Chapter 11

Living on the Edge with a Startup

In This Chapter

  • Understanding work in startup companies
  • Comparing startups with larger organizations
  • Deciding whether a startup is the right kind of business for you

Working as a networking professional in a startup can be a life-changing experience. If you can tolerate the long hours, chaos, and uncertainty, working in a startup can be rewarding for a number of reasons. First, being part of something new carries a level of excitement (which is sometimes hard to distinguish from a feeling of terror). Also, you'll learn a lot in a startup that you won't learn elsewhere, primarily having to do with operating a small business.

Most startup businesses don't have a lot of money (although a few have more than they know what to do with), so networking professionals in these businesses have to find creative ways to implement technology without spending a lot of cash. Exactly how this is done will vary greatly based on the startup business's purpose and product, and many other factors too numerous to mention here.

Bottom line: Working with a start-up is risky and can be frustrating. It will certainly be demanding, but if things go well, it can be extremely rewarding.

Image If you look at any of the websites dedicated to startup companies that list open positions, such as angel.co (not angel.com), you'll rarely find a networking position — unless the company is building its own network infrastructure, in which case the design of its products or services are all about technology.

Doing More With Less

Startups are all about going lean and mean, focusing all resources on the product or service that the startup organization is creating. They won't have any profits to use for the purchase of new IT infrastructure. Instead, investors or owners fund the business and expect management to spend frugally, making the money last as long as possible.

At first blush, this might mean you'll be deprived of opportunities to get your hands on the latest networking technologies. We prefer to look at this situation in another way: You'll need to work smarter to eke out more value and functionality from the available infrastructure. You'll also be researching ways to get the functionality you need without breaking the bank. And you'll become skilled in integrating components to get what you need.

For every expensive product, there is almost always a free or open source version with a lot of the same basic functionality. Table 11-1 illustrates this with a few key pieces of technology.

When you have to piece together an infrastructure from open source and other alternative sources, you increase your skills and knowledge. Consider it a baptism by fire: The hard work putting this together will pay off many times over in the knowledge you gain.

Table 11-1 Commercial and Open Source Tools

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Building Virtual Infrastructure in the Cloud

Most new high-tech startups are building their internal IT infrastructure entirely in the cloud. Buying services from cloud-based service providers is easier and far less costly than building physical file servers, email servers, and other corporate systems — and all the required power, cooling, and physical security.

On one hand, you might wonder about the loss of opportunity to get your hands on and configure a lot of network devices. However, in all but the smallest startups, you'll still probably have local infrastructure to set up for connecting laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones to the Internet.

Building virtual infrastructure is its own reward: Most organizations that need to build new systems give cloud-based infrastructure serious consideration. Some believe that cloud-based services are just the latest fad, but we believe that they're here to stay, even if they will undergo more changes in the future.

Building and managing cloud-based infrastructure through AWS or Azure, for example, is similar to using your own hardware. The only difference is that you won't be working with hardware. You'll still be configuring operating systems and dealing with capacity issues, security issues, patching, and integration with other systems, just like you would if the servers were in a data center in your building or across town.

The only thing you can't do with infrastructure in the cloud is walk into your data center and get your hands on it. You'll have to rely on your imagination — and Visio — to get a depiction of your network and systems architecture for your cloud-based environment.

Experiencing the Razor-Sharp Edge

If you're working for a high-tech startup, you might be involved in the design, implementation, and support of the infrastructure that is a part of the startup's product or service. If this is the case, you'll have some role in the architecture, design, implementation, or management (or all of these) of production infrastructure. Depending on the nature of the product or service, you might become involved in emerging technologies of some type and gain valuable experience that will add some punch to your resume.

If you aren't the architect of the startup's infrastructure, but are building or supporting that infrastructure, this role is still enviable for building skills. Even a junior role in a startup is great for your career, provided you are learning from others so that someday you can have a senior role in a future startup company.

Here are some of the advantages of working in a startup at some point in your career:

  • High velocity: You'll learn how to build infrastructure in a hurry. You can use this skill anywhere.
  • High agility: Startups often need to make changes quickly to accommodate growth as well as to support adjustments in the startup's product or service.
  • High energy: Most startups have a high-energy, fast-moving culture in which everyone works together to do great things.
  • Prestige: If the startup is successful, just being a part of it can be a plus on your resume.

Startups in existing companies

You don't necessarily have to join a startup company to be in a startup company. What we mean is that many larger organizations may organize semi-autonomous business units, or skunk works (the name given to Lockheed Martin's advanced development program; the term is widely used in business today) to develop new products or services for the larger organization. We've both been involved in these types of startups. In some ways, skunk works represent the best of both worlds: You get the agility, energy, and chaos of a startup but with the benefits of a big company.

Working in a startup is not all fun and games. However, some aspects of working in a startup company are viewed as disadvantages by some but opportunities by others. For example:

  • Long hours: There are few hands to do the work of many, so you may be working longer hours than in other organizations. You'll need to manage your work-life balance so that you don't burn out or become embittered.
  • Small budgets: Some startups have small IT budgets, and others have large IT budgets. It's safe to say that small budgets are a possibility but not a certainty.
  • Low process maturity: Most startups, at least in their earliest stages, do not have formal IT lifecycle management processes such as change management, configuration management, incident management, and capacity management. Organizations lacking these processes will find it more difficult to properly manage their technology. If you're familiar with these processes and are in a position of leadership, you may be able to slowly introduce these processes.

In a startup organization, everyone needs to have a healthy dose of initiative. In other words, you need to have an instinct for identifying and exploiting opportunities for improving the business, in a setting devoid of organization.

Finding Startup Jobs

Startup companies usually do not have a formal recruiting person or process or a human resources department. Often, no one is available to post an open position on a job service such as Monster.com or Indeed.com. So you might be wondering how you can find startup company jobs.

Startup companies often hire people they already know. If you know people involved in a startup company, or know people who have recently gone to work for a startup company, contact them and express your desire to join them. Remember, though, that they will probably be extremely busy, so it may be a bit challenging to get their attention.

The following sites specialize in listing startup company jobs:

If you're fortunate enough to get the attention of a startup company and are interviewed, don't expect a lot of formality or organization. Remember that startup companies are operating on a shoestring, and the interview might consist of a meeting with one or two people in a coffee shop or a restaurant. You should still expect to get a formal offer letter, and you shouldn't give notice at your old job until you're confident that you have a job at the startup company.

Is A Startup Right For You?

If you've been reading this chapter from the beginning, you may be getting the idea that a startup organization is quite different from other types of organizations. Honestly ask yourself the following questions to see whether a startup organization is right for you:

  • Do you have a built-in instinct for identifying opportunities for improvement and exploiting those opportunities? In a startup, there often isn't someone to tell you what to do; you need to just know what to do and how to do it.
  • Can you thrive without much corporate structure? The startup may have few or no corporate policies, no employee handbook, and no organization chart. It's often just you and some other people trying to build something new and cool.
  • Can you work long hours, and occasionally very long hours? In a startup, you do what you have to do to get things done. Often this means working long hours building networks and systems, and more long hours supporting them and working out the kinks.
  • Can you work independently with little direction from your immediate boss? Your boss might just be another peer, or he or she might have a different responsibility and not really understand how you do what you do. For example, you might be a network architect and work for the VP of engineering in a software startup; your boss's area of expertise is software development and he or she doesn't understand infrastructure.
  • Have you worked in other organizations with structure and formally established processes? Familiarity with business processes and how technology supports business are key skills to take into a startup. As the startup grows, those individuals who understand business processes will be the ones who take the company to the next level. Being a part of that metamorphosis can help you advance upward.
  • Do you enjoy working with cutting-edge technology with little or no reference material and no one to contact for help? If you're working with cutting-edge technology in a startup, you might be the first company doing what you're doing, with no one else available to help.
  • Do you enjoy the challenge of working with less-than-the-latest technology and learning how to make do with it? Many startups operate on a shoestring, and you'll need to know how to stretch those budget dollars.

If you answered “yes” to most or all these questions, work in a startup might be right for you. And if you want to work in a startup but don't have the knowledge and skills yet, do some career planning and figure out what skills or knowledge you need. If you have the initiative to make improvements to your career, you may have what it takes to work in a startup business someday.

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