Start-up or Established Companies?

What is a start-up?

If you’ve ever watched the tv show Silicon Valley (albeit a great show) you might have the classic view of what a start-up might look like. It’s not always in the back of the CEO’s garage with coffee on tap, poor wire management, and multiple unshaven, unpaid developers that haven’t slept in days. I’m sure that’s how it started, but the start-up industry is a lot more diverse now. With the tech boom over the last few decades, Venture Capitalists are investing heavily in young businesses, especially in Robotics, as the return on investment can be huge if the business becomes successful.

Start-ups differ from one another, there’s no specific formula to follow. If they are trying to bring a new product/solution to market and secure investment, they can be as little as 10 employees or 100 if they’re in the scale-up phase.

What are the positives and negatives of joining a start-up?

The list is endless, but here are the main pros and cons of working for a start-up, but it’s good to note that this doesn’t apply to every start-up out there!

Positives

Negatives

·       Flexibility ·       Uncertainty
·       Freedom ·       Long hours
·       Your voice will be heard ·       Unstructured
·       Benefits ·       Change in focus
·       Innovation ·       Compensation

 

Why choose an established business?

When you look at the giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, it’s hard to imagine that they were once tiny start-ups with massive futures ahead of them. SO why should you choose a more established business over a start-up? In my opinion, they can both have incredible environments that will benefit your career development, and there is no right or wrong path to go down, it’s all about the experience you have!

It goes without saying that an established business will already have some popularity around them, they’ve been through the hustle and bustle of taking their product to market, scaling up the business, and innovating through the many challenges that building a business can bring. There are many advantages of joining a large business and an equal amount of disadvantages, but as I’ve mentioned before, it’s all down to what you want for your career.
 

What are the pros and cons of joining an established business?

Again, these are not exclusive to every established company out there.

Positives

Negatives

·       Brand recognition ·       Less freedom
·       Endless resources ·       Long path to leadership
·       Work/life balance ·       Process & regulations
·       Compensation (not always) ·       Little impact
·       Financial stability ·       Lack of creativity

 

Whether you’re at the beginning of your career, right in the middle, or even at the end, there is a lot of success to be found in both types of business. Ultimately, it’s down to your work ethic, setting clear goals, and pushing your career in the direction that you want to go.

Here at Adapt, we are partnered with innovative start-ups and established businesses in the AI & Robotics space and we work with all of our candidates to help place them in the perfect environment and company that works for them. Take a look at our current vacancies to see what we’ve got available.