Skip the Ladder. Join a Startup.

There’s a theory I’ve carried with me for a long time.
And it's this:

Working at a startup early in your career can fast-track your growth far quicker than most corporate jobs ever will.

It’s not a blanket statement - not everyone’s wired for it, and not all startups are built the same. But in the right setup, with the right mindset, the experience can be like career growth on steroids.

Here’s why.

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The Visibility Effect

In corporate structures, everything is layered.
Endless managers. Middle managers. Senior middle managers. “Higher-ups.”

The entire waterfall approach… where every decision, asset, or approval has to tumble through eight different people before it lands on the right desk.

By the time your design or strategy sees daylight, it’s been watered down, reinterpreted, or straight-up ignored. And if you’re early in your career, chances are nobody even knows who made it in the first place.

In a startup, all of that changes.

Your work is seen.
Your input is felt.
And if you’re driving impact, you’ll know about it… fast.

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You Can Actually Change Things

In smaller teams, hierarchies flatten.
You're not just another cog; you're in the engine room.

Ideas move quickly. Feedback loops are tighter. And if you have a better way of doing something, you don’t need 6 months and a 22-slide pitch deck to try it out.

This kind of environment breeds adaptability, arguably the single most valuable skill in any modern career. If you’re exposed to different systems, processes, and problems early on, you build an intuitive understanding of how to navigate complexity.

Adaptability is the cure for stagnation.
And startups demand it by default.

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Yes, Startups Fail, But That’s Not Always a Bad Thing

Let’s be real: most startups don’t make it.

But here’s the reality:
Even if the company doesn’t survive, you probably will. Stronger. Smarter. More employable.

Because if you’re working directly with founders, learning how teams are built, budgets are managed, strategies are executed, and brands are scaled… you’re gaining insight people in corporate roles might take a decade to see.

If the startup does succeed?
Even better. You were there before the wave. You’ve got your seat at the table and in some cases, a piece of the pie.

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My Story: From Startups to Starting Up

Before I founded Nexubis, I worked for a startup that fundamentally shaped how I think, build, and lead today.

I wasn’t a standout when I joined… just another junior trying to find his feet. But I stayed curious. I shadowed my HOD and absorbed everything I could from the senior designer on our team. I constantly asked “why”, not just “how.”

That curiosity paid off. Fast.

First raise came just months in.
Second raise followed shortly after.
And with each step, I wasn’t just growing… I was solving bigger problems.

My biggest career inflection point?
I pitched our CEO directly.

The company’s marketing site was outdated and buried under dev team priorities. So I put together a plan. I pitched Webflow as a leaner, cheaper, faster alternative and showed how our internal design team could own the whole thing.

It saved the company thousands.
And gave the marketing team control.
From there, things snowballed. I started helping on pitch decks. I introduced smarter tooling (like Pitch for live, trackable decks). And when the new CMO joined, I held down the fort… built a relationship that led to the entire design team being moved under marketing.

Then came layoffs.
Tough period. High stress. Low budget.

When I realised I couldn’t stay on the same salary with that level of pressure, I stepped out, respectfully, and turned that startup into Nexubis’ first retainer client.

To this day, they’re still with us.
And many of the people I worked with back then?
Now some of our best partners and clients.

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Final Thought

If you're early in your career and weighing your options, here's my advice:

→ Startups teach you to think on your feet.
→ They reward proactivity over tenure.
→ They give you a shot to prove your value in real time.

You’ll work hard. You’ll feel the pressure.
But you’ll grow fast and that growth will compound.

In corporate roles, I’d say jump every 2–3 years to keep your momentum up. But in startups? That rule often doesn’t apply. If the company is growing, your role will evolve alongside it.

And when you’re adaptable by nature, you won’t just do the work… you’ll shape the work.
You’ll become the person others turn to for solutions.
And eventually, you might even fire yourself from that role, just like I did, and go start your own thing.

Because the best startups don’t just build products.
They build people.
And if you lean in early, one of them might just build you.