How is the startup culture different than the typical corporation? Any similarities?

Startup culture is different in that everyone does a bit of everything, you get to wear a lot of different hats and try out different tasks and opportunities that you wouldn’t necessarily get to do at a typical non-startup corporation. For example, I got the opportunity to interview people to fill my intern position, after my four-month contract ended.

Also, depending on the size of the company, there can be full-team syncs which I found to be super cool! At Cinchy, we would have weekly syncs with the whole team and would go through different projects and goals for the company as a whole. I really liked this because it made me feel like I got glimpses of how different employees’ work actually impacted the company as a whole.

In comparison, at a non-startup, it might be easier to get lost in the tasks you and your direct team are working on and forget how the work you do makes a difference to the company as a whole (although I don’t wanna generalize since this can vary widely from company to company).

What were some of your day-to-day tasks?

I actually made a video for an organization called 16 Weeks of Internships where I go through my day-to-day tasks, the link below will direct you to the timestamp in the video where I elaborate on them:

https://youtu.be/_N8CVaif9PY?t=301

What made you want to apply to this job?

Once again, I’ve linked a different timestamp to the same video where I explain why I applied to be a PM at Cinchy:

https://youtu.be/_N8CVaif9PY?t=444

Has this experience made you want to continue working at a startup/starting your own?

Cinchy was actually my second experience with a startup, my first internship was at another startup called Cynorix, which was a company founded by a pair of professors at uWaterloo (both of whom have also taught me since!). Anyways, although they were both startups, my experiences at Cynorix and Cinchy were pretty different. Both startups tended to be more collaborative and less bureaucratic overall, but they differed largely based on other factors, mostly company culture.

Personally, I think overall company culture is one of the most important factors for how much I like a job, although it’s hard to get a good sense of this before you’re actually working at the company, which makes it a bit tricky. Anyways, I think that the company culture at startups generally fits my energy and could definitely see myself continue working at one at some point in my career!

What advice would you give someone who’s looking into working at a startup?

I would say to go for it! It’s a bit of a different experience than working at a non-startup but it’s not anything drastic. You will probably find it easier to get to know people across departments since the sheer size of the company is probably smaller than a company you’ve worked at in the past.

Startups are always looking for people who are comfortable with being flexible since they may need you to wear different hats or do certain tasks on the fly. Although these skills are also important for non-startups, they are an even bigger focus at startups so make sure you’re comfortable with this. Good luck!

Written by: Aurchon Datta

Edited by: Aditi Lohtia

Welcome to our new Medium page! Here at the University of Waterloo, there are many opportunities for students to pursue a career path revolving around entrepreneurship. Thousands of students are passionate about innovation and EntSoc strives to provide opportunities to these aspirants while encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones to unlock their potential for growth and self-development. We decided to create this Medium Blog to create meaningful posts about EntSoc in the Waterloo community, as well as offer resources for those interested in pursuing entrepreneurship!

Our Values

The EntSoc team aims to promote an entrepreneurial mindset across the University of Waterloo by creating accessibility with relevant knowledge, resources, and connections in order to turn ideas and passions into businesses while cultivating business-related skills. Our team promises to promote inclusivity in which we endeavor to encourage collaboration through an entrepreneurial ecosystem. We believe that there are no limits to learning and our team strives to turn ideas into actions while accommodating aspiring entrepreneurs by continuously finding ways to build bridges for students and stakeholders across campus. We are redefining the meaning of “entrepreneurship” to thousands of students across the UW campus by creating a community filled with like-minded individuals, in hopes to develop future successful business leaders.

Projects and Events

EntSoc offers many opportunities for students to experience the behind-the-scenes of an all things business. For instance, if you are thinking of starting your own venture and are in need of potential co-founders, we created Project Janus to make it easier for students to find and collaborate with one another. Every term, EntSoc runs events that help students connect and access entrepreneurial resources on campus including startups in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Additionally, we host weekly coffee chats through our joint discord server for students to meet with members of the team! For more information and updates on EntSoc projects and events, follow us on our social media and join our discord channel here:

www.instagram.com/uwentsoc

www.linkedin.com/company/entsoc

www.facebook.com/UWEntSoc

discord.com/invite/J2kyRy86aa

Thanks for reading our first post! Be sure to follow us on Medium for more entrepreneurship related articles :)

Written by: Jina Wong

Edited by: Aditi Lohtia