From time to time I’ll meet someone working for one of the big, established software companies. Let’s just call them BigCo. The individual will tell me how they’re not *really* working for BigCo, but rather a startup inside. They go on to tell me how it’s really an entrepreneurial team and that it’s just like working at a startup. The ones who usually say that have never worked at a startup before. What they mean is that their team is working on a new project and maybe at the outset has decided to try to be less bureaucratic than other teams at BigCo.

Like many readers of this blog, I’ve worked in both environments. Literally, I’ve been employee #1 at a startup and employee #277251 at BigCo. So I thought I’d take a moment to share some of the differences between working at a startup and working on a new project at BigCo:

*) At a startup, you know your first few dozen customers by name. They usually know your cell phone number too.

*) At a startup, you build what customers want, not what your boss wants.

*) At a startup, your customers invite you to their weddings.

*) At a startup, you know which of your teammates like mayonnaise on their hamburger. And which don’t.

*) At a startup, you personally feel the joy of each happy customer.

*) At a startup, you know that capitalization is about money, not punctuation.

*) At a startup, you become addicted to the sound of the bell being rung when a new customer is landed.

*) At a startup, you decide who joins the team.

*) At a startup, you decide the tools being used.

*) At a startup, you decide if you want a Mac or a PC.

*) At a startup, when you call IT the line is always busy. Finally you realize you’re dialing your own desk.

*) At a startup, there are no reorgs.

*) At a startup, you man the booth at the tradeshow.

*) At a startup, you do the demo during a sales call.

*) At a startup, the crappy legacy code you have to fix is your own.

*) At a startup, a spec is a discussion. And maybe a sketch on the whiteboard.

*) At a startup, the outcome of a meeting is a decision.

*) At a startup, you find any reason to celebrate.

*) At a startup, there’s no sag wagon. You patch your own flats.

*) If you’re lucky, at the end of the road at a startup, you feel like you accomplished something truly remarkable. Then you’re ruined for life and you can’t work for BigCo ever again.