From corporate to startup

Keeping the same job title but having a different experience

Five months ago, I left corporate and joined a startup. My job title stayed the same, but the experience is quite different. I’ve enjoyed working at my new job, Mia Health. I would even say it’s the most exciting job I’ve had so far. However, I also see a lot of advantages my previous job had. In Fortum, we had resources and other advantages that are unlikely to have in a startup. I will try to outline the major differences for me and what I liked about each job.

Disclaimer: This is my own experience with two specific companies at a specific time. I assume most startups and corporates might be a bit different compared to what I experienced.

What I enjoy in Mia

At Mia, we are around 12 people (some part-time), plus around ten externals (this keeps changing based on current needs). We all work on/around one app, one digital product.

“Objective→Design→Release” is faster

One example is that when I joined, we started working on a big project for Mia’s scale, which was making the app more B2C friendly (until then, the focus was more on B2B). In May, when I joined, we defined the product goals and started doing research. By the end of June, we had designed and specified all the new features and changes. In July, we, the designers, were mostly on holiday while the developers were working. In August, we made final design adjustments, the developers finished, and we released it on the 1st of September. Considering the scope of this initiative, this speed was uncommon in Fortum. These things had to be reviewed by stakeholders, alignment took a lot more time, and usually, we didn’t have that many developers and only one designer working on a project.

Scale

Ironically, even tho Mia is a way smaller company, I work on a product used by way more users. In Mia, we have 40k+ app downloads, and we are growing as startups usually do. In Fortum, I worked on small products for niche audiences of dozens, maximum of hundreds of users. I still had an impact, but the scale was quite limited.

Impact and Focus

I also see that in Mia, whatever idea we have and implement, already in a few months, we can see thousands of users being affected and the metrics moving. It almost feels like the freedom I had as a child with Lego. Having a lot of Lego bricks, I could build whatever I wanted, and then I could keep improving the build. Because I’m working on this product full-time and long-term, I can also have a much deeper understanding and focus to contribute to this “Lego house” compared to Fortum.

Collaboration with designers

Despite being only two full-time designers and one part-time designer in Mia (I cannot believe we got this luxury in a startup), the amount of collaboration is incomparable with Fortum. In Mia, I talk every day with Valeria, our lead designer. Whether it’s sparring about designing a new feature, discussing the latest user interview or thinking together about the strategy of our product, we are on the same team, thinking about the same product. In Fortum, we were a bigger team of around 11 designers, but the collaboration was limited. Everyone worked on different projects/products, and sharing work or sparring was sporadic.

Sense of community

Because we are so few in Mia, we get to know each other quite well. Also, most people come to the office most days, so we spend a lot of time, including lunches together. This helps with the feeling of community and belonging, which is important for me. In Fortum, I had access to many stakeholders and experts, but we were dispersed around offices in different countries. At the HQ where I worked, it was also challenging to feel belonged as one floor had dozens of people working there, out of which most I didn’t know. It was even challenging to meet with design colleagues as many worked frequently from home.

Passion and engagement

It is, honestly, refreshing to have everyone in Mia excited and dedicated to what we are doing. Our work feels more personal to us; it seems many feel a lot of ownership over what we do. This, for me, makes the work motivating and energising. In Fortum, I also met multiple people who were very passionate and proactive, but they were not the majority. It’s not that people in Fortum wouldn’t care about the work, just the level of engagement was different.

What I enjoyed In Fortum

We were a team of around 11 designers working on projects across most of the Fortum businesses (Solar & Wind, Heating & Cooling, Recycling & Waste, Internal ventures, etc.), and the company had around 5k employees.

Internal agency model & variety of projects

During my studies, I always thought I should go to a design agency/consultancy after I graduate so that I can quickly get a lot of experience from different projects. Somehow, I never ended up on that route, but working in Fortum was quite close. There is something special about having the variety and novelty of projects that consultancies have but still having the advantages of being in-house. During my one-and-a-half year at Fortum, I worked on three bigger projects. What I wish I had done differently at the beginning of the first, I could have already applied six months later when starting a new project. Having this fast iteration meant I could, for example, change how I approached and communicated with stakeholders, as each project was with a completely different business unit and served as a fresh start. Working on different projects at the same time was sometimes overwhelming, but I enjoyed the variety as it kept the work interesting.

In fact, at that time, I was scared of leaving Fortum and going to Mia, I thought I would get bored working on just one product. Five months later, I can, with relief, say my fears were unnecessary as working on one product in a startup at an early stage is very dynamic and quite adventurous. However, having multiple projects sometimes meant having comparisons and multiple opportunities to try things, which led to faster learning.

Learning to navigate stakeholders

As I worked with so many different people in Fortum, I had way more opportunities to learn how to engage people, how to run meetings, and how to get buy-in. Yes, these skills might not be needed as much in a startup, in a small, mostly synchronised team, but they are still needed on a smaller scale. And Fortum provided me with the environment and situations where I constantly refined these skills.

Access to specialists (in my case, agile coaches)

In Fortum, we had a corner of tables, which was shared by the design team and the agile coaches. This was a perfect setup as we had a lot of spontaneous conversations about our work, which would probably never happen if we didn’t sit next to each other. There were many times when I shared about my projects and often challenges of ways of working either with developers or business stakeholders. And since their job was about helping product teams with ways of working, they had many good insights, and I learned a lot from them. I owe a lot to Jorge, Anton and Kiirsi; you’re fantastic!

Stability and benefits of a bigger company

This one is not that huge for me, as I don’t mind changing jobs every now and then, but Fortum for sure provided the safety of a large organisation. I didn’t have to worry about my salary and mostly also about losing my job, which for some, especially with mortgage and family, can be important. Yes, there were some layoffs in Fortum, but for how much it was talked about, they affected only a few dozen people in the whole company. That being said, I don’t have a bad experience in this area in Mia either, but a startup is still a startup.

What I liked in both Mia and Fortum

I feel fortunate that in both companies, I met kind people and didn’t have bad experiences with big egos or toxic people. The Nordic culture in both companies meant less hierarchy and more of an equal partner approach across different levels of seniority and power.

In both companies, I had the privilege of working on something I considered meaningful with a positive societal impact. In Fortum, it was about sustainability and in Mia, it’s about people’s health and preventative healthcare.

Conclusion

Each workplace has its pros and cons, and I guess different people value different things. For me, what makes the difference is the sense of community in a motivated team and building impactful product together. I do see the benefits, though, that I had in Fortum and I no longer have.

But what do you think? Do you have similar or different experiences?