{"id":332,"date":"2024-03-19T16:57:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T16:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/i-have-to-work-at-a-startup-beware-of-the-band-of-friends\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T10:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T10:46:13","slug":"i-have-to-work-at-a-startup-beware-of-the-band-of-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/i-have-to-work-at-a-startup-beware-of-the-band-of-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"I Have to Work at a Startup! Beware of the \u201cBand of Friends\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Startups are born in garages over a couple of beers, right? At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard! Or maybe I\u2019m mistaken\u2026 Either way, startups are often founded among friends rather than strangers\u2014at least according to folklore. The data, however, tells a different story: this happens in only about 40% of cases.    <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why tools like incubators, startup studios, and accelerators exist\u2014to institutionalize this fruitful process of forming interpersonal relationships around an idea.  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was reading an article in Le Monde about the \u201cbande de potes\u201d\u2014the band of friends\u2014where a culture of shared overwork pushes people to work excessively while chasing a forced sense of socialization. In other words, it\u2019s the dark side of how \u201ccool\u201d it is to work at Google.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe this shadow side of startups is becoming more evident over time. One thing, however, is clear: like any workplace where we spend a significant part of our lives, a startup provides an opportunity to develop relationships. The key is aligning this with individual desires and personal characteristics. motivated in their work.   The key is aligning this with individual desires and personal characteristics. motivated in their work. Some people love after-work drinks with colleagues; others despise them\u2014but that doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t motivated in their work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In short, the band of friends shouldn\u2019t be an excuse for excessive work hours or forced socialization. At the same time, startups have the opportunity to foster growth, quickly giving people responsibility and rewarding their efforts with personal and professional development (and, eventually, financial gains). This implicit pact between employer and\u2014by now, highly motivated\u2014employee should be as clear as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what are the risks that come with this peculiar characteristic of startups, this strange creature we see approaching from afar with its one-horned silhouette?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are we able to see its full shape?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Startups are born in garages over a couple of beers, right? At least, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve heard! Or&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-lab-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}