Working in Startups: What It’s Really Like

Introduction

I still remember the morning I walked into my first startup — I had butterflies in my stomach, a half-empty coffee in hand and a nagging thought: What on earth have I signed up for? Working in startups is one of those things people celebrate on LinkedIn (you’ll hear “fast-paced”, “innovative”, “wear many hats”), but also never quite prepare you for the messy bits. Over the years I’ve dived into a couple of early-stage ventures, and I thought I’d write this as a diary-style reflection: the good, the weird, the unexpectedly tiring, and everything in between.

If you’re considering making the leap to work in startups — or find yourself knee-deep in source code or user-stories and wondering how you got here — this is for you.

What “Working in Startups” Actually Means

When people talk about “working in startups”, what they often mean is joining a small, scrappy team (maybe 5-20 people), doing things that are still half-built, wearing multiple hats, and riding waves of uncertainty. There might be ping-pong tables, free snacks, and the bright-coloured logo plastered across mugs. But there’s also the 3am incident when the server crashed, the one person handling PR, the day you realised your shift had extended into dinner.
Yes, it’s fun. Yes, it’s stressful. And yes — I still wouldn’t go back to a slow-moving bureaucracy (well, mostly).

Why I Took the Startup Route

I’ll be honest: I started my career in a large company. Predictable hours, proper job title, benefits, the lot. It was safe. But after a while I found myself thinking: Where’s the freedom? Where’s the ability to shape things rather than just follow orders?
When the chance popped up to join a seed-funded venture, I thought: “Let’s roll the dice.” I wanted to experiment, to fail fast, to build something I could look at and say “That was me.” The romance of the startup. The adrenaline of seeing something live in 24 hours. That still thrills me to this day.

The Day-to-Day Reality

So, what does a typical day look like? Well… there’s no such thing as “typical”. But let me try to paint a picture.

I arrive around 09:30 (ish). Coffee. Check Slack. There are 47 unread messages—half of them about the UI not scaling properly. I pick a task: fix a bug someone discovered (thanks to QA who stayed late). Then I jump into a team stand-up: “What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? What’s in the way?” The “what’s in the way” is nearly always the most entertaining. “Server down” / “Deploy failure” / “Design still pending”.
By 11:00 I’m swapping hats: half-engineering, half-customer-support replying to someone’s frustrated email because the app crashed when they uploaded 50 images. Lunch is rough — either something quick at the desk or grabbing a sandwich while hashing out a feature with a co-founder.

Afternoon: meetings. More Slack. Feature planning. Maybe a brainstorming session for “how can we grow users this quarter?”. Then, around 17:30 I sneak out, though sometimes I stay longer if the momentum is there. On a “big push” day you might be there until 20:00. But you chose this, right?

The Perks (Yes, There Are Plenty)

The feeling of ownership. You see your code, your feature, your idea in front of real users — glory!
The fast learning curve. In a startup you’ll try things you’d never touch in a huge company: product decisions, scaling issues, marketing ideas.
The culture. A small team, informal chats, quick iteration. It feels like you’re part of something adventurous.
Flexibility. Many startups allow remote work, flexible hours, the chance to take initiative.
The impact. When something works, the high-fives mean something more because you all pulled together.

The Real Challenges (No Sugar-coating)

Uncertainty. Is there funding to last another six months? Will the pivot kill the current product? That kind of stuff keeps you awake.
Role-scope creep. One week you’re a dev, next week you’re bug triaging, next you’re doing customer training. That’s cool if you like it — tiring if you don’t.
Burnout risk. Because things move fast, you may end up working longer hours, skipping breaks, always being “on”.
Fewer resources. Budget might be tight, processes minimal, documentation almost non-existent. It’s exciting, but also chaotic.
The “all-hands” mindset. Everyone chips in. That’s great — until your Saturday morning email lands and you realise you’re still “in”.

My Personal Anecdotes From the Startup Trenches

Let me share a couple of moments that stand out, because they taught me things no book could.

The “Oops” Feature Launch

One Tuesday afternoon we launched a new onboarding flow. Exciting! We had been working on it for weeks. The roll-out went live. And then… users started complaining. The welcome email had a broken link. The ‘Skip’ button didn’t skip. The analytics didn’t fire.
It’s always funny (later) how quickly the great mood goes: from “Yes, launch day!” to “Head down, urgent fix.” We spent the next 18 hours fixing edge-cases, pushing hot-fixes, apologising to our early users. I slept about four hours that night, and yes — I resolved to add better QA next time.
Lesson learnt: in a startup you’ll probably screw up at least once. The difference is you’ll fix it, and people will remember how you handled it.

The “Eureka” User Feedback

Fast-forward a few months. We rolled out a feature that we thought was marginal. It was a small toggle, something our team had debated for days. Then, one evening, a user email pops in: “Thanks for this toggle – it saved me hours of work every week.”
That hit differently. Because you built something small that actually solved a real person’s day-to-day annoyance. And you felt part of that. That’s the kind of moment that makes you stay in a startup when the stress is high.
Lesson learnt: big features are sexy, but small wins can mean the most.

The All-Hands Late-Night Rally

Once funding ran low. The founder called an all-hands/huddle at 21:00 in the office (or “office” — our hot-desk lounge with takeaway pizza and whiteboards). We debated strategy, cut costs, pulled in extra hours. It was raw. It was intense. But it felt like we were all-in. By 01:00 we had an action-plan, three new experiments, and a fresh pot of coffee. That feeling of united urgency is something you rarely get in huge corporations.
Lesson learnt: in a startup, you don’t always clock out when you’re “finished”. Sometimes you pivot, rally, and keep going.

Should You Work in Startups? What to Consider

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Here’s what I’d advise you to reflect on before you jump in.

Do You Thrive on Ambiguity?

If you like knowing exactly what you’ll do tomorrow, every week — maybe a startup is not for you. If you’re okay with ambiguity, change, learning on the fly — then it might be a great fit.

Are You Comfortable Wearing Many Hats?

In a startup you might be asked to code, test, talk to customers, analyse data, fix the coffee machine… maybe not all of that, but you get the idea. If you’re happy to be flexible and agile, go for it.

Does the Company’s Mission Matter to You?

When things get tough (and they will), you’ll lean on why you’re here. If you genuinely care about the product, the mission, the team — that helps sustain you. If you’re purely there for salary and standard hours, you may burn out.

What’s Your Risk-Tolerance?

Startups inherently carry risk: products may fail, pivots happen, funding may run dry. If you’re financially secure, open to a bit of instability — that’s fine. If you need total job security and a fixed routine, a more traditional company might suit you.

FAQs

Q1: What’s the average working hours in a startup?
There’s no set “average” — some days you’ll do 9-5, others you’ll be there later. From my experience, a safe assumption is that if there’s a “big push”, you might stay beyond regular hours. But most startups value output over strict hours — if you’re productive, you’ll find your rhythm.

Q2: Will I have a proper job title when working in a startup?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Many startups give titles like “Product Engineer”, “Growth Marketer”, “Full-Stack Developer”. Others might be more flexible: “Team Member”. The key is what you do matters more than the title. If the job lets you build, learn and contribute — that’s gold.

Q3: How does career progression work in startups?
Progression isn’t always linear like in big companies. You might go from “Engineer I” to “Engineer with product responsibilities” to “Lead in a function” in a shorter time — or you might have to define your own path. What matters is: take ownership, show outcomes, ask for roles rather than waiting for them.

Q4: Is it better to join an early-stage startup or a more established one?
Each has pros/cons. Very early stage = high risk, high reward; big role, less structure. More established startup = clearer process, more security, maybe less excitement. Think about what you prefer: full chaos vs some stability.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve lasted this far — well done! Working in startups is like riding a rollercoaster while trying to assemble the rails as you go. Some loops will make your stomach drop. Some moments will make you grin like a kid who just built a tree-house from scratch. It’s messy, yes. It’s unpredictable, sure. But if you’re the kind of person who craves impact, wants to learn fast, and doesn’t mind the odd sleepless night, then the route is worth it.

In the end, the “work in startups” experience taught me more about myself — resilience, flexibility, initiative — than any comfortable cubicle ever did. If you’re reading this and thinking “should I join one?” then here’s my advice: go in with your eyes open, commit to the ride, and embrace the chaos. Because one day you’ll look back and say: That wild, messy chapter? I helped build that. And that’s something pretty special.

Here’s to the hustle, the late nights, the “aha” moments and the small victories. You might just find you thrive in the fast lane.

Good luck — and welcome to the startup world.