10 things I learned after quitting Google for a job at a hyper-growth startup

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Ten months ago, I left Google to join Style Theory. Back at the Big G, my Customer Success Team helped small-and-medium enterprises leverage the best of Google technologies, Google AdWords, Analytics, Maps, YouTube, and so on, to scale their business online. For these businesses, the tools we offered were the only levers they had to compete with giants and win. If there’s one thing I picked up from my thousands of clients at Google, it’s this – I know a great company when I see one. It’s usually a foolproof combination of:

• Smart, driven, and morally grounded leadership team that marries vision and execution
• Great product foundation that is rooted in solving hard, well-defined problems that no one else is solving
• A well-aligned team that have boundless motivation and faith in the founders and product

So when Style Theory reached out to me, I knew it was great and it had the potential to be greater. So while leaving Google was impossibly hard, leaving for Style Theory came naturally to me. It was a smart decision. It was almost a no-brainer at the time. Ten months on, it’s still one of the best decisions I’ve made. Here are the 10 things I’ve learned so far:

You’ve got to love what you do. If you don’t, then force yourself to love it.

It’s a cliche, yes. But there’s a twist: being in a startup is tough love. Most of the time, you’ll find yourself hating what you do. You will hate the hours you have to put in. You will find it ridiculous the amount of bugs you have to fix until past midnight. You will question the impossibly large number of spreadsheets where everything is kept and wish for the magical power of automation. You will hate the time you propose an idea and have it pipelined for a quarter later because other more important and urgent things are being worked on. Here’s the thing: not everything is perfect in a startup. If things are perfect, we would not have to start up at all. The assumption that things will ever be perfect is wrong.

But things will get better. And you will take a step back and understand soon in time how the small things you do add to the bigger picture. And that bigger picture is where the company wants to be and is going to be, eventually. You will hate the small things, but you will have to force yourself to love them to be able to get through them. Because you know deep down, you love the big things on the horizon, and that’s why you’re doing what you do.

Do the hard things. They are worth it.

It’s that simple. All the easy things have been done. Someone else is selling that easy solution that everyone else can build. Look at the balance sheet and the income statement, look at the things you are doing, and then ask yourself, “Where will this project end up? An asset, or a liability? Will it generate cash? Will someone be willing to buy this?” The answer to these questions is usually this: Only the hard things are worth doing.

I’ve gotten into a habit of constantly evaluating myself at the end of each day. What did I do today? How stretched do I feel? Did I step up? And if there wasn’t a moment of pain or discomfort, I knew that I did not add value that day. I won’t let myself get through a work day unchallenged.

It’s always impossible until it’s done.

If you ask me now if I could guess what I would have done by the end of my next work week, I would have no idea. Being in a startup throws you into uncertainties and opportunities for self-discovery and improvement like nothing else. A business operations strategist dabbles as a product manager. A customer experience specialist also handles sales. A content manager turns into a retail strategist. I’m a journalist by training, but I often find myself juggling data modelling and go-to-market strategies. You get the idea. It’s OK to feel overwhelmed. It’s not OK to not try. And while it always seems impossible, there are always colleagues to bounce ideas with, networks to tap into, mentors to listen to, and resources to glean inspiration from.

People first, then everything else will follow.

I sit right smack in the middle section of the office. When I look forward, I see my customer experience, operations, and logistics team right at the front end, handling customers coming in and out through our door (quite literally and rather figuratively). When I look backward, I see all other departments working hard to enable this business, from merchandising, to marketing, to business operations. And then I do one round and can’t help but feel amazed that this startup dream is being shared, and worked on by these people and only these people. That’s it, what you see is what you get. The next big idea might come from that colleague over there. Someone from that corner will transform this process. Someone in the pantry might be in need of support. It’s all happening right in front of your eyes, raw and real. So focus on the people first. Build a structure. Empower your people to do the best work of their life. Care for them personally and stretch them meaningfully. And most importantly, help each other out.

You need Superstars and Rockstars.

A strong team needs both. Superstars stretch themselves and the team. They are always on to the next big thing. They push the boundaries of what once seemed impossible but is now within reach. A team without Superstars will not be able to innovate, transform, and up-level itself. And then there are Rockstars. Quite frankly, they are the rock. They are strong, stable, and persistent and nothing can bring them down. They show up at work every day, doing the seemingly mundane but unquestionably important work. They run the business and make sure things don’t break down. A team without Rockstars is barely functional. Don’t fall into the trap of rewarding one and forgetting about the other. Empower Superstars to stretch meaningfully but also guide them so they are on the right track to success. Recognize Rockstars for their contribution and nudge them to make little but impactful step-ups to incrementally transform processes and daily operations.,

Everything is only as good as how well you can defend it.

This fact is another by-product of operating with tremendous amount of uncertainty. You will never have the full set of data. Your data will never be completely cleaned and verified. Most of the debates will never end with a black or white answer. If you believe in something, defend it. If you want to defend something, gather proof. If someone questions you, find counter-arguments. Prove them wrong, not because you want to be right. Prove them wrong so that the company knows what’s right. And know that when you’re proven wrong, it’s never about you being wrong. Be grateful that because you’re proven wrong, the company avoided following the wrong decision. That’s worth celebrating!

Here’s a caveat, though. You need to know when to stop. Stopping a debate is as important as starting one. No one has limitless time and attention, and decisions need to be made. So while you learn to defend your ideas, learn to agree to disagree and move forward together too.

Question everything.

Question and defense exist on the opposing sides of the same coin. A startup is not the place to hold back when you have doubts. Anyone can sell a startup vision, but it’s all in the execution. Startups inherently come with overwhelmingly dangerous execution risks, and questioning every decision is the only way to alleviate the risky nature of the business. Bring up your doubts and questions, make them heard, and get answers. Then question the answers and repeat that process. It strengthens the robustness and quality of decision-making. Your questions will either change the course of a decision, or uncover edge cases, or serve to foolproof a decision. All are desirable outcomes. So question on.

Be customer-obsessed – don’t be customer-compliant.

You gain value only when you create value.

A perfect launch is an overdue launch.