Startup to Watch: IMMO Investment Technologies

Here at Work In Startups, we’re on a mission to champion the best and most exciting startups in the UK. To support this, we’re starting a new blog series highlighting some of the most innovative and fast-growing startups around. Follow us as we interview startup founders and employees across the country and find out more about their goals and ambitions, what the future holds and (for all you startup jobseekers out there looking for the inside scoop) what they look for in a prospective employee.

This week, we’re interviewing Avinav Nigam, Co-Founder of IMMO Investment Technologies: a startup that’s radically disrupting real estate. It digitally sources, appraises and acquires centrally located properties at scale on behalf of institutional investors. The acquired properties are then fully refurbished and rented out to homeseekers on a long-term basis. IMMO Investment Technologies are growing fast, having raised €72 million in a recent funding round, and look set to make serious waves in the real estate market in Germany (and potentially the UK). To support this growth, they’re hiring equally as fast – so make sure to check out their jobs on Work in Startups.

Hi Avinav! What would you say IMMO Investment Technologies mission is?

Great question. There are two aspects to the business. The first aspect is that we want to be your housing partner for life. From when you start university and are looking to rent a student house, to when you’re retired and looking to downsize – we want to be your housing partner throughout that whole lifecycle. Typically, when people first look to rent the whole process is pretty opaque. You have no idea what your prospective landlord is like or the condition (beyond the superficial) that your rental property is in. It’s a gamble, and we firmly believe that renting shouldn’t be like that. It’s the most money anyone spends out of their income every month, but there’s no reliability of the experience. We want to standardise the whole process and be the housing partner that people are looking for: providing you with high-quality properties and a responsive, professional landlord. We also want to help people that are selling their homes by breaking the chain! We’re a tech-enabled direct home buyer, which allows individuals to sell their property without worrying about the middlemen or uncertain buyers. We can take care of legal fees, provide a binding offer and work with sellers to agree upon a completion date that works for them – allowing them to focus on their next move!

The second aspect of the mission is that we’re opening up the world’s largest asset class: residential real estate. It’s worth over €30 trillion in Europe alone, with less than 1% of institutional exposure. A lot of commercial real estate is tradable and investable, but residential property isn’t and we want to change this. Most residential property is controlled by individual landlords and mom & pop businesses, and we want to make it more accessible to investors of all sizes, starting with institutional investors. Everyone should have the ability to invest and trade in residential property as easily as they can invest and trade in stocks! We want to make residential a truly liquid asset class.

What are your values as a startup employer?

A couple of things. We are fortunate to be attracting incredibly motivated and intelligent people that bring their unique experiences to IMMO, and looking to challenge the status quo in real estate. We’ve recently hired people from Uber, Amazon, WeWork, McKinsey and Google and they’ve added a lot of value to the startup team.

Beyond this, there are a few things that are important to us – the primary being “behave like a founder”. If you hire some of the smartest people around, you can’t be micromanaging them. You’ve got to give them enough of a canvas to paint on so that they make masterpieces! So we expect our employees to behave like startup founders, take ownership of big problems and go ahead and solve it themselves.

The second thing we have found to be important is integrity. We deliver on what we promise and we expect our employees to deliver on what they promise too: it works both ways and is key to keeping IMMO thriving.

This also flows very closely into a culture of being kind and caring. We care about our people’s personal health, as well as their professional health. We champion a flexible and open work environment and don’t place limits on how people want to operate. We trust them to take ownership of their job, hence the freedom we give them to work flexibly. The kind and caring attitude we adopt makes IMMO Investment Technologies feel like a family, which is exactly the kind of startup environment we are trying to build.

We also value people that are data and tech hungry. We’re passionate about data and going in depth into what is going on from a numbers perspective. Even if a decision seems subjective from the outset, we try and see if we can take a data-driven, objective approach. This is a culture you see across the organisation.

Lastly, we really value humility. It’s one of the most effective ways of leadership, especially within a high growth startup. You have to be humble and open to being wrong, as well as open to being challenged more! We’re building something that has never been built before – a new asset class of residential real estate – and know that innovation and the best ideas can come from any level of the organisation. As startup founders, we know we’re not perfect and we’re always open to new ideas.

Can you tell us a bit about your growth over the past few years? What’s next for IMMO Investment Technologies?

We have been around for two years and have really gone from strength to strength. Two years doesn’t seem like a long time, but in ‘tech startup life’ that’s close to 20 – that’s just how fast things are moving. Every month is very important in the lifespan of our company. It’s still Day One.

When we started out, it was 3-4 of us in a WeWork in Paddington – a standard startup office in amongst a sea of other ambitious tech startup founders. Now, we’re a team of 40+ and have just moved into a two floor office space in the BBC Studios in White City. At the beginning, it was just a few of us including Christian and Samantha – my co-founders – and we were aligned by one mission: transforming the residential property market. We’ve had investors on board since day one and our growth has been pretty crazy since!

When we started out we launched our operations in the UK, but Brexit affected business to a certain extent. Investors did not have a positive outlook on the UK market and financing conditions changed rapidly, this made us shift our operations and focus on Germany as the investor appetite was high. Given the Brexit cloud has cleared somewhat with investors showing interest again, we are considering reinvigorating our UK efforts this year, but for now we want to focus on building our German business out. Most of our team is based in London, as IMMO is clearly a pan-European play, with operational teams in Germany, and some data & investments run out of India.

We became operational in our first test market, Hamburg, a year and a half ago and we’re expanding into our second and third markets over the next few months. It’s an exciting time! We’re working with large institutional investors to launch in these markets. We have been generating tens of thousands of leads – AKA people looking to sell their property to us. We inspect their properties using a standardised inspection app, and make offers based on that view as well as geo-spatial & macro trends data, using a proprietary machine learning model. Thus far, we’ve carried out more than 2,000 inspections using a standardised app, and underwritten each asset with an automated financial model. Through doing this, we’ve developed a couple of multi-million pound portfolios: one €25m portfolio, another €35m one, and soon building a €200m one! There is limitless opportunity! And we’re seeing a lot of demand for a product like this, both on the consumer and investor side. So in the future expect to see us develop more portfolios and increase the size of existing portfolios.

As for our portfolio operations in the UK: we’re very bare-boned here at the moment but plan on switching UK to full-blast as soon as we sign on more investors. Germany and the UK will definitely be our prime focus for the foreseeable future. Both are such deep markets, ripe for tech disruption! Given how deep real estate is, we could (and hope to) build a billion dollar business in each city we operate in!

What do you look for in a startup employee?

We have just hired the head of recruitment from Uber. It’s a senior hire and they’re a really strong, experienced individual – which I believe reflects our belief that people mean everything. A startup company is hollow without having a strong focus on people growth and management, which is why we have high standards in terms of who we hire and how we help them grow.

We look for people with curiosity and hunger, that question why we are doing it this way and look to do it better. These are the people that add the most value to our startup team and really contribute to our success. If you can demonstrate that you are a naturally hungry person who goes deeper and tries to understand the why, why, why of everything – you’ll do well here! Natural curiosity takes people a long way!

We also look for people with analytical, structured thinking. Given that the value chain of the business is fairly long, we look for people that demonstrate taking a structured and analytical approach to work with the ability to build for 100x scale.

Additionally, we want people that can communicate and collaborate effectively. I would say the nature of our team structures is similar to those of Amazon and Uber. We work in dispersed teams and communicate across geographies and boundaries, and want people that can forge relationships across these boundaries. Prospective employees should know how much and when to communicate – this is vital!

We hire candidates that meet the above criteria and fit our startup culture principles mentioned previously.

Do you have any advice for those thinking about founding their own startup but currently unsure?

You have to have a certain degree of ambition and a desire to challenge the status quo. If you think this describes you, then I would recommend taking an exciting startup job within an existing team for a few years before you start your own. You learn so much and definitely adopt an entrepreneurial mindset from taking a tech startup from Series A to D (for example). I would argue the kind of learning you get on those growth curves is unparalleled, and will add a lot of value to how you build your own startup out.

You might also find your Co-Founders (and investors) this way! If you’re working with a talented bunch, they will inspire and motivate you – and you might even be tempted to go into business with them further down the line. Take the Paypal Mafia, for example: the company has spawned 3 billionaires and many, many millionaires and generation defying companies. A few former employees banded together and founded YouTube, Elon Musk founded Tesla and SpaceX, and Peter Thiel founded Clarium Capital – just to name a few success stories.

Following this experience, if you are still determined to found your own startup, it will simultaneously be the most enriching and hardest experience of your life to date. Be ready to commit to it like you would commit to your own child – it really will consume most of your life. You’ve got to be prepared to make sacrifices in terms of your friendship circles and family. The startup journey is a hard one, people!

I would also say don’t be shy! Ask the best people that you encounter (whether on Linkedin or through your network etc.) for advice or to join your mission. This will prove invaluable when developing your business proposition. Additionally, I can’t stress enough how important conviction is. You need to be super convinced about your vision. If you are, you will find the same conviction in your family, friends, investors and Co-Founders – which will help you achieve your ultimate goal. You need to be able to sell your vision to them! You will also need that unwavering belief when the going gets tough.

And whatever you do, choose the right investors, particularly as an early stage startup. Money is tempting, but it’s vital that your tech investors understand your mindset and vision, and your relationship with them is one of trust, and reciprocity. They should offer you guidance and direction! We said no to strong tech investors – because we felt that they didn’t align with what we are trying to do. We are so lucky to have found incredible investors in Talis Capital, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, Fintech Collective and Surplus capital and some of the best angels I’ve worked with, who support us every step of the way.

Startup to Watch: Commusoft

Startup to Watch: Commusoft

This week, we’re interviewing Jason Morjaria, Founder of Commusoft, a cloud-based workforce management solution for field service companies of all sizes including plumbers, gas and heating engineers, electricians and oil technicians. Commusoft is growing quickly, rapidly hiring and helping field service companies improve their value proposition.

What would you say Commusoft’s mission is?

To educate and empower field service companies to provide world class customer journeys. Field service companies traditionally have a bit of a bad rap in terms of how people perceive them. For example, when you call a plumbing company, you often wonder whether the plumber will turn up on time and get the job done in a timely matter. We want to get rid of this stigma and encourage good companies to provide good customer journeys.

When you call up a business and book a service, you have a number of interactions with them. How do they treat you? What do they say over the phone? Do they let you book the service right there and then? Once you’ve booked the service, do you get a confirmation straight away? Do you get a reminder a few days before the service? Do you know for certain that they will turn up? What about when they will turn up? Do you know what they’re like when they’re on site? Do they wear dirty boots on your carpet? All of these interaction points amalgamate into an experience that you have with this field services company. We want to educate them on how to ensure every one of these touchpoints comes with a brilliant customer experience.

It doesn’t matter how much tech you provide a business, if they don’t know how to execute on it then they’re ultimately not going to improve their business proposition. If they don’t schedule specific time slots or send well-written emails, regardless of the tech they have access to, customers will have a negative journey and, therefore, a negative overall experience. So we focus on educating our clients, implementing our job management software and reviewing their accounts and content. We have a whole team dedicated to producing marketing content for our clients, whether this be video content, blog posts or articles. We want to help them get into the shoes of their customers and ask “does what we’re doing make sense? Can we change anything?”

What are your employee values?

Definitely going “above and beyond” for our clients. This is pretty evident in our inbound content. We had one company call up the other day and say “we know you’re not Sage, but they suck at answering the phone, is there anything you can do?”, which I think is testimony to the amount of support we give our clients. They genuinely believed we would go above and beyond for them – which we would! Another support email came in asking us to consult on how their website looked, which has nothing to do with our business but they trust us and believe we can make their business more successful.

We also strongly value learning! From all the interviews we’ve conducted, every person we spoke to said they wanted to learn more, and we have an open policy about that. For example, someone in our Client Services Team was asking about SQL. She didn’t really understand it and wanted to learn more, so I set aside one hour with her in a conference room, explained it to her, and gave her tips about how to learn it. We feel people with scaleup jobs should be actively encouraged to show interest outside of their roles, and firmly believe that what you learn here shouldn’t necessarily be tied to what you do. This is exemplified by the fact that we also run cooking lessons. Cooking is a basic, fundamental skill and vital to leading a happy and healthy life – so we want our employees to know how to cook and look after themselves. We also invest significantly in our employees’ professional development. We regularly pay for formal training and conferences, which are especially important given how quickly we’ve grown. We’re adding new layers of management every year and we really don’t like the idea of someone becoming an ‘accidental manager’. If they have just started managing a team, we want to make sure that they’re supported so we have consultants come in and teach them how to be managers. We’ve loosely done this forever, but it was when we wrote it down and thought about it properly that we realised how a few things that didn’t work three years ago can be attributed to people having insufficient training.

Additionally, we think employee wellness is extremely important and this is one of our core values. Lots of us go climbing together and many practise yoga regularly, however this isn’t what makes wellness one of our startup values. The fact that we invest in it is what makes it a core value: we pay for everyone’s gym membership, climbing or swimming, etc. We also give our employees the space to do activities: if they want to attend a yoga class in the morning and get in at 10, that’s completely ok, providing they’re adept at managing their own time and make up the hours elsewhere.

Can you tell us a bit about your growth over the past few years? What’s next for Commusoft?

I started Commusoft in 2006 while I was at Aston University but I began writing code well before then. I had been writing code with one field services client in mind and realised that there was a strong business case for the software I was developing. As part of my degree, I had to do a placement year, so I went to the business school and asked if I could run my own business during that year instead. No one had ever asked to do that before, so it was quite novel, but after giving it a lot of thought they agreed. It’s funny because since then they’ve actually started encouraging entrepreneurial activity!

I was meant to return for my final year after my ‘placement’ – but I never went back. By then I had taken on 30 clients and Commusoft was doing pretty well, so there didn’t really seem any point in returning. I met our CTO, Raj, in 2008 and we grew Commusoft steadily until about 2013 – by then we had a fairly large number of clients and were turning over a million a year. I would say we properly focused on Commusoft in 2011/2012 – that was the year we decided to completely rewrite our product base, which was expensive and arduous, but so, so worth it. We launched our re-written product in 2016 and our growth since then has been pretty astonishing: we’ve more than doubled in size to 54 talented startup employees, and we expect to add another 50% to head count this year. We also opened an office in Chicago last September – so have started expanding overseas. There’s so much potential to grow the business and we’re in a great position: bootstrapped and turning a profit!

As for what the future holds, we’re doing a couple of things. We’re firstly trying to align more of our team in one direction, which is especially important given the number of people that will join the company this year. We’re doing this by defining and redefining our mission and values.

We’re also looking to expand our US operations. It’s a new market and new team, so it’s a great learning opportunity – like building another new startup altogether, but bringing to bear the lessons we’ve learnt already. We’re trying to figure out how to best serve our US clients, and grow our client base. In the UK, our work in 2020 is all about scale. We’re looking to bring on as many new clients as possible and we’re seeing our product develop even further. We have companies that have grown with our business and don’t want them to outgrow us! As such, we’re reinvesting in engineering to make sure our product can grow and develop with our clients.

What do you look for in a prospective employee?

It entirely depends on the role. However, attitude is probably number one and this is really hard to gauge in an interview. When the interview is only an hour long, you have to glean as much as you can, but even then you might not get the full picture. I firmly believe that most people can be taught anything, providing they have the right attitude – so turn up enthusiastic, having done a lot of research into Commusoft – and you’ll do well here. However, I do think experience is fairly important as well. If you’re new to your career, or new to the natural demands of a startup job in general, you probably don’t know what you want yet, so it’s more ambiguous whether you will enjoy the role. For example, client services can be one of the toughest roles. You have to deal with clients all day, every day, and they can be quite difficult at times. If you have experience in this role, you’re more likely to enjoy it.

We also look for people that are personable. We do the classic litmus test of “could I stand to be stranded in an airport with you?” – if the answer is yes, then you’d be a good fit for Commusoft. Additionally, we really value diversity. Our leadership team is 50/50 men/women and our whole company is almost 50% female – something we’d recommend every startup (and in fact every company) try and pursue. We also have people from all over the world working in our office.

Do you have any advice for people thinking about founding their own startup but currently unsure?

I think if you’re starting out with the intention to ‘found your own startup’ – you’re already on the wrong foot. Startups are not glamorous and you really do get your hands dirty, especially in the beginning. I once had to delete 25,000 records one at a time to resolve a problem, which was laborious but necessary. There was no one else but me who could do it.

Because it’s not glamorous, you have to be passionate about what you’re doing. When I started out, I liked coding and the product. Commusoft was a project of sorts that I put time and effort into because I loved it. It was only after I had developed it a bit that I thought maybe other people would be interested in it. It became a business a few years later and the rest is history.

If you don’t love it, then it’s going to be tough to stick with it. The first few years can be really difficult and you’ll likely make little money. If I told you you were going to make £50 a week doing it for a year, would you still pursue it? If you can do something for free and love it, only then should you start it!

Startup to Watch: GoSweat

Startup to Watch: GoSweat

This week, we’re interviewing Steph Newport-Booth, Co-Founder of GoSweat: a wellness benefit for companies that gives their employees the freedom to discover and book 1000s of fitness and wellbeing experiences. She describes it as “doing for fitness what Tripadvisor has done for travel or JustEats for takeaways”.

Hi Steph, what would you say GoSweat’s mission is?

To offer any activity, at any time, to anyone! When it comes to our own employees – we want to be able to offer them any experience that they want and support their physical health. We don’t want to offer them the standard ‘gym membership’ that most startup companies offer their employees. Instead, we want to give them the freedom and flexibility to do the classes that they enjoy and that support their physical and mental wellbeing. If they want to use Pure Gym or have physiotherapy – they can do this all through GoSweat. We’re the best company perk out there!

What are your values as a startup employer?

Commitment, collaboration, autonomy and fun! We work with companies, so success and growing the business really starts within our office and making it a comfortable, friendly and fun place to work.

Also, everyone that works here has a real commitment to our mission: getting people into fitness! We’re a start up that has a real drive, and the people who work here have a connection to sport and activities and want to share that with as many people as possible.

Myself and Alex, my Co-Founder, did the Aldi Area Manager Graduate Scheme and whilst we were very well paid, and it was clear that we were looked after financially, the benefits were very black and white. Both of us are passionate about fitness and well-being, so we were looking at employee perks like cheaper gym memberships etc. – and they weren’t that good and didn’t really meet our needs. We realised that this was the norm, across startups and bigger corporates! And when it comes to booking experiences, and fun sporting activities like boxing and climbing, there are so many barriers in terms of price.

The “go to” thing is to give your employees gym memberships, and this is very outdated. Employers get around 5.4% of actual engagement with this method. However with GoSweat, engagement jumps to 83%. That’s crazy different! This is because employees can book a range of things: high-board diving, massages, rock climbing – you name it.

How have you guys grown since GoSweat was founded in 2016?

It has been pretty crazy. Over the past few years, the GoSweat team has grown massively, as have the number of companies we work with. From a personal perspective, GoSweat doesn’t just feel like it’s my startup anymore: it belongs to everyone who uses it and works here. We all see where we are heading and we’re motivated to get there! We truly want to conquer the country!

Our growth in 2019 in particular was pretty astonishing. In January 2019, 8 of us were working out of a pretty small office. Now we’ve moved into a 35-50 people office and there are 15 of us! We’ve nearly doubled our workforce and hope to fill up our new office in 2020. And we think we can – the fitness industry is massive, there’s room for nimble startup operators like ourselves to disrupt things, and we have plenty of opportunity to chase down. There’s a lot of scope for us to grow.

What’s next for GoSweat in the UK and internationally?

We want to conquer the country! We’re launching in 12 new cities in the UK this year, and in 2021 we might go international. We essentially want to cover all the cities where companies want GoSweat and don’t have it. We also want to continue expanding the number of experiences we offer.

What do you look for in an employee?

We look for the kind of people that share our passion and enthusiasm for trying new things, however weird and wacky! For example, last night we all decided to go trampolining. It was last minute and spontaneous, but everyone was very keen and we had the best time. People can have amazing CVs and experience, but when you talk to them they’re not that interested in trying new experiences, which is kind of what our startup company stands for! We also want people that are energetic, outgoing and easy to get along with. You spend the majority of your time at work, so why not enjoy it?

What advice would you give to people thinking about founding their own company but currently unsure? What about people just leaving school/university?

The best advice I can give is to think about the best thing that could happen. Don’t focus on the worst that could happen. You’ve got to think positively about what you are doing and where you are going, and you’ve got to think that you can make the best case scenario happen! It’s especially important to have a positive mindset at the beginning, because things can get tough.

Also, don’t found a startup by yourself! It’s always good to go into it with a partner (or two!) that you know you can rely on. As I’ve said, the path to success is not always linear and being a founder can be quite tough. It’s invaluable having other people to share the load. But, as the saying goes: “too many chefs spoil the broth”! More than three startup founders can be a bit too much.

And don’t be afraid to bootstrap something together. We didn’t have any funding for the first two and a half years, so very much funnelled our own money into building GoSweat at the beginning. When we did get funding, however, it was invaluable. It gives you rocket fuel to expand and develop your product offering.

GoSweat is also hiring!

Startup To Watch: Pasta Evangelists

Startup To Watch: Pasta Evangelists

This week, we’re interviewing Alessandro Savelli, MD and Founder of Pasta Evangelists: a company on a mission to become the authority in fresh pasta in the UK. Pasta Evangelists is growing quickly, hiring just as fast and radically disrupting the way we think about and consume pasta in the UK. Giles Coran and Prue Leith rank among its supporters.

Hi Alessandro, what would you say Pasta Evangelists’ mission is?

Our mission is to make the best possible fresh pasta and sauces in the UK, thereby becoming the authority in fresh pasta across multiple channels. We want to spread the joy of high-quality, fresh, hand-crafted pasta!

Can you tell us about your recent growth? What’s next for Pasta Evangelists?

The business has grown considerably over the past few years. We tripled revenues in 2019 and they grew tenfold the year before that. We’re one of the fastest growing startups in the UK and expect this to continue. In fact, we’re making sure of it by investing in our product, hiring new people and expanding our number of distribution channels.

Our three broadest priorities in 2020 are: 1) to improve our profitability, 2) to execute our concession business and 3) to improve our online business by focusing on online subscribers. With regard to the first priority, we are working hard to improve our margins and therefore, whilst top line growth remains key, it’s not our main focus in 2020. With regard to the second priority, given how pasta is purchased in the UK, we are looking to sell across a broader range of different channels this year. We have concession stands in Harrods and M&S and want to execute on these this year. There’s also a strong demand for our pasta on Ocado and Deliveroo, so we’re going to focus on growing these channels as well.

Beyond 2020, we see ourselves expanding globally. We’re currently trying to conquer the UK market, but Asia, Europe and America are also in our sights! We’re also going to stick to just making pasta: it’s in our name and it’s what we’re good at. We don’t want to diversify into other areas just yet!

What are your values as a startup employer?

We don’t have any formal ‘values’ per se but, ultimately, people are here to be treated fairly. We want to provide the people in the team with a lot of learning opportunities and we thrive when people take ownership of tasks and push for more responsibility. We’re a diverse startup team and encourage creativity, outside-of-the-box thinking and alternate perspectives as much as possible. We also reward people for hard work and dedication!

What’s great about working at Pasta Evangelists?

We give people a lot of responsibility early on, which is great for self-starters and people that want to get stuck in. We move quickly and also invest in the people in our startup team and provide a lot of learning opportunities. Working with pasta is also fun because it’s a great product. If you love food, you’ll be in heaven here!

What do you look for in an employee?

We look for people that are really interested in what we do. We hate generic applications! If you’re a massive foodie, have written about us or like our pasta – we would love to hear from you!

We’re also looking for people that have a lot of energy, work hard and are keen to learn. If you’re driven, motivated and ambitious – you’ll do well at Pasta Evangelists!

Do you have any advice for young co-founders thinking about starting their own company but currently unsure?

Move as quickly as possible. Things always take longer than anticipated so it’s good to think ahead and plan accordingly. Also, starting a business is a bit like going to war: you need allies and a good team. Don’t go to war by yourself – if you have a team, advisors, supporters, partners and co founders, your chances of success are likely to increase.

Also, do something in a category that you have a specific interest in, not just in a category where you see a business opportunity. When you found a start up, you’re tied to it for a long time and the hours are long, so it helps if you are passionate about what you do! You will also come across as more authentic and credible if you genuinely love what you do.

On a separate note, we have several open positions at the moment! So check them out and if nothing interests you but you think you could add value to Pasta Evangelists – send us an email! We’d love to hear from you.

And of course, make sure to check out out fresh pasta directly on our site (!): https://pastaevangelists.com/

Time to Jump Ship? 5 Signs You Need to Leave Your Job (and join a Startup!)

You’re underpaid / under-incentivised Money is definitely not the be all and end all of life…. but who’s kidding, you’ve got bills to pay. Moreover, you deserve adequate compensation for all the hard work you’ve been putting in. It’s difficult to put your all into a job when you’re not being paid adequately or your […]

Time to Jump Ship? 5 Signs You Need to Leave Your Job (and join a Startup!)

You’re underpaid / under-incentivised

Money is definitely not the be all and end all of life…. but who’s kidding, you’ve got bills to pay. Moreover, you deserve adequate compensation for all the hard work you’ve been putting in. It’s difficult to put your all into a job when you’re not being paid adequately or your salary has stagnated, particularly when you think you deserve to be paid more (and if you’re not sure, it’s fairly easy to check!). Feeling like you’re underpaid relative to peers is clearly a pretty big motivation-killer. So if you find yourself in this situation and you can’t seem to resolve the conversation through an open conversation with your manager, then nobody will blame you for looking elsewhere. Hopefully your next job will meet your salary needs, or at least give you some stock / equity options if you join a progressive startup.

You’re not learning and developing

Your daily routine has become monotonous and, despite your very best efforts to get stuck in with interesting projects, you’re not really learning anything new. When this happens, it might be time to move on. If you feel stagnant, uninspired and unmotivated, look for opportunities that will help you grow and develop. This is especially important given the changing nature of the job market. In 25 years time, experts have estimated that around 47% of current jobs won’t exist, which suggests that humans will need to be more agile and adaptable than ever before. As such, it’s important to prioritise learning and development and move on from places that don’t support your growth. Jobs in startups, where you’ll often be forced to wear many hats, can certainly offer learning opportunities if you’re willing to make the move!

Negative Team Dynamics (NTD)

Some workplaces are incredibly toxic. Is your workplace characterised by politics, lack of accountability, aggression, competition and hostility? If so, then it might be time to move on. If you feel genuinely uncomfortable, left out and are sick and tired of the poisonous vibe… then it can be difficult to get out of bed in the morning and you might lose motivation and energy. In these instances, you should talk to the HR team before you make any rash decisions. If nothing is done to address the situation… it may be time to leave for somewhere more inclusive. Unfortunately startups can be just as prone to this as larger corporates, so do your research before you join a new team!

The Ship Is Sinking

Are you on the Titanic? Have you just hit an iceberg? If so, it may be time to pack up ship (pun intended) and take the first lifeboat out of there. If your company has been going through an extended period of poor performance, poor management and poor morale, it may be time for you to leave your job. Nothing’s worse than staying at a company that’s being driven into the ground and/or that you believe has terrible prospects. Jump ship while you can and join a team that more readily inspires you!

NB: most businesses (and especially ambitious startups!) go through difficult periods, so don’t just leave at the slightest whiff of trouble. Assess whether the situation is truly dire and go from there, even if it means just reaching out to your network and seeing what jobs are available.

You’re just generally unhappy in your job

Do you go to bed every night dreading getting up in the morning? Is Sunday evening the worst part of your week because you know you have 5 days of work ahead of you? If so, you should immediately start looking for a new job. At the end of the day, your health and happiness are the most important things. Period. If your job is making you genuinely unhappy and depressed, serious changes need to be made and you can’t be complacent. Perhaps try and get to the root of your unhappiness and see if your work can make adjustments to suit your needs. This is a great first step to explore whether the situation is salvageable – just don’t suffer in silence! And do remember, it’s important to reflect back on the positives of your previous employer when you start interviewing elsewhere and have to explain your move rationale – even if it’s really got you down, try and put a positive spin on your job as no hiring manager wants to hire in someone who seems overly negative!

Early Career Spotlight: Sarah Ali at Adzuna

Early Career Spotlight: Sarah Ali at Adzuna

Here at Work in Startups, we’re on a mission to help talented jobseekers find the startup job of their dreams. To support this, we’re running a blog series shining a light on people’s early startup careers, in the hope that it will inspire jobseekers (like you!) and help talent make more informed decisions about their future. Follow us as we interview startup employees across the country and find out more about their backgrounds, motivations, current roles and future aspirations!

This week we’re interviewing Sarah Ali, Head of Government Support at Adzuna, a search engine for job advertisements that operates in 16 countries worldwide and aggregates job ads from several thousand sources. Adzuna is also Work in Startups’ parent company, which I bet you didn’t know! A former member of the Future Fifty, Adzuna is an impressive startup that has made great strides in the complex job market industry and looks set for big things.

Hi Sarah! Can you tell me a bit about your background?

I studied History at Kingston University and, like pretty much every other history major, I have done absolutely nothing with it. After uni, I got a job doing compliance at a big corporate. It was a great learning curve, but definitely not for me long term! After six months there, I started a job in operations/customer support at a startup called Hassle.com, which I loved! When the management changed, I moved to another startup called Amaliah.co.uk. Since then, I’ve worked at four other startups, the most recent being Adzuna. At Adzuna, I work on the Find A Job project as Head of Government Support. It’s a really interesting role because I learn new things on a daily basis, and I love the fact that the work is meaningful. We’re making it easier for people to find jobs and helping hundreds of thousands of people as a result.

Wow, your CV is pretty impressive! Thank you for sharing. What led you to join a startup in the first instance?

I was really disillusioned after working at a corporate. I went into it thinking that I would love the role, and corporate life in general, but it was very stiff and rigid and not at all what I expected. I definitely think corporate jobs are glamourized – you think it’s like Suits the TV show, but the reality is very different. Everything from the dress code to the amount of breaks you could take was closely monitored. It felt like being back at school during the worst years. Someone was always watching you and you weren’t given much control over your work. You were told what to do, when to do it and how to do it. I had virtually no independence and it was very difficult for me to take ownership of my work.

I joined Hassle.com in the operations/customer support division because I wanted something different – and it definitely was! The culture was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. It was young, fun and the socials were amazing. Everyone got on like a house on fire. That being my first startup made me realise that I don’t want to work in a corporate ever again and startups were the place to be. I love the organised chaos of startup life! I thrive in it. There’s a lot of learning on your feet and making stuff up as you go along, which means you have a lot of autonomy over what you do and it’s fun! You’re the owner of your work.

Hassle.com was very successful and ended up being sold. All the people that made it what it was, including the co-founders, moved on, and I felt like it was time to move on to another startup as well. I wanted to bring the culture with me to other places!

I tried my hand at a number of other startups, but couldn’t quite find the culture of the first. It made me realise that each startup has a different culture and you have to adapt and find one that suits you. I landed at Adzuna by referral of an old colleague from Hassle and haven’t looked back! I love my new role as I have complete ownership of my work. Find a Job was a new project within Adzuna which gave me a lot of freedom to define processes and decide how I work. It’s a fun team and I enjoy being part of it!

So do you think you’ll always work in startups?

100%. I love the relaxed-yet-everyone-gets-stuck-in mentality and startups typically have a pretty flat hierarchy. Everyone pitches in and helps out where needed. For example, founders often help out with customer support at the weekends and during the Christmas period and the finance team often helps the marketing team and vice versa.

You also don’t mind staying late in the office because you’re with people you like and you all have the same goal: wanting the startup to thrive and succeed. That theme has run through every startup that I have worked at. When everyone is invested and wants the company to do well, this creates a better working environment and fosters cross team collaboration. After experiencing startup life, I don’t think I could go back.

What makes the Adzuna a great place to work?

A load of things. It’s a very nurturing and supportive environment. Everyone looks out for everyone and there are a tonne of learning opportunities. I’ve learnt more here than probably anywhere else and there’s still so much to learn! I’ve had a taste of product management and want to learn more and Adzuna is providing me the platform to do that. I really get along with my colleagues as well and have made some firm friends. In particular, my boss, Scott, is a great mentor and very encouraging and supportive. He’s really helping me grow and succeed.

Flexible working is another big benefit of the job! I can work from home and make up the hours if I have a doctor’s appointment or something. I definitely wouldn’t get this flexibility at a corporate. The work is also super interesting and all of my colleagues are very switched on and intelligent, which provides a big daily source of motivation.

What does the future hold?

Now that I have had a taste of product management, I feel like that is the next step for me. Given the responsibilities I have gained here, my current role is a good starting point. The ambition that Adzuna has and the development plans we have in place here will help me fulfill this career change. There is also still loads more to learn at Adzuna and in my current role so I plan on being here for a long time! Unless they kick me out of course… or change significantly…

Do you have any advice for young, startup obsessed jobseekers when they’re just leaving school? What about people leaving University?

Personally (and this isn’t for everyone), if I had the choice again I wouldn’t go to university. I feel I’ve actually learned a lot more from working than from my experience at Kingston. This is of course partly because of the degree I did and the course I did and don’t get me wrong, university is definitely a great option for some, but it’s not for everyone and you can thrive in a career without a degree. When I left university, I had over £40,000 of debt, and could have spent those four years getting stuck in at a startup and working my way up the ranks – whilst earning money!

As for people leaving university and looking at startups, I would say definitely apply for startups where you are passionate about the product and feel the culture is a right fit for you. Do your research – is the company aligned with your beliefs and core values?

Once you’ve started working at a startup, volunteer and get stuck in. If there are opportunities within your job to work in all areas and/or shadow other teams – do it! It will help you figure out what you want to do in the long-term. Also, take advantage of all the opportunities and courses that they are offering you to further develop, grow and learn. I’m sure you’ll become a pro in something that I bet you had no idea even existed before joining a startup, like Zoho or Zendesk.

If you could write a letter to your 18 year old self – what would you say?

As I’ve mentioned above – forget uni and get into a startup ASAP. You’ll thrive more in this environment! Follow your instincts and don’t give in to parental pressures of going to university. If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you. Also, keep doing you because you’re awesome, even at 18.

Inspired by Sarah and/or want to share your story? Email us at contact@workinstartups.com or reach out via Twitter – we’d love to hear from you!

5 Tips For Getting Your Startup Off The Ground

5 Tips For Getting Your Startup Off The Ground

Starting a business is not easy! In fact, it’s darn right difficult, especially if it’s your first crack at founding a startup or if you don’t have much money / support to start with. There’s a reason 90% of startups fail… but you don’t have to be part of that club. Assuming you already have a great idea that you’re passionate about and think has the potential to make it big, here are 5 tips for getting your startup off the ground!

Save, save, save!

I cannot stress this enough. There’s a reason the average age of a successful startup founder is 45. They not only have the experience, but also (often) the savings to help their business succeed. The first few years of founding a startup can be pretty rough: you often make little to no money, struggle to secure funding and face the hurdles of developing an MVP. If you have savings, you can bootstrap something together and rest a little easier knowing that you have something to fall back on if things don’t quite work out. Alleviating the stress of “how can I afford next month’s rent?” will be seriously helpful when you’ll be stressed enough already with the startup!

Ask your friends and family for help

Your friends and family love you and trust you, and can provide a great deal of emotional and financial support during your startup journey. In the US, the second biggest source of seed funding, after personal savings and credit, is friends and family. So don’t be afraid to ask your loved ones for investment, a loan, or if they’re feeling especially generous… a gift! This can help you get the ball rolling and develop an MVP, and give you some great pitch practice when you run your business plan past them (which you definitely should be doing!).

On the emotional support side, founding a startup is tough and you’ll face challenges on a daily basis. It’s therefore super helpful to have a strong support system that you know you can rely on when the going gets tough. It also makes small (or big!) victories that much sweeter when you have people to celebrate with.

Cultivate resilience

Founding a startup is intensely rewarding… but it can also be extremely draining. You have a lot on your plate, likely work around the clock and encounter setbacks and failures on a daily basis. Those that persevere through it all are the ones that succeed.

But how, you may ask, can I cultivate resilience? Firstly, try and be as adaptable and flexible as you can to changing situations. You can plan for the future… but ultimately a lot of it is unpredictable. Whatever comes your way, tackle it with optimism and hardwork and you’ll do just fine. Secondly, be purposeful and mindful. Resilient people have clear goals, motivations and directions. These enable you to devise effective solutions during times of crisis.

Network!!

Networking is crucial. Reach out to any entrepreneurs you know, experts in the industry, financiers, people at the same stage in their startup journey as you, and anyone else you think could be useful! Talk to as many people as possible (without becoming that annoying, needy friend of course) and soak up their advice and feedback on your startup story to date. They’ll be great to bounce ideas off, and might even introduce you to potential investors and employees… which is invaluable. While ensuring you stay respectful and polite, don’t be afraid to send people emails, message them on Linkedin and attend startup conferences. The startup scene in London is incredibly welcoming and nurturing and can help you get started. People want you to succeed!

Have a bullet-proof business plan

If you want to secure venture funding, which can often be crucial for your startup’s success, you’ll need to develop a bullet-proof business plan.

Investors want to (1) understand how you plan to operate your business and (2) determine your projected growth rates and how they stand to gain by getting involved. They can’t do either of these things if you don’t have a developed business plan.

They want to see a clear overview of your business – the nuts and bolts who you are and what your startup mission is / will be. They also want to see some rational market analysis, including detailed research on your competitors, how you are positioned within this space, and your target audience. Additionally, you should definitely outline your organisational structure, mission and values, as well as how you plan on managing your company.

Perhaps the most important part of your business plan, however, is your financials. Do your best to construct a 3 to 5 year financial model, and make sure your predictions are realistic and not overinflated. Outline, if you can, when you think you’ll be profitable and how.

On a personal level, a clearly defined business plan will give you direction and a road-map to success. It will help you navigate challenges and seize opportunities!

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