Ask HN: How to get a startup job in SF as a non-technical guy

[armenarmen]

So, I recently graduated college with a BBA in Entrepreneurship and a BS in Economics. I want to get out to the Bay Area and get a job or internship at a startup.

Anyone have any advice on this? Anyone here done it themselves (as a non-techy)?

Skill set now includes being a 'highly motivated self starter' who knows a bit about data analysis (with STATA) and I'm functionally illiterate in Python.

I've started and folded a couple ventures of my own and would like to learn from folks who are successfully doing it now.

Tips would be very much appreciated!

[gatsby]

It really depends on your skills, but I'd think about sales and/or biz-dev positions. Why?

--Sales is a huge value-add to most companies (whether a five-person startup or a Fortune 500 co.). You're responsible for revenue, which is something that most companies will want lots of at some point or another.

--Because you're responsible for revenue, you can personally make lots of money. In SF, a good salesperson (even at a startup) can easily make $75-125k/yr in their first year or two. If you go to a larger company, have specialized experience, or are exceptional at sales, it's not uncommon to be making $150-200k+/yr after a couple years.

--Arguably, even more important than the financial benefits, you'll learn a ton about business. Even if you don't see yourself becoming a career salesperson, it's a great base to launch a career in operations, account management, strategic partnerships, revenue/sales management, or to become a CEO/COO/CRO of your own company someday. Sales is valuable because every company has to do it - whether pitching investors, negotiating a contract, selling SaaS products, partnering with other companies, etc. It's all sales on some level.

Feel free to email me if you'd like to discuss further. Happy to chat with any non-technical folks on HN about career options or opportunities. More info and my email is in my profile.

Good luck!

[armenarmen → gatsby]

Thanks a lot! I'll drop you a line very soon!

[coralreef]

I graduated with a degree in Business and looked for startup jobs a few years back. It is difficult because:

1) Startups generally don't hire "business" people. You'd have to have a very specific role like marketing or customer service or community management.

2) Following #1, startups won't hire you unless you have experience in those fields (or hard skills). Startups don't have the resources to train you, and will never let a complete noobie have reign over any of their program.

Unfortunately your skill set as you described it above falls short, because pretty much everyone says they have passion, and you lack hard skills.

My suggestion: starting gaining experience through your own small projects. Identify which field of work you specifically want to work in. Build a product or service, ship it, try to get it blog coverage or press, run a Facebook/Adword campaign and optimize it. Build a mailing list. Build a FB fan page following. You need to build a body of evidence you can show startups come hiring time. "These are the things I've done, and this is what I can do for you."

People (bloggers) always write about how startups should hire generalists, but in my opinion, it doesn't happen because startups are far more attracted to specialists whom they can shoehorn into generalist roles. Its less risky for them because that specialist has demonstrated depth of skill and competence, vs a generalist who shows less depth, but broader range.

Best of luck

[armenarmen → coralreef]

Cool, makes sense to me. I'm working on a handful of things right now. Most are in the ether, but should be coding them out in the next couple of weeks. From there I will follow your advice.

As for the generalists v. specialists thing, again makes perfect sense. Telling folks "pay me I am smart, nice, and learn quickly" is a lot less quantifiable than "I got XX users in YY months, let me do that for you."

Much appreciated

[jimbobob]

Your post would have fit me pretty closely ~ 7 years ago. Personally, I got into tech by getting exposure to online advertising with a side project. This led to an internship and then a full-time job in advertising operations.

My advice: apply for entry-level roles in tech companies on a business/operations focused team. Hustle and learn something new every day. For me, that has meant launching side projects, learning Python, advanced Excel skills, reporting automation (VBA and Python), becoming an expert at the industry-standard ad servers, and learning how all the pieces of the online advertising ecosystem fit together.

Depending on your interests and current skillset, you may want to adjust your own path accordingly.

Feel free to reach out to me directly as I would love to help.

[armenarmen → jimbobob]

Thanks, that all makes sense to me. I've got a couple of side projects that I am working on now, none of which are live yet though. And I appreciate the invitation, would it be fine if I contacted you through fitspot? assuming you are the email in the FAQ?

[jimbobob → armenarmen]

I just updated my profile. Feel free to reach out!

[calcsam]

Michael Wolfe gives some ideas here: http://www.quora.com/How-do-I-find-non-technical-job-opportu...

[armenarmen → calcsam]

Bookmarking this! Thanks

[sharemywin]

1. find a reasonable part of California to find residence. 2. Get job for cheap residency. 3. get accepted to bay area college masters program. 4. move to bay area. 5. network shit out it while in masters program.

[_pius]

Sign up for AngelList (http://angel.co) and set up a career profile that emphasizes your data skillset and startup experience. You should be an interesting candidate for Product Management and Growth positions, so start by contacting those.

AngelList makes it easy to quickly contact many companies, but I highly recommend you pick just a handful of highly interesting prospects and reach out with a note explaining why you'd be a great fit.

[loladesoto → _pius]

+1

AngelList is awesome.

network for intros, preferably warm. failing that, just email the CEO directly. write a kickass email pitching yourself and detailing your skills. tactfully follow-up.

network some more.

founders have (and want to see) passion and hustle. show them you have these qualities and you shouldn't have trouble landing a paid internship if not an entry-level role.

last resort: get a few unpaid internships at startups you love. if one doesn't turn into a full time offer, you'll have some awesome experience you can use to get the attention of other startups.

[armenarmen → _pius]

I will do that right now! Thank you so much!