Latest / Black Box Theory Podcast / Startups Don't Hold Your Hand — Here's the Mindset You Need
Transcript
- Malcolm: So you've worked inside the Massive Defense Prime and Ascome Telecoms, a hardware startup and now an industrial manufacturer. So it's like, what did would you say has been the single biggest difference, there is one, and how you have to operate, communicate, or move between a company like a North of Grumman or at a startup like like Lola Visa Systems. Like is there like a would you say like a difference in kind of like I mean obviously there's a different like type of work that you're doing at each company, but has there been any other differences as far as like communication and and just like how you kind of have to like navigate different you know, like processes at at at each of these employers. Like what's that, what's that kind of been like for you? Wesley Grammer: Yeah, no, for sure. And that kind of that's a great question because it was something that I was kind of thinking about in the moment, kind of when I first started with Lola Visions, last year around this time. it's the startup culture is a lot different. And like people are kind of being being more I feel like being more inclined to go into startup culture these days. A lot of people who Malcolm: Yes. Wesley Grammer: either didn't have internship experience before or like big corporate experience before or did, whether or not, like I personally did, like you were saying before. So I had an understanding of what a kind of fleshed out Fortune five hundred company looks like in terms Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Wesley Grammer: of operations and how things are run. And Lola Visions is still a great great, very great run startup. Like Tayo is still very close with him, a great CEO and running great things really well over there. but it's a lot different and you have to get adjusted to the startup culture. Like it's It's not always, you're gonna have like this, this, this, and this assignment to do. Even in corporate, you don't have that to do. But especially with a startup, because everybody is kind of always going at a hundred miles per hour and doesn't really have the time to babysit you or kind of make sure that you're doing your work. Like if you kind of went through the process of applying to kind of be a part of the fellowship that I was a part of in the first place, like they know that you had agency. Like they know you had the ability to kind of pick up you pick yourself up by your bootstraps and actually go do work and find work for yourself that can kind of push the agenda of the company. So I would say the biggest difference is like I said, I mean, the, the, the desire to get the work done. Like you have to really be proactive about getting work done and figuring out, okay, what kind of project or what kind of aspect of the business do we have to kind of prioritize it? right now at this point because we're cause we were even work like in even as an intern, like working at a startup, you have a lot bigger role as well. Not only do you have to have be more proactive in terms of the work that you have and are are are working on, but you also kind of have a bigger role because the team itself isn't as big. So you're kind of on calls with a lot of the partners, a lot of the investors and stuff like that. So that that exposure was really great for me. being able to see that and see what a pretty successful relative like relative to a lot of other startups and how they're doing. a pretty successful startup, kind of what they're looking like even in the beginning stages of their process. So I'll say the biggest thing between that and corporate, like I said, is that having that ability to be proactive, find your own work, understand that nobody's gonna hold your hand through the whole process, that Malcolm: Mm-hmm. Wesley Grammer: you have to find your own work, make your own experience, and that's kind of where you're gonna see the most growth. Malcolm: Yeah.