What is the difference between a Start-up and a Corporate?
Work Culture Differences: Startup vs. Corporate
Exciting vs. Tedious Job Roles
In a small-scale startup, you’ll get the opportunity to experiment, innovate, and grow. You’ll be the master of your wish and each day in a startup will bring something new to learn, or to adopt with itself. Your job roles in a startup will tend to change frequently, depending upon the real-time challenges of the organization. On the other hand, in a multi-national company, with a defined job role, you’ll be doing the same set of tasks for years to come. This means no scope for exploring and enhancing. This might limit your knowledge and skillset too.
Being Managed vs. Managing Yourself
In a corporate set-up, there are people holding a place higher than yours in the hierarchy, managing projects and tackling the usual business challenges. There are managers who keep a close watch on their employees, tracking their work details, deploying tasks, setting deadlines, and following a well-defined structure. Meanwhile, in a startup, you are the taskmaster and your own manager. You are responsible for everything that you deliver. Managing tasks, setting deadlines, priority management, etc., which helps you grow as an individual by learning self-management.
Safe Player vs. Challenger
The big brands refrain themselves from taking a leap fearing high risks. Corporates prefer growing ends that are already present rather than rooting in new ideas or exploring new horizons. However, startups are always looking to introduce something new, that might bring a change, and thus, they are always welcoming challenges and risks with open arms. This gives the employees the freedom to innovate and experiment. While helping them to explore their interests while nourishing their skill sets.
Problem Solving Approach
The small-scale startups always prefer the employees to step out of their comfort zone and come with ideas that shall help the organization in growing. Problem-solving is one such segment where if you come with solutions for a department that isn’t yours, but reduces hurdles for the company, you become a star. Corporate belief in a “stay confined” sort of theory. The processes being streamlined, many a time are not encouraging enough for employees to come-up as arising.
Other Life Perks
The corporate life comes with various perks such as better pay-scale, brand recognition, insurances, gym memberships, and fixed working hours, among others. The small-scale startup, on the other hand, has a low pay scale in the initial days, less recognition and almost no luxurious benefits. However, both the working environments differ to a great extent from the perspective of their work-cultures. Each of them comes with their own benefits.