Greylock reposted this
Your career-defining role may be in a company you haven’t even heard of. When you join a startup in stealth, you have the opportunity to play an instrumental role in building what could become the next iconic tech company while also accelerating your career. At Greylock, we work with companies from day one. Before Workday, Palo Alto Networks, and Abnormal Security were household names, they were stealth companies at the whiteboard phase, starting up in the Greylock offices and looking for their foundational teams. The Greylock talent team works closely with exceptional people in #engineering, #design, #sales, #product and #operations to help them join the next big thing - before they have made a public debut. By joining a startup in stealth, you will have greater ownership of strategic projects and will expand your skill set beyond your core area of expertise. You’ll also directly collaborate with a wider variety of people and will be exposed to more ideas and ways of thinking than if you work inside a large incumbent. Joining a company in stealth is also a great way to prepare and gain experience for founding a company someday. But joining a stealth startup isn’t for everyone. It’s for courageous and exceptional people who are driven to make an impact in an environment that prioritizes speed, experimentation, and risk. People who thrive at this stage jump across functions and collaborate - all amid great uncertainty. When there is little to no available information about the company, product, mission, and team, where do you start? 1. Carefully assess the founders and the team, ensuring that you establish some level of connection and believe in the business. This includes scrutinizing the idea, assessing the TAM and competitive landscape of the targeted industry, and backchanneling the founders and any existing team members. 2. During conversations with the founders, investors, and other key stakeholders, be prepared to ask direct questions about the business and vision, role you are considering, career growth opportunities, working style, etc. The more transparent people are the better. It’s critical to be as informed as possible about the commitment you are making to an early stage team. 3. Work with a dedicated talent partner to significantly increase the likelihood that you find the right fit. While there are no shortcuts to the due diligence process you must run on your own when evaluating a role at a stealth company, a talent partner at Greylock can help you transparently navigate a process that can sometimes feel opaque. Today, we have multiple stealth companies that are quietly building the next generation of category-defining tech. If you are interested in joining a stealth company now - or just want to connect proactively for the future - we would love to hear from you.
Sean Wendt
2w
great take, very true and very rewarding. worth the leap in my opinion
Hi Glen, I've been exploring this path a bit, but finding the right people is a challenge. I'm very interested in joining a stealth startup, and your post really resonates with me - let's connect!
Chase Adams
2w
Quietly building.
I help Talent Leaders be successful by creating the blueprint to optimize their recruiting team, process and systems for scale | Ex Netflix, Facebook, Amazon, Tesla, Enjoy, Gong
1wAlthough they were a bit past Stealth mode, the most growth I experienced was at the earlier stage companies like Enjoy and Gong where I had the ability to influence their talent engine and the future make up of the business. Excited to see the next wave of Greylock companies make their public debut!