Judging a company before joining
With so much going on in the startups scene and companies going in any direction (Think Dunzo, Byjus, Dukaan, etc from recent memory), how exactly should you judge a prospective company from the outside?
Tips appreciated
Sada shukriya Shri Shri angoori dev ka (#GrapeVine Lords)
A few things that one might want to look out for
- early stage startup founders/cxos giving gyaan on social media, attending each and every conference is a no.
- huge funding at a crazy valuation is a no.
- high cash burn / huge team size before finding pmf / pre-revenue is a no.
- early stage startups with quite a few seemingly unnecessary departments is a no. (just as an eg. if there are data scientists in a team of 10, saas startup, I would thing twice).
- Early stage cxos/founders - if they dont know whats happening with critical functions, thats a no.
- If you see founders/cxos doing Dinge haakna, think twice thrice. Of course, there will be a few exceptions to the above.
All of these you can understand from outside or while interviewing with the startups.
Good founders keep their head down and work. They speak with customers and internal teams. They understand that the capital they raised is a responsibility and it shows in their behaviour.
Want to know more about the 1st option. Why that no?
Attending each and every conference eats a lot of building time. Imo, almost same people attend conferences (of similar themes, you will see mostly the same faces in fintech conferences), and almost same topics being discussed. Networking plateaus immediately. Then it is either promoting yourself, or feel good about attending conferences.
Honestly, I don't think we can. The times we're in anything can change in a matter of days.
We cannot predict the future. When joining these companies, the ideas that people believed were a pipe dream. It can happen with anyone.