Post 1 – Boxcars
It is no secret that the technology field is always changing. There seems to be a constant stream of new products, software, content, you name it. This concept can either be scary or intriguing for a startup business that is hoping to enter this market. The image of kids trying to jump into boxcars of a moving train, comes to mind. Scary, overwhelming, not recommended by your superiors, yet exciting and challenging. There is no rush like it. What happens if you jump and miss the train – falling along the gravel scraping your elbows and knees? But what happens if you jump and land in the train – ready to explore whatever mystic and beautiful land it takes you too? Is it worth the risk?
The biggest question we will ever face in our lives, “Is it worth the risk?” What are we giving up if we continue down this path? What is the opportunity cost of our actions? When I decided to join the Effi team – a small start-up with big dreams – these questions raced through my mind, if only for a moment. Much like the kids in front of a boxcar, I thought only fleetingly of the risk. I wanted to try. I wanted to jump. I wanted to land, whatever way I did. I wanted a story. So that’s what I did.
Working for a startup is much like a bumpy, cold ride in a train unknown to where you are heading. Arriving day one to a room full of computers and a few strangers typing away like mad men was a new experience for me. I have come off the tails of customer service, management, and teaching – jobs with a certain path and a decided future. Being fresh meat in a fresh startup company is like the fish swimming upstream. I had to jump right in, in order not to drown. I was given my own desk, my own email, and of course my own Effi account and told to began. Just like that the rush was back – the risk was back. I soon learned that every step, every trial, every design, and every document in a start-up is a new boxcar – a new undetermined hit or miss with backpacks full of risk. The rush of a start-up is not for everyone, the uncertainty of building and rebuilding and the constant cuts and bruises. However, it’s a thrill that I wouldn’t trade for the certainty of a plain old train ticket any day.
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