Why some experienced professionals thrive in a startup environment while others fail

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Startups have been the flavor for the last many years. No field has been left untouched by the startup revolution with successful startups popping regularly over the horizon. Working in a startup is something of a medal that most new age professionals want to have on their CV. 

But the craze for startups is not limited to young and enterprising, even experienced professionals with secure high paying jobs are pulled in by the glamour of startups and quit their cushy jobs to work with startups full of energy, enthusiasm, vigour, non-hierarchical setups that is adventurous and lets you work according to your style and preference with no pre-set job plans.

But then why is it that many experienced and highly skilled professionals fail to shine on crossing over to a startup while others who have jumped on to the startup bandwagon thrive and excel in their roles even there?

Here are the factors that determine your success or failure on joining a startup?

 Risk-taking appetite

People who excel working with startups are mostly people with higher risk appetite. The decision to chuck a cushy corporate job and take up the challenging task of working in a startup is itself an indicator of the person’s risk-taking ability as nobody knows whether the startup would survive beyond a few years and if it does survive what shape it will take and what would its growth trajectory and focus be. If you are someone who is not comfortable with uncertainty in life then obviously the move to a startup is not advisable for you.

 Work Life Priorities

People have differing views and expectations from their job and so are their work and life priorities. Joining a startup is a great decision for a person who wants to fast track his career even at the risk of failure, is highly ambitious, is a workaholic and would not mind working for long hours under tremendous strain at a stretch often on holidays. But on the other hand, if you want your life to be structured and have interests other than work which you passionately feel about then joining a startup might not be a good idea.

 Don’t work for a startup just because you have reached a career plateau

Many times professional who have hit a career plateau in large organisations jump at an opportunity to work for a startup feeling that it would give their job the necessary impetus lured by the success stories of startups and the perks of working there. But one must remember that the failure rate of startups is quite high and working in a startup requires a very different set of skills to succeed.

 Attitude to constant change

It is a fact of life that some people love the status quo and some are thrilled by rapid changes. It does not make one personality trait better than the other but just that they are programmed to work and succeed in different work environments. While a status quoist may find the informal work environment in a startup quite unorganized and haphazard and thus not to his liking the same environment may spur the other person to perform more productively.

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Ultimately it all crystalizes into ones’ personal choices, likes, dislikes and personality traits. What one must not definitely do is to jump to a decision in haste. You should always take a long hard and practical look at what you want to further achieve in life in respect of personal and professional milestones and how much time and effort are you are willing to put in to achieve those milestones.