Be Accountable
Everyone who's working at a startup firm is there for a reason. It is almost always the case for a startup to hire someone because it feels that it absolutely needed to. Although, the detailed job assignment can be vague and sometimes the employees are wearing multiple hats. However, every employee held great responsibility for their works.
My past experience working for the startup taught me to be a highly accountable person. Anything falls to my responsibility go down, I need to act immediately to remedy the situation and realized that my work influences other people's work too.
Moreover, if someone in the team needs help, and it does not matter whether it is my responsibility or not, I need to step in and try my best to help.
Take Initiative
Everyone is busy with their work, and you are hired to do yours. Often, you are aware of the business objectives, and your boss can provide you with some suggestions on a high-level but you need to take the initiative to figure out the detailed implementation steps yourself.
Besides, think longer, what works today does not guarantee to work tomorrow. Therefore, you need to take the initiative to actively do research and inspect the current process or an implemented procedure that is used to complete important tasks and ensure that when things change (vendors, data sources, market...etc.) you will always have an alternative solution ready to use.
Result-Driven
As a company who specialized in teaching technical and career bridging courses, it should be "quality-driven", and "industry-focused". As a company who provides educations to individuals and corporate clients, it should be "customer-oriented", and "experience-driven". As an individual who works at a start-up, you should and have to be "result-driven".
You can't simply compare yourself vertically and thinking you are making progress and doing fine. You must compare yourself horizontally to others who are playing in the same field as yours.
You want to try hard to contribute, you want to hit the goals to help to keep the company survive in the market competitions.
Stay Positive
Things don't go the way you expected, and that is completely normal. You are always on a tight budget, and that is normal too. Your work at a startup company is highly changeable and there are new challenges await for you almost every day. There are not many precedents to rely on because your company is new hence you need to focus on what you can control and you will end up being much more productive.
Be Grateful
There are upsides and downsides to everything and every job. You have to focus on what matters to you. Your opinions matter, your skills are developed, and your work had an impact on others...etc.
I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my former employer for the opportunity to be part of WeCloudData. I would not be where I am today without your guidance and support.