Looking for a quick way to see if a startup might need someone like you for their team?
The table below shows you the kinds of jobs that are likely to be available at a startup based on the startup’s funding status.
Use it as a first filter in your startup job search so that you’re not burning a lot of time with companies who aren’t at the right stage to hire you.
When reading the chart, keep in mind:
- This chart covers the majority of cases but there can be exceptions based on founder preference or the sector where the startup plays.
- This chart only applies to startups that plan to raise money or have raised money prior to profitability. For bootstrapped companies (companies that have raised no money and have achieved profitability nonetheless or waited to raise money until they were profitable) this chart won’t necessarily apply.
- If the startup has a job posting up then that takes precedence over what you see here. (If they say they are hiring people like you then it doesn’t matter what I say 🙂
|
Pre-funding |
Single round of funding |
Multiple rounds of funding |
|
|
Sales |
Maybe |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Marketing (inc. Community and Social Media) |
Maybe |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Business Development |
Maybe |
Maybe |
Yes |
|
Product Management |
Maybe |
Maybe |
Yes |
|
Finance |
No |
Maybe |
Yes |
|
Business Operations (e.g. HR/Recruiting, general) |
No |
Maybe |
Yes |
|
Corporate Development |
No |
No |
Maybe |
|
Corporate Strategy |
No |
No |
Maybe |
|
Customer Success / Tech Support / Professional Services |
No |
Maybe |
Yes |
|
Software Development |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Technical Operations |
No |
Maybe |
Yes |
If you’re looking for other hints on choosing the right startup, click here.
And if you have an opinion you want to share (“John, don’t you know that pre-funding startups need corporate strategy people?!”) please leave it in the comments below.
