Joining a Startup: How We Can All Be Entrepreneurs

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Not all of us are born with the entrepreneurial spirit flowing through our veins. But being involved in a startup is something anyone can do. And while it may just take one person to produce the big idea, to “power the vehicle” and become a successful venture a young company needs a strong team.
 
SCVNGR (pronounced scavenger), a social gaming application for iPhones and Androids, is an up and coming startup based in Boston, Mass. The company’s founder, Seth Priebatsch, launched the company about 18 months ago when he was a freshman at Princeton University. The team has since expanded from just a few to more than 40 people.
 
The company’s big idea is part game and part game platform. It involves real world challenges that users can participate in, linking them to a social interactive network via their phones. With backing from Google Ventures and Highland Capital, the company is thriving in the ever-changing, highly competitive world of technology.

 
It is SCVNGR’s dedicated and cohesive team that has helped propel the company forward, according to Vlad Antohi and Melody Tran, two of the company’s employees.
 
“It’s all about people; literally everyone who works here is a rock star. People regularly come in at 9 in the morning and stay until 9 at night,” Antohi, a member of the Sponsorship Sales team. “It’s about having a strong leadership team. If you look at what SCVNGR started as and what it is now, it’s totally different; it’s morphed into something truly incredible.”
 
Of course, not all startups will be a success initially, and many may fail entirely. Joining a company in its infancy is intimidating and there are risks involved, but taking the risk will pay off--whether the company is a hit or not.
 
Before Tran, the company’s Marketing Maverick, began working for SCVNGR, she viewed startups as "sketchy."
 
“I didn’t know where [startups] were going and that was scary to me,” she said.
 
But when she came across a listing for a position with SCVNGR in her job search, Tran decided to find out more from a friend who worked there as a game designer. After the interview process, she was hired to help the company start their marketing department.
 
Starting right before the release of Generation 3 of SCVNGR gave Tran perspective on “where the company came from, where it's headed and the enormous amount of potential it has."
 
“I guess it still sort of is scary, but it’s a good kind of scary,” Tran said. “It’s this huge adventure and I’m playing a significant role in it. We all are. That’s what I love about being at a startup. Proving ourselves out there and that we can run with the big boys. Because we definitely can.”
 
And the once skeptical Tran has thrived in the innovative and fresh environment at SCVNGR. It's a unique opportunity to help to set the foundation for a company, often offering a richer experience than the typical first post-college job where there may be less opportunity to advance.
 
“Because we're so young and have so much room to grow, there's a lot more room for creativity and individuality. There's something about a young company that makes it almost...mandatory to be as creative as you can," Tran said. "It keeps me always thinking of new ways to do things, new solutions to old problems, and I think that keeps my mind fresh--a quality that will benefit me wherever life takes me.”
 
For Antohi, "the sky's the limit!" Working at a startup is an opportunity to build skills  and to see that you really have made a difference, he said.  "In a startup company, you're only limited by your own skills and self-motivation." 
 
So what does it take to join a startup’s team?
 
“It takes a very high level of commitment. If you just want to chill out and be comfortable this is probably not where you want to be," Antohi said. "But if you're someone who is really driven to prove him or herself and really be a rock star, startups - the right ones - will give you the opportunity to shine.”

 
Tran named three ingredients for thriving in a startup environment: It's about a willingness to work hard, motivation and passion--a love for what you do. “Don't just kind of like it, don't even just like it. LOVE it, she advises. “Because it's that love for SCVNGR as an idea, as a product that makes us all passionate about what we do.”
 
The entrepreneurial community is buzzing with energy and passion for new venture ideas and the opportunities to get involved are out there. A good place to start: entrepreneurial and networking events.
 
For some calendars of events going on in Boston, be sure to check out: 
 
http://www.masschallenge.org/resources/events
 
http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar 
 
For entrepreneurial events elsewhere, check out:
 
http://econnect.entrepreneur.com/browse_events.php
 
http://www.entrepreneurship.org/Events/
 
Read more from YPNation on the changing world of work, and the entrepreneurial spirit. 
 
Megan Linebarger is a communications officer for Northeastern University's IDEA program. She is writing a bi-weekly column on young entrepreneurship.
 
(Photo credit: iconshock; C.C. 3.0)