Jumping from a big company to a startup

While the draw of entrepreneurship and working in a startup can be extremely compelling, it can be a big transition from working at a larger business. To understand some of the biggest differences between working at a startup and working at a traditional large corporation, we spoke to Gayle Weiswasser, SVP of Communications at Homesnap, with years of experience in companies of all sizes.

ABERMAN: What are the big differences, in your experience, working with a larger company versus a smaller one?

WEISWASSER: Well, when you work at a smaller company, you really have the luxury to be able to try things out without a whole lot of people telling you no. So, I have worked at Homesnap now for four and a half years, we’re now at around eighty employees, but I think when I started I was probably about number fourteen. So, it was a type of thing that, if you wanted to get something done, you just do it.

Obviously you get sign-off from the right people, and you have them weigh in on things, and have them approve stuff, but generally, when you’re on a small company, there’s so much to be done, and there’s so little time to do it, that there’s not a lot of slow down with some of the layers of bureaucracy and corporate matrices that you have at big companies.

ABERMAN: I would’ve thought that with the smaller business, it also magnifies the risk if you got something wrong though, right?

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WEISWASSER: Yes and no. I mean, when you’re a smaller company, you’ve got fewer eyes on you. So, you can take a few more risks and know that they won’t be seen by as many people, if you try to do some experimentation. So, yes in some ways, resources are more limited.

So, you don’t have huge budgets to go down certain roads and then abandon them, and not get your money’s worth out of them, but as far as freedom to experiment and try different things, and you take on different personalities or attempt different tactics, I have found a lot more freedom and leeway at a smaller company than at a bigger one.

ABERMAN: So, if I’m thinking about starting in a career in an industry, what’s the argument for being at a larger company? It sounds like I get a lot more responsibility, I get a lot more opportunity to learn from mistakes. Why would somebody join a large company?

WEISWASSER: Well large companies, of course, have great benefits. They do have much larger budgets, so you can do a lot more. You may have a much wider product base, or maybe or you’re working with different brands, you get different experience. And I think working in a big company can be invaluable in teaching you how to manage, teaching you how to work with different types of personalities. Those are all really important skills, too.

So, I don’t regret, in any way, the years I spent in big companies, and I think I do use those skills on a very regular basis. But as far as, where do I feel personally more comfortable? I think it’s usually in a smaller environment.

ABERMAN: So, I’ve work as investor for a lot of small businesses, I’ve run large organizations, been involved with smaller organizations. My best argument really is that working in a large organization, you learn a lot really fast, and sort of create the core competencies, is what it feels like to me.

WEISWASSER: That’s true. And I think larger companies do, often, a better job of mentoring, of paying attention to an employee’s professional growth, sometimes there’s more formal training programs. When you work in a small company, that stuff you have to get on the fly, in a much more casual and informal way, and you have to take more initiative to train and learn, but you know, everything’s a tradeoff.

ABERMAN: Well, that’s true. Everything is a tradeoff. Speaking of tradeoffs, I often find that the biggest conversation stopper I can come up with is, when people turn to me and say, so what do you do? And what do I do? I don’t know, I have a radio show. I’m an entrepreneur! And it’s crickets. Do you find that when you went from Discovery, which is a name brand here in town, to Homesnap, which is coming along, but when you started, it was not, how do people react when you take an entrepreneurial risk in this town?

WEISWASSER: Yeah, that’s true. I mean, certainly it can be a conversation stopper with some people. There’s no question about that. But I think people are interested, sometimes, to hear that there are people out there doing something a little different, something a little risky. This is not a town where people take a lot of risks. There’s a lot of lawyers, and government people, and people in policy, and when you say, oh, I work at a startup, or I work at a small technology company, some people will kind of smile and move on, and some people will want to know more.

With a company like Homesnap, because we have a product that’s very accessible to a lot of people, everyone has a home search story. Most people I talk to who either just bought, or they’re thinking about buying, or they were curious to know what the value of their home is, so they often have a lot of follow-up questions for me. How do we differ from Zillow, how do we differ from Redfin, why should they use Homesnap.

Sometimes I whip my phone out and do a quick little demo on the fly, or do some little party tricks, so maybe I’ll show them a little bit of confidential agent information that I’m not supposed to show. You know, I think people generally can relate to a home search app.

ABERMAN: Yeah, I love the app. I think it’s a really great thing to be able to just point it at a home and learn so much about it. I commend you on it, I think it’s super. Last thing before I let you go. You’re in the business of getting people to appreciate what Homesnap does, previously at Discovery and other places. What’s the right way to make your business stand out? Help our listeners out.

WEISWASSER: I think the best way is truly to understand what makes you different from your competitors, and why your customers and clients like you. And then just to really focus on those attributes, because that’s what resonates with your audience. If you spend time telling them what you think they want to hear, or what your stated messaging and corporate talking points are, that comes across as corporate talking points.

But if you take the time to understand your audience, and figure out what makes them click, what they respond to emotionally, what is it that’s going to prompt a reaction out of them, whether it’s teaching them something, or you’re delivering something of emotional value to them, or you’re entertaining them, making that type of emotional connection really makes a tremendous difference. And that’s what I would focus on if you are trying to figure out how to do your messaging around your brand.

ABERMAN: Great advice. Thanks very much for taking the time. Gayle Weiswasser, it was wonderful having you here.

WEISWASSER: Thank you, it was great to be here.

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