Should you join an early-stage startup? 🤔

In February 2021, Reforge raised a $20 million Series A -- a big milestone after 4 years. A few weeks later, I clicked the “End Meeting” button and finished my last day at the startup. 

When I joined Reforge, an online education startup, we had so many questions: how big was the market? Who was the customer? How do you run 2... 5... 10 programs at once?

Over the next few years, that bootstrapped, scrappy team of 5 turned Reforge into an 8-figure-revenue company of 50 people. I’m so confident about the future of Reforge.

I'm also confident it was my time to leave the startup. 

I wanted to share lessons learned in working at an early-stage company and helping it reach its Series A. The main question I hope to help you answer is: “Should I join an early-stage startup?”

In my opinion, the biggest advantage of going early-stage is:

Hard work is still a powerful lever. 

Meaning: even if you’re non-technical… even if you don’t know what a Series A is… you can create impact by putting in the work. A combination of blue ocean opportunities and zero politics make this possible early-stage but very difficult once you start to scale. 

There are tradeoffs, of course, especially if you come from the world of tech and its perks: kiss goodbye large signing bonuses, Gensler-inspired offices, and mini-fridges stocked with that good-flavored Chobani yogurt. 

In other words, if your corporate credit card has already made you soft, an early-stage startup might not be the best fit. 

But if you’re curious about other benefits of working early-stage, click below to read more. 

Someone else you think should read this? Please share with them.

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