In December, Spotify announced it was cutting 17% of its workforce and Rivian reportedly laid off a significant number of employees, the latest in the hefty list of 2023’s casualties. This was followed by a hiring freeze at Salesforce and news of massive layoffs at Amazon in the new year.

Many of these folks who have accomplished great things at big companies have a lot to offer smaller companies. But it can be tough to bridge the culture gap between Big Tech and startups. As someone who has gone through this transition a few times, I’ve come to learn some hard truths that I know would have served me well earlier.

In my early career, as chief of staff to the CEO of SAP, I saw up close the inner workings of a 75,000-person, multi-billion-dollar company in a role that challenged me to manage employees far more seasoned than myself. Eventually, I became president of SAP’s Ariba vertical, where I went from managing a small but senior team to running an organization of thousands. Then, in 2019, after nearly 15 years spent working with the likes of legendary CEO Bill McDermott to transform SAP, I joined my current organization and quickly had to get used to a smaller number of people asking for my day-to-day input.

These transitions have tested my adaptability. Pivoting from contributor to leader, from a part of the organization’s structure to the one restructuring teams, I’ve learned that adaptability has only partially to do with the size of a role or your depth of experience and much more to do with mindset and execution.

Nobody cares about the size of your previous impact

While it may be impressive to say that you managed hundreds of people or billions of dollars in revenue at a larger company, those metrics are often meaningless for a startup or a small-to-medium enterprise. 

Impact at smaller companies is measured in terms of hands-on execution and tangible outcomes: deals closed, operations put in place, and projects completed with measurable results.

This matters because of how things get done at smaller companies. To succeed, you need to be able to get involved in the details. Things you took for granted at larger companies to just happen, only happen if you make them happen directly. Sometimes that means collaborating and motivating, but more often than not it means rolling up your sleeves and doing the work yourself.

Your inflated title from a big company can work against you

Global VPs and other often made-up titles speak to a systemic sense of entitlement and wrong priorities at big companies. You might have fought hard to get that title, but in the job market, it can actually conceal your real accomplishments or specific qualifications.

In smaller organizations, there is less time to get worked up about titles. And the truth is, they don’t really matter. Far more important is that you demonstrate performance and contribution to the team, as well as the direct skills to do the work. In startups and small-to-medium businesses, your title won’t help you gather the resources to get anything done. For companies in growth mode, there’s an expectation that everyone will just do whatever needs to be done, no matter their title.

So in the job interview, it’s always important to emphasize what direct outcomes you can deliver in both the long and short-term, and what kind of work you can get done without the resources of a big corporation behind you.

Consider whether the title for each job on your resume or LinkedIn reflects the blurbs beneath them. It can be tempting to just list all of the responsibilities associated with your big, former title. Instead, list out what you really got done.

Taking this extra step could be the difference between getting the job or continuing the search for your next opportunity.

Don’t quote popular business books to impress interviewers

While Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things may be well-known and respected, quoting it in an interview won’t be enough to convince a leadership team that you have the skills and experience needed.  What they really care about is whether you’ve actually done hard things.

Hard decisions such as cutting programs, having to relocate jobs, or letting people go are the kinds of real work experiences that are potentially necessary in smaller companies where situations can change quickly. The last three years of economic volatility have shown that agility is required of everyone. A growth mindset alone won’t suffice. You’ve got to put in the reps at those harder tasks.

Despite the challenges of the last several months, I think there is still tremendous potential for growth and fulfillment in the tech industry. 

Seeking out a role at a smaller tech company or private equity-owned business can help you grow, both in your career and as a person. But don’t underestimate how much work it will take to make that growth happen. And that work starts not on day one of your new job, but before the interview process even starts. If that makes you uncomfortable, the world of startups and small-to-medium tech companies might not be for you. 

Alex Atzberger is the CEO of Optimizely.

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