A question from a frustrated early employee in a startup: how can I get founders to listen to my ideas and suggestions?
Q: How Can I Get Founders to Listen to My Suggestions?
Q: I am in my second full-time job; it’s my first time in a startup. I spent two years at a software firm with three hundred employees and absorbed insights into developing and shipping features. The startup has only a dozen people, and it moves faster but is much more disorganized. I have been involved in interview rounds for new employees that were poorly managed. That was frustrating, but what has been more frustrating is that no one seemed to see the problems. As a result, they were not open to my suggestions.
A: A startup with a dozen people is starting to gain some structure but can still be a wild ride, especially if there are not many experienced employees. The decision of who to hire is a critical one in a startup, as is the need to assess a potential candidate’s capabilities and fit with the team. It’s also the case that interviews are an opportunity to encourage qualified candidates to feel welcome and wanted.
It’s entirely possible that you had some good suggestions and should have been listened to but it’s also possible you don’t understand all of the constraints on what’s possible. While initiative and frank talk are expected, if not required, of early employees in a startup, most change is incremental and the result of patient persuasion and an appeal to organizational survival or robustness.
In “On Being a Teacher,” Jonathan Kozol offers a perspective on managing learning challenges I have found valuable:
“Struggles that we and our students hope to undertake ought to be measured by their value, on the one hand, and real chances for completion on the other: Battles large enough to matter, small enough to win.”
Jonathan Kozol in “On Being a Teacher”
This often gets condensed into “Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win,” but I find his original compelling since it is clearly focused on learning.
My assumption is that you don’t feel you are being asked to compromise your values. If you do feel that, then it’s probably better to look for work at a company you believe is more aligned with your values.
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