This document provides advice for joining a startup company and highlights some key differences compared to traditional companies. It notes that startups involve high-intensity work, wearing multiple hats, self-starting initiative, and an unpredictable environment. For those seeking more structure, a startup may not be the best fit. However, for self-motivated learners looking to make an impact, startups offer opportunities to work with new technologies, learn rapidly, and be part of building something new. The document emphasizes demonstrating passion and skills through personal projects to stand out in a competitive startup job market.

2. Why Join a Startup?

3. Be Challenged

4. Work with Amazing Teams

5. Leverage the Latest
Technologies

6. Learn, Grow + Accelerate
Your Career

7. Be Part of Something
Special

8. Is a Startup Right for
You?

9. They’re Different than
Traditional Companies
 High octane, intense, and a little chaotic
• Building a company from the ground up involves a
ton of hard work and navigating risk & uncertainty
 Lean & mean
• You need to wear multiple hats, get “into the
weeds”
 Value people who get things done
• You must love to execute and get stuff done
 Need people who take initiative
• Expect mentoring, but not extensive supervision
If you’d prefer a more structured, supervised,
predictable environment, then a startup is probably not
for you

10. Top Opportunities
Technical/Product
 Software
Development
 Product Design &
User Experience
 Data Science
 QA & Testing
 DevOps
 Product Management
 Electrical Engineer
 Mechanical Engineer
Business
 Business/Sales
Development Rep
 Analytics
 Sales/Field Engineer
 Growth Hacking
 Account Management
 Marketing
 Community
 Other

11. What Startups Look for in
Candidates

12. The Bar is High(er) for
Startups

13. What’s Really Important?
Passion
Curiosity
Smarts
Experience
Humility
Ability to Communicate
Intangibles

14. Personal/Side Projects
are Critical
Show
 You can build things
 Are always learning
 Are passionate about your field
 Personal projects trump class projects
• Devoting free time illustrates passion &
curiosity to learn
 “Doing” more important than how you get
there

15. Worth Noting
“I would hire someone with a
2.0 GPA from a no-name
college and tons of side
projects using cool tech
versus a 4.0 MIT CS grad who
focuses only on school.”

16. Personality Traits Matter
 Intellectual curiosity
• Evident desire to learn more about things
 Passion
• Deeply care about your areas of interest (love it)
 Self-starter
• Ambition & drive in how you go about things
 Do things differently
• You didn’t just follow the herd
 Commitment to personal growth and learning
• Explore topics outside your field of interest

17. Landing a Role

18. How to stand out
• Passion
• Proof
• Personalization
• Persistence
• Patience
Harsh Realities

19. Build Your Body of Work

20. “What I Know Now Didn’t
Come from Class”
 Don’t limit yourself to just classes
• Take advantage of what’s available to you
 Don’t waste time
• Submit assignments early and work on your own
projects
 Learn on your own
• Khan Academy, Coursera, Code.org, OpenCourseWare
 Plenty of opportunities only a click away

21. More Ideas
Tech / CS Specific
 Contribute to an open-
source project
 Learn more programming
languages
 Try different operating
systems
 Create apps
 Read tech books
 Debug that web service
that fails every single
time someone tries to
upload a video larger
than 200MB
Non-Tech / General
 Get involved with a
campus startup
 Participate in a
business plan or pitch
competition
 Do a Startup Weekend,
hackathon or makeathon
 Leverage class projects
to work with companies
 Experiment with social
media for business,
non-profit, other
applications

22. Illustrate & Demonstrate

23. Illustrate & Demonstrate

24. Illustrate & Demonstrate

25. Understand What You Want
to Do

26. Then…
 Convince employer that you wanted to work
there your whole life
• Resume should reinforce it
• Follow-up notes should hammer the point home
 Keep your talking points to the job you
applied for
 Be perceived as willing to throw yourself
100% into the opportunity at hand

27. Engaging with Employers
 Resume/CV (what’s important)
• Name & contact info
• Focus on your projects and work experience
• Languages/tools/frameworks/etc
• Educational info & GPA
• Extra-curricular, hobbies – something remarkable
 Highlight your body of work
• GitHub, online portfolio, personal website, blog
 Kill generic cover letter and send a personal
email
• Communicate why you want to work for the company
• Personal touch, passion, and effort significantly
increases probability of a response

28. Don’t Be This Person
Michael,
I am very interested in the ThinkBig opportunity I came
across on the XXX career website. My experiences with YYY
and ZZZ have equipped me to successfully handle making fact
based decisions, business development, and strategic
thinking. In particular, as a detail oriented, competitive,
self starter with a strategic approach to achieving
objectives, my ability to build a business case to drive
forward inflection point decisions would ensure I am
challenged to make an impact.
I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you. Please
find my resume attached for your review. I look forward to
hearing from you.
Kind regards,
XXXXX

29. Be This Person
Researched startups hiring interns
- Focused on those that fit his
interests & (limited) background
- Identified CEO’s contact info
Sent personalized note to CEO
- Introduced himself and background
- Detailed passion for startups and
why interested in the company
- Outlined where/how he could make
an impact
11 – Emails sent
7 – Conversations/interviews
1 – Great summer experience
“Tino” – Freshman

30. Takeaways
 Project-based experiences rule the day
• Take advantage of all the options on campus
• Build your body of work
• Illustrate & demonstrate what you can do
 Passion and fit needs to come through
your resume and company interactions
• Challenge yourself outside the classroom
(and major)
• Fall in love with what you do
 Personalize your communications

31. ThinkB1G Resources
 Openings
• ThinkB1G.com/Startups
 Newsletter
• ThinkB1G.com/Students
 Student Profile
• ThinkB1G.com/Students
 Prepping for the
Technical Interview
• ThinkB1G.com/Students

32. Finding Opportunities
 VentureLoop.com
• New openings at VC-
backed startups
 AngelList
• Openings at startups
 HelpU
• Connects businesses
to students
 TechGen

33. Intern at a tech startup?
Get real, hands-on experience.
Apply to TechGen – the
common app for
internships at Boston’s
hottest tech startups
33
Sales * Marketing * Design
Engineering * Product
Management
Go to TheTechGeneration.com to apply
Follow #TechGen on twitter @TheTechGen
• Browse our startups
• Get noticed by companies
• Find your internship

34. More Resources
http://goo.gl/9GTWsu
Google’s Guide to Technical Development:
http://goo.gl/9GTWsu

35. Final Word