Similar to other startups, there is inherent risk and missteps are often felt more acutely.
As the company learns more about how to operate, where to focus, and what customers want, there have been a number of pivot points. At a consulting company, where the service you offer is the talent, pivoting can mean changes that result in turnover. The company has learned a lot but the lessons were hard.
Expectations are often implicit and I observed how this made growth and feedback challenging for some people. I felt that leaders struggled to articulate the behaviors to emulate, even when they knew what they wanted. I see this in a lot of the reviews on here and this is a key takeaway for the leadership team: make the implicit expectations, explicit.
Focused Labs is learning to balance sales and people. They’re still figuring it out and, as with any startup, there are still many lessons to learn. If you want an environment with well-polished and established process, I would think twice about joining any small company. If you want an opportunity to gain three years of experience for every one, hop aboard and buckle up.