Contributing to the Startup Scene

Getting into the startup scene is one of the best decisions I’ve made. It’s not for everyone, and it takes a certain kind of neurotic personality to thrive in a startup setting. Working in a startup consists of taking on high risks, wearing multiple hats, and understanding that you may sacrifice certain parts of your life (work/life balance, lower pay) to gain invaluable rewards (experience, fast track to promotions). For people trying to crack into a startup or the startup environment in general, there’s a couple things that can be done:

Work at a Startup

This is without a doubt the best option. Not only do you get direct exposure to how business works, but you can work in different departments at a very accelerated pace. The earlier stage the startup, the steeper the learning curve and the more experience you’ll receive. Of course, there’s the aspect of risk involved and the potential lack of balance in your personal and work life. But if you crave experience, learning how to build a potentially great product or service, and understanding what it takes to acquire and retain customers, there is no better environment. You can apply this experience to creating your own startup or getting a higher-ranking job elsewhere. 

Take Advantage of Social Media

By social media, I am referring more to LinkedIn and Twitter specifically. A ton of different communities and people live on these platforms. Follow groups that interest you. Create interesting content and post it there. Comment on other people’s posts. Just do something that you can participate in instead of being just a passive observer. Being active will get you noticed much faster. If you can connect with people and try to meet offline, even better.

Join/Start a Meetup

Meetup.com is teeming with various startup-related meets around the globe. Essentially, groups are created around a certain interest or hobby and people meet to discuss and hang out. It’s a great way to connect with others in the startup community. If you don’t see a meetup that you’d like to be a part of, why not create one? That shows your serious interest in the startup community. By being an organizer of a meetup, you also get a chance to gather people around with exactly the same interest as you, giving you immediate exposure.

Volunteer at a Tech-Related Event

It can be hackathon or a TedX talk. Chances are you’ll meet people with a startup background. All you have to do is find out where the next event is happening and reach out to the coordinator and see how you can help out. This will get you on the radar of some important people, especially because of the connections they’ll have. You’ll also get a firsthand look at the kinds of people and settings that make the startup community a great place to be in.

Partake in a Hackathon

Expanding on the above suggestion, hackathons are extremely valuable to understanding how startups work. With hackathons, the idea is to gather a large number of people over a weekend, split them into groups, and have them compete to come up with a great product or service. Usually the winning team gets a prize and more often than not, recognition from companies looking to hire smart people. Universities are a hotbed for finding hackathons. The biggest hurdle is just joining. After that, you’ll find a great group of people to connect with, along with understanding what it takes to build a product or service.

Ask Someone to Meet

This is usually tough for most people because they’re either scared of what the response is or they don’t know where to start. All it takes is 1) identifying what kind of person you want to meet, 2) going on LinkedIn/Twitter to find them, and 3) sending them a message to connect or go out somewhere and meet, usually a coffee shop. Sometimes the person you want to meet has a personal website you can use to find their email and other contact information too. Don’t be afraid of getting no response or a decline. It’s usually a numbers game – the more people you reach out to, the more acceptances you’ll get.

Find an Incubator/Accelerator

In bigger cities, there will usually be a company dedicated to helping startups out by renting out space or providing dedicated resources to help them expand and grow. That’s what incubators and accelerators are made for. Usually they are always looking for volunteers to help in some capacity. This is another way to get involved because you can get directly in front of budding startups that need assistance. You can reach out to these incubators and accelerators and check if there’s anything they need help with. More likely than not, there will be something you can help out with.

For someone interested in joining the startup community, there are a lot of paths that you can take. Nothing beats working at a startup, but that isn’t the only option. There is no other community that has a great group of people trying to change how the world operates. The only thing you need to do is just take action and the rest will come.