The First Week at a Startup Taught Me More Than I Expected
TL;DR
The author's first week at a startup revealed that roles are fluid, with multiple hats becoming normal quickly. The transition reduced job-hunting mental noise but required balancing work with personal life and maintaining flexibility without feeling scattered.
Key Takeaways
- •Startup roles are often fluid, with less emphasis on titles and more on momentum and adaptability.
- •Wearing multiple hats can quickly feel normal rather than stressful, fostering a mindset of recovery rather than fear of failure.
- •Job hunting creates mental noise that subsides upon employment, allowing space to notice neglected personal pursuits.
- •Employment brings trade-offs in time management, requiring acceptance that momentum can't be maximized in all areas at once.
- •The key lesson is balancing flexibility with focus, commitment without feeling trapped, and ambition without franticness.
Tags
Since many of you seemed interested in reading more about this, here’s my first-week reflection.
My first week at a startup felt less like starting a job and more like stepping into motion that was already happening.
There wasn’t a clean boundary around my role. Some days I was coding, some days debugging things I didn’t build, some days thinking through product decisions, other times helping wherever friction appeared. Titles mattered less than momentum. If something needed to move, someone had to move it.
I knew this in theory. I wanted this kind of environment. What surprised me was how quickly wearing multiple hats stopped feeling like pressure and started feeling normal.
I adapt fast by default. I don’t carry the constant fear that one mistake will end everything. Even when something goes wrong, it rarely means total collapse. In startups especially, people almost always find a way to adjust and recover. That belief makes the workload feel lighter than it looks on paper.
At the same time, the instinct to look for better opportunities hasn’t disappeared. It didn’t switch off just because I signed an offer. It’s quieter now, but it’s still there. I don’t see that as disloyalty or restlessness, more like staying aware of my trajectory while committing to the present.
What changed most after joining was the internal noise.
For months, my mind was stuck in a constant loop of 24x7 applications, interviews, self-image, and preparation. Everything revolved around becoming employable. Now that loop has slowed down. I’m grounded in one place, working on a real set of problems with real constraints. That grounding created space to notice what I had neglected while job hunting.
Japanese study had taken a back seat. Fitness became inconsistent. Writing slowed down. Even small creative habits (like voice acting ψ(._. )>) faded because everything was filtered through urgency. Being employed again made it possible to rebalance, but not without trade-offs.
Time feels finite in a new way now.
Some days that means less coding on personal projects. Some days it means choosing between hobbies. Sometimes it means accepting that momentum can’t be maximized in every direction at once.
There are moments when I catch myself thinking I should "get a life", step back or relax more. But I also know this phase is temporary, and I’m grateful to have this many choices in front of me. This feels like a building phase, and I want to respect it without letting it turn into strain.
This is just my perspective. People experience startups very differently. Some find them draining. Some thrive. Some leave quickly. I don’t think there’s a single correct way to do this.
For me, the lesson from this first week isn’t about grinding harder or protecting myself aggressively. It’s about learning how to stay flexible without being scattered, committed without being trapped, and ambitious without being frantic.
I’m still figuring it out. But for now, this feels like the right place to learn how.