chance of being made redundant etc.

Best of luck whichever way you decide!