Finding a seat on a rocket ship

It’s painful yet worth it to get one of these jobs. I’ll help you.

TL;DR — Working at high growth (rocket ship) company can level up your career. BUT searching for and securing these roles are a pain in the ass. I’ll help you (for free) land a job at a rocket ship company. Please fill out this quick form to get started.

“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.”Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook)

Ever get a tug on your soul? Wish you were doing something more impactful? Wish you were learning more in your job?

If you are career focused, a great way to address these concerns is to work at a rocket ship company. These are startups that grow three, five, even ten (!) times their size each year.

For context, I found my rocket ship role as an early team member at Atrium, being Chief of Staff to Justin Kan. Justin was the co-founder of Twitch, a partner at Y Combinator, and now the founder / CEO of Atrium. Atrium grew over 10x per year I was there.

Like anyone that worked at a rocket ship company, I experienced these benefits (compared to working at a non-hyper growth company):

Benefits

Learning

Brand

“Why is success so important? You get more credit than you deserve for being part of a successful company, and less credit than you deserve for being part of an unsuccessful company. Success will help propel your career.” — Andy Rachleff (co-founder of Benchmark, co-founder of Wealthfront)

Your reputation increases by working at one of these companies. This helps over the long view of your career — whether you want to find a new job, start a company, be an investor, be an advisor, etc.

Network

Money

Impact

Relationships

Pain Points

In brief, here are the pain points you experience as you recruit for a role at a rocket ship. (Note: I want to help you skip or deal with all these pain points. I’ll help you land a job at a rocket ship company. Please fill out this quick form to get started.)

Discovery

This is the easy part. There are lists (Breakout List, Wealthfront) that identify these companies through sound criteria and surveys.

Note: these lists do have limitations. They can be dated (published every 12–24 months) depending on when you are searching. They also have limited color on what it is like to work at each company.

What are the roles right for me?

This is where it begins to get messy. There are 100+ of these companies, but not all are relevant to your interests, nor hiring for roles you can fit. You’ll need to do endless data gathering to learn about the companies, filter for your interests (industry, location, company size, roles available, etc.). Get ready to open more tabs than your browser can handle.

You’ll research for so long that you’ll get eye strain. Once complete, you can shortlist relevant roles and apply.

Standing out

Now that I’ve seen both sides as a candidate and hiring manager, I know it helps to go the extra mile to stand out as a candidate. If you wish, you can do these optional things to surface to the top:

  • interview relevant people that work there (interesting / non-searchable questions only)
  • make and share a relevant project
  • get a referral

Putting in extra effort can be controversial. Many people believe it is a waste of time, one shouldn’t work for free, or simply don’t have the time. If you can, I recommend it. Not only does it help you stand out, it also helps you understand how the team operates.

Rest of process

How I can help

After experiencing this myself and also working at a rocket ship, I want to help you out.

I’ll help you land a job at a rocket ship company. Please fill out this quick form to get started.

Note: My goal is to help as many people as possible. Please share this with anyone that you think is ambitious and talented. Thank you!

Anuj Abrol

Startup operating, investing, and personal musings

Anuj Abrol

Written by

Startup operator and investor. Prev: Chief of Staff @justinkan, @mckinsey, @umich

Anuj Abrol

Startup operating, investing, and personal musings

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