Here’s What It’s Really Like to Work at a European Startup

The truth behind the free fruit, table football, and flexitime.

Since graduating, I’ve had a fair few jobs over the years, from working in factories and shops to teaching in special educational schools, and even treading the boards as an actor.

You’d think all these varying experiences would prepare me for the world of European startups, wouldn’t you?

Think again…

Moving to Europe and living the expat lifestyle can be all fun and games, but often there’s a heck of a lot of working hard that goes along with it, too.

Here, I share with you my experiences of working for a well-known, relatively successful startup.

Many European startups will claim to be your “family”

If you’ve read my blog about using the term family in the workplace, you’ll know I’m not a fan. However, if you’re more of a live to work person, and consider your work colleagues as more than someone you sit next to and grab the occasional lunch with, maybe a startup is for you.

Many companies, particularly in Berlin, offer the philosophy of “we are family, we are in the together” meaning, if we go up — yay, go us we are onto a winner… but if we go down? Well… just make sure you have some savings handy.

If you haven’t read my blog on the topic of startup families, here are my key takeaways:

• Work isn’t our family. Even if we are 1,000s of miles away from them.
• Your family would never sack you.
• Be careful of startups brandishing this terminology over their job specs and LinkedIn. Often if they want you to believe their family vibe, it probably means they want you to give up your actual family time and put in insane working hours.

And, ask yourself this question:

If you were to win the lottery, would you go to your work family and share it? Would you continue to go to work and stay up late finishing off tickets and pleasing your boss? Thought not.

Be prepared for constant change

Now, as an ENFP, I love change. I live for change, change keeps me awake at night in the best possible way. However, if you like a bit of stability, if you like to know you have set tasks that you complete and that’s it… well, let’s just say you might end up feeling quite fraught at a European startup.

In my 3 years working at a startup, I saw multiple colleagues get sacked, I saw teams change, grow, morph, and be completely obliterated. I saw targets go up and down, priorities change from one day to the next, money lost and founders infuriated.

To keep the investors happy, you have to be willing to accept the fast-paced changes that could potentially come your way. So, what are you waiting for? Hop on your surfboard and ride that wave! It can be fun if you approach it with the right mindset.

Unclear or ever-changing visions

I’ve got a few friends who’ve moved to various countries and work for startups. It seems, no matter where you are, unclear company vision can be a problem across the board.

Why?

Because startups are forever chasing profits, attempting to keep investors happy, and are constantly trying to find out who their customers really are.

Often priorities change, management will rotate, and KPIs will differ on a weekly basis. This, as you can probably imagine, can cause stress and frustration among teams.

You’ll find that the product team have one target, but this won’t correlate with what marketing have to focus on, and perhaps the HR team have other ideas altogether. Mixing these together can often become a little messy. You just have to hope that you have a good CEO with a strong leadership team who can pull this together and make it work.

Don’t get me wrong, I know some people who work for amazing startups with clear visions and even better strategies. Just make sure you do your research when applying and interviewing.

What will you get from working at a startup?

1. You’ll become a jack of all trades

You’ll be expected to do way more than your job description suggests. If you can speak more than one language, prepare to have to write landing page copy, or proofread articles, or come up with witty taglines for advertisements. The world of startups really is your oyster!

This, of course, can have its pros and cons, but if you’re looking to branch out and try new things, you’ll not only have the choice of doing so in a startup, you’ll be expected to do what is asked of you.

2. Great career prospects

Building on from my previous point, after working at a startup, your CV will positively shine! You’ll stand out from those who have worked in steady corporate jobs and you’ll have so much more to say for yourself in interviews!

If you’ve worked for a startup for a couple of years which has grown and become relatively well-known, even better! What is more exciting to talk about in an interview than how you helped to make a tiny startup into something successful? Be proud!

3. Beers, social spaces and flexi-time

Now, first, let me point out that none of these freebies are a given when working at a startup. I’ve interviewed at startups who will gift you a MacBook, flexitime, amazing annual leave allowance, a $1000 learning budget… and more!

I’ve also worked and interviewed at startups who offer none of these things.

If you’re seriously thinking of working in a new company and you want all these so-called perks, do your research! Often these things are offered but they aren’t a reality. My ex-employer offered flexible working. The reality? It wasn’t flexible in the slightest. You could choose one of three offered shift patterns. Got a doctor’s appointment or your kid has spewed up and you need to clean up? Tough, you need to be on slack at your designated time!

Some companies also claim to offer training budgets, but really it’s just someone in-house who has a spare hour and will go through excel with you.

Ask in your interview for the specifics of such offers and you’ll be able to figure out who really wants to help you progress, learn and grow.

Some companies are amazing at offering training budgets, money for workshops and conferences, and they have excellent staff trips. They’re out there, you just have to find them!

How to find your ideal startup job as an expat abroad

The best thing about looking for a new job at a European startup is that they often have profiles and reviews on job platforms such as Glassdoor, Xing, Indeed and LinkedIn. By accessing these websites, you can find out what it’s really like to work at your chosen company. Almost every ex-colleague of mine has posted a review so it’s a great chance to see what the pros and cons are of working at a certain place. On Glassdoor, you can also check out approximate salaries and potential interview questions so you can get prepped for your first meeting.

By the way, that’s something else… you will have a lot of interviews (particularly in Europe). I’ve known interns have 2 interviews plus multiple tests, and although this could be seen as time-wasting or a little on the OTT side, it really does give you, and the employer, the chance to see if you would fit within the team and whether you have a real interest in the product you’ll be working on.

I once had an interview for a large startup and had to complete 2 tasks and 4 interviews — crazy! But, in the end, I was glad because it made me see that the job wasn’t for me, and after meeting several members of the team and asking how things worked, I realised I would most probably be going “out of the frying pan and into the fire” in terms of company organisation.

My final tips?

Wait, research, listen, and talk to other expats in the know.

Read between the lines and you’ll figure out the type of startup you really want to work for.

If you’re already living abroad, you might not have the luxury of time to spend on research. We all have bills to pay, so to that, I’d say to…

Remember: with startups there’s a lot to gain but keep on your toes and make sure you have a safety net — just in case.