Recently a student said during an entrepreneurship event at a business school that she was planning to leave the placement cycle and instead seek opportunities in a start-up. She asked me how different it works for a start-up compared to a traditional company company. The first thing that struck me was how normal it became for young people to join risky start-ups instead of opting for the security of a large company. Here are some important differences between works for start-ups and large companies.
Companies have supported good infrastructure and facilities through well -manned support functions such as Human Resources, Administration and Finance, which help employees concentrate on their direct tasks.
When I moved from a business community to my first start-up in 1999, I had to travel to Mumbai and realized that I had to buy my tickets and book my hotel and local transport, because there was no admin department. Of course such things are useful today, thanks to Reisportals and Ride-Hailing apps, but the point is still valid. I also had to prepare agreements with seniors in an industry where I had no connections. Earlier people would be open to meet me, because I was a professional manager in Wipro and the brand opened doors. Now I had to press and network to get people on the phone for a few minutes.
Large companies have a multi-layered organization with direct and dotted line reporting relationships, and stakeholders in different departments are involved in all important matters. This leads to delays in decision -making and reduces the agility of the companies. On the other hand, start-ups recruit employees at an early stage based on their bias for action. Start-ups focus on making rapid decisions, with the aim of making progress. This approach increases the chances of going wrong, but founders learn from errors, make fast course corrections and continue. Delayed action in a start-up spells death.
In contrast to start-ups, where employees must be open to do everything, companies define narrow roles in specific functions. Every person can only do so much alone, above which they need the approval of his manager. I remember the first employee we hired in 1999 for our start-up. All six co-founders were running around and we needed someone to manage the office. We hired an assistant who was part of my team at Wipro. On her first day she asked me what to do and I answered: “everything”. After the first confusion, she went the new role such as fish to water and soon established herself as someone whose co-founders could depend on. Most experienced professionals have difficulty adapting when they join start-ups.
We will discuss more differences in the next column.
(The writer is a serial entrepreneur and bestseller author of the book ‘Failing to succeed’; Messages on x @vaitheek)
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Published on July 21, 2025
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