Why I Love Working at Tech Product Startups (and Why You Might Too)

I've been working in the field for about 5 years, 3 of which have been at product startups. As of today, I can confidently say there's no way I'm leaving the thrill and agility of a startup for the stability or prestige of a big consultancy or software shop.

I'm a person who enjoys wearing many hats and facing different challenges. I like talking to people, and I'm good at communicating. All these traits can be valuable at any company, but bigger companies usually rely on highly specialized teams. Each team handles a specific part of the software lifecycle, which means you have fewer opportunities to step outside your area of specialization.

So if you're like me, you'd probably feel more useful in a smaller company, where you can have a real impact in multiple areas without dealing with bureaucracy. However, this leaves you choosing between small consultancies or software shops, or early-stage startups. Personally, I prefer the latter, and here are my reasons why:

1. Software Shops Work for the Wrong Incentives

Maybe bigger software shops with huge clients and million-dollar contracts don't struggle as much because of the sheer amount of resources available to them. But many companies aren't so lucky; they have to juggle resources and constantly stay resourceful to meet deadlines, stay on budget, and maximize margins.

Often, these become the types of companies that sell juniors as seniors, have high employee turnover, high-pressure environments, tight deadlines, and strict timekeeping mechanisms. Here in Spain, we have a term for these companies: "cárnicas"—meaning meat shops.

These companies make money by building custom software, usually at a fixed price (introducing what I call "sprint-split waterfall development"). Therefore, their incentive is to reduce costs for each project. If clients can't afford a complete, well-rounded software team for an extended period, lowering the price inevitably means compromising scope—and often quality.

That's why small software shops usually become places for juniors to gain their first years of experience. These companies are among the few willing to hire juniors because they're either desperate for engineers or simply can't afford seniors (often both).

2. Tech Startups Are Cool

“Cool” is a funny word to describe a workplace, but startups tend to be fast-paced, innovative, culturally modern, and oriented towards experimentation. Although experiences vary according to the company's size and stage, most startups will feel this way at some point.

There's a reason people say a year at a startup feels like seven years at a regular company. So much can change in a startup's early years that the code you shipped last month might become disposable next month due to a company pivot. It can be stressful, frustrating for some, and tiring after a while—but you certainly won't get bored from repetition.

Another cool thing about tech startups, at least in Spain, is that venture capital allows these companies to hire at higher salaries compared to traditional software shops. This makes them more competitive in the hiring market and more attractive to talented engineers. For example, an engineer with 5 years of experience might earn between €30k–€50k per year at a software shop but €60k+ at a VC-funded startup (based on job offers I've received on LinkedIn this year).

Last but not least, many startups offer equity as part of the compensation, which can be appealing if you're joining a startup with high potential for acquisition or significant valuation.

3. They're Product-Oriented

Being product-oriented means the entire company works on a single product with one mission. Every employee understands—at least on some level—who their users are, why they come, what their pain points are, and how the company solves those issues.

There's also no contract-imposed deadline to finish something quickly. It's a long-term game, and the winners are those who remain in business. This helps the team balance short- and long-term thinking. Teams have time to iterate based on market feedback, run experiments, measure, and improve continuously.

As a result, you get ongoing opportunities to refine and optimize your work. Smaller wins along a long-term path let you frequently see your impact on the company’s success.

This is where a new type of software engineer emerges: the product engineer.

What's a Product Engineer Anyway?

Posthog is probably my biggest reference when it comes to product-engineering culture. They write extensively about product building and how engineering teams can lead product development effectively without getting bogged down by the bureaucracy of dedicated product and business roles. I highly recommend reading their blog for more insights, but here’s the TL;DR:

The term Product Engineer describes a software engineer who has the skills, empowerment, and ownership to build products independently. Beyond writing software, these engineers understand their customers deeply, embrace data-driven decision-making, drive iterative improvements, and ultimately release better products.

This role involves a mindset shift: your primary job is no longer just writing code but understanding the business. Your priority isn't your tech stack—it's your users. You talk to them, understand their problems, propose possible solutions, test cheaply, and iterate until your product achieves market fit or until you decide to pivot or discard it.

As you can imagine, while still technical, this role requires complementary skills and aptitudes, pushing you to wear many hats. This is probably one of the things I find most appealing about being a Product Engineer.

Conclusion

A small team working towards one goal over a long period demands more from each team member than other setups. Wearing multiple hats isn't just a phrase—it's reality, especially at early-stage startups.

Stepping out of your comfort zone, understanding people's problems, proposing solutions, finding ways to test cheaply, being involved in many aspects of product development (infrastructure, software, integrations, data analytics), directly impacting what users consume, and working with minimal bureaucracy—there are so many elements that make this much more exciting than working at other types of companies.

Plus, if you truly believe in the company's mission, you have the extra incentive of potential financial reward from your equity share in the event of an acquisition or valuation increase. To me, this represents yet another way to live an asymmetric life.