If you’re a professional seeking a new job, there’s a good chance you’ve considered working for a startup. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics, hundreds of thousands of new businesses are formed in the U.S. each year—and startups continue to be a major source of job growth.
Unlike more established companies that might have rigid hierarchies or slower career progression, startups offer the opportunity to learn quickly and advance your career in a short period. However, they also require significantly more adaptability and a unique blend of technical and soft skills.
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If you have your heart set on working for a startup, here are the five skills you need to succeed.
1. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence—the ability to express your own emotions and understand those of others in a healthy way—involves managing stress, active listening, demonstrating empathy, and reading body language. While emotional intelligence is valued in any workplace, it’s especially critical in startup environments, where you’re less likely to be siloed in one department or to work with the same people all the time.
Depending on your role and the size of the company, you might be interacting with senior leadership, clients, sales prospects, and coworkers across different departments—sometimes all in the same day. Knowing how to exercise emotional intelligence with each of these diverse audiences is essential to maintaining a harmonious (and productive) work environment.
2. Analytical Thinking
In many entry-level roles at established companies, employees have clearly defined tasks and may not be involved in strategic decision-making. But at a startup, you could be given much more responsibility much faster. This is where analytical thinking comes into play.
Analytical thinking means working with data or synthesizing information to reach important insights, solve problems, and make key decisions. This could involve planning a product launch, expanding to a new market, or optimizing internal processes to improve productivity. At smaller, newer companies, every decision carries significant weight—so strong analytical skills are non-negotiable.
That said, you’ll also need to avoid “analysis paralysis“—spending too much time researching or thinking about a problem without taking timely action. A few ways to avoid this include setting deadlines for decisions, seeking feedback from colleagues to incorporate diverse perspectives, and creating a rubric to evaluate choices.
3. Adaptability
Working for a startup requires adaptability, patience, and resilience. Especially in the early stages, startups may not always have a clear direction. A company that began as an app might expand into physical retail, or a SaaS platform with a single core offering might completely overhaul its product suite or pricing model.
Any of these changes can trickle down and affect your role—whether you’re in sales, marketing, customer service, finance, or product development. You’ll need to pivot according to new directions, even if it means starting from scratch on a project you just finished.
Growth at a startup can also be inconsistent, often coming in short bursts or accelerating rapidly after an influx of venture capital. Your workload may spike dramatically. There may also be slow periods. Your team could contract or expand with little warning. Setbacks happen. If you thrive on predictability, a startup environment may feel chaotic—but if you’re energized by change, it can be exhilarating.
4. Being a Self-Starter
As a startup goes through its growing pains, you’ll need to be proactive—both in moving the company forward and in taking charge of your own career development.
Compared to established organizations, you may not have much of an onboarding process at a startup. You might experience “trial by fire.” Since startups are often short-staffed, you’ll likely wear many hats and be exposed to multiple aspects of the business. For example, even if your primary job is in content marketing, you may also find yourself doing market research, supporting sales, and running events.
You may also have to lead and manage yourself if your supervisor is responsible for many different parts of the business—or if your only “boss” is the CEO. If you prefer having a clearly delineated role in a highly specific field, a startup may not be the best fit. But if you’re excited by variety and autonomy, you’ll thrive.
5. Managing Up
Startups are known for being less rigidly hierarchical than established companies, so the lines between junior and senior staff can be blurry. Part of your job is making your boss’s job easier—and giving them direction on how they can help you, too.
This is the essence of “managing up”: adapting to your boss’s preferred methods of management, decision-making, and communication. It can also mean leveraging your unique skills to assist your boss and the company as a whole. For example, if you’re skilled in a project management tool that would improve workflows, suggest it, or take initiative in implementing it.
Being proactive and communicative with your boss regularly, such as through weekly one-on-one meetings, helps you stay aligned and learn how to work together most effectively.
Is a Startup Right for You?
Working for a startup offers exciting opportunities, especially for early-career professionals. Those who develop these five skills will not only make a positive impact on the company but also gain experience that’s valuable for higher-level positions—whether at that startup or elsewhere.
If you’re ready to make the leap, brush up on these skills and start exploring startup opportunities in your field. And if you want to build your skill set before diving in, check out Mediabistro’s online courses to sharpen your marketing, writing, and professional development skills.
FAQs: Working at a Startup
Q: What skills do you need to work at a startup?
A: The most important skills for startup success are emotional intelligence, analytical thinking, adaptability, being a self-starter, and managing up. Unlike corporate environments with defined roles and processes, startups require employees who can wear multiple hats, make decisions with limited information, and thrive amid constant change.
Q: Is working at a startup right for me?
A: A startup is a good fit if you enjoy variety, autonomy, and fast-paced environments. You’ll likely have more responsibility earlier in your career, but you’ll also face more uncertainty—inconsistent workloads, shifting priorities, and less structured onboarding. If you prefer stability, clear processes, and well-defined roles, a more established company may be a better match.
Q: How is working at a startup different from working at a corporate job?
A: At a startup, you’ll typically have more access to leadership, broader responsibilities, and faster career progression. However, you may also face less job security, fewer resources, and a less structured work environment. Corporate jobs tend to offer more stability, clearer career paths, and established processes—but can feel slower-paced and more siloed.
Q: What are the pros and cons of working at a startup?
A: Pros: Rapid learning, diverse responsibilities, direct impact on the company, less bureaucracy, potential equity upside, and faster career growth. Cons: Job instability, longer hours, fewer benefits (especially early-stage), ambiguous roles, and high-pressure decision-making. The right choice depends on your career goals, risk tolerance, and work style.
Q: Do I need technical skills to work at a startup?
A: It depends on the role. While engineering and product roles require technical skills, many startup positions—marketing, sales, operations, customer success, and HR—prioritize soft skills such as communication, adaptability, and problem-solving. That said, being comfortable with technology and willing to learn new tools quickly is valuable in any startup role.
Last updated: January 2026
