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Juan MC Larrosa
Everything You Need To Know About Breaking Into The Tech Startup Industry
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JANUARY 31: Ben Horowitz accepts an award onstage at the 5th Annual Crunchies Awards at Davies Symphony Hall on January 31, 2012 in San Francisco, California. (Image credit: via @daylife)
Every week I receive dozens of emails, from old friends to blind reach outs, asking how they can break into the tech industry. As the tech industry continues to heat up, that number continues to climb. While there is no exact science to landing your big break, there are a few ways to increase your chances.
Those looking to break in generally fall into one of the following three groups:
“Noobs”
Noobs are looking for exploratory information about the tech space. They aren’t sure where to start, nor do they know the first thing about the tech space. Whether it’s by word of mouth or sheer curiosity, noobs are primarily concerned with understanding high level concepts such as the nature of the work, company culture, or the differences between corporate and startup life.
“Languishers”
The languishers know about the tech space but don’t have a specific passion. They want to be in the industry, but don’t know where. This middle ground is not a dead-end, but in order to get a job in tech (just as in any field), you eventually need to narrow your focus. Criteria to consider are the company’s development stage (seed funding? Series A? Series B?), industry (education, social media, etc) and even the size of the company. Saying you just want a job in tech is simply not enough.
“Know-it-alls”
The last category consists of the people who know exactly what they want. They typically have an idea of specific companies they want to work for, primary because of an industry passion or a particular relationship with (or admiration for) someone in the industry. They are keenly aware of what they’d like to pursue within the company, whether that be business development or software engineering.
If you are willing to honestly evaluate yourself, you will know where you fall among the three types. If you are a noob and/or languisher, there are things you can do to become a know-it-all. The most critical step is doing the proper research. Educate yourself on what is out there, who the players are, and where you fit in. From there, try to formulate opinions about the companies/industries you’ve researched so you can become a know-it-all.
Read constantly.
Educate yourself on what is out there, who the players are, and where you fit in. Knowing about the space is crucial and there is a constant flow of news in the startup world. This ranges from product announcements, funding news, and trend stories, to acquisitions, partnerships, and public blunders. If you are a noob, some of my favorite recommended reading sites include TechCrunch, Pandodaily, The Verge, GigaOM, Mashable, Lifehacker, TheNext Web, All Things D, BetaBeat, Venturebeat, Wired, Fastcompany, ReadWriteWeb, Business Insider, and The NY Times Bits Blog. You can find some other great sites here: Techmeme.com/lb. Once you have familiarized yourself with the space, turn to more specific industry leaders for thought-provoking insights.
Some of my favorite thought leader blogs include Venture Capitalists like Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Bryce Roberts, Bijan Sabet, Paul Graham, Roger Ehrenberg, David Lerner, Matt Harris, Dave McClure, Brad Feld, Ben Horowitz, and Steve Blank.
Some of my favorite blogs from Entrepreneurs include Chris Dixon, Eric Ries,Jordan Cooper, Josh Weinstein, Vin Vacanti, Brad Hargreaves, Micah Baldwin, and Mark Davis.
Network, network, network.
There is a saying in BD that a person is only as good as their network. Once you have put in time researching the industry of your choice, and are up to date with recent news and the current ideas circulating within the space,, then it is time to get out and meet people in the space. This means going to events and meeting people in your chosen industry, attending classes at Skillshare, General Assembly, and the like, or even asking friends to make introductions on your behalf.
To find out which events to go to you should sign up for all of these mailing lists (these are for NYC specific): Gary’s Guide, Skillshare, Curated List Of NYC Innovation Community Events from Charlie O’Donnell, Startup Digest, General Assembly mailing list, Meetup, Lanyrd, and oHours.
Sign up for these listings and try to attend at least two events per week. Another trick to figuring out which events to go to is to go on your social media of choice and follow people you want to meet. When they tweet or message out events they are attending (which happens often) you should jump at the opportunity to sign up.
There is no exact science to breaking into the tech space. But if you follow this formula of doing research, reading everything you can, and attending events, you will put yourself in an optimal position to break in. Take action and get started now.
Forbes
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