Ludmila de Moffarts is helping Lisbon Challenge during the Spring ’14 edition, and after working in several types of organizations, we asked her to share her opinion on the differences of working for a startup vs a multinational.

This is her story:

During my academic path I got the chance to work for both MNEs and start-
ups. Although very different, those internship experiences allowed me to weigh up the pros and the cons while helping me project my future professional track.

Last year, I pursued an internship in one of the largest FMCG worldwide. Since this was my first real-life working experience, I was really excited and motivated about it. I was 100% sure that working for a MNE was going to become my future career track. However, although many people used to say that working for MNE’s is a great “school of life”, I quickly realized after a few months that my future professional path wouldn’t be as such. One year later, I decided to apply for a start-up in order to get a different professional perspective and hopefully find out my possible future professional track.

From a human perspective, working for a start-up allows you to have much more direct contacts, than in a bureaucratic company, where employees are as regular as clockworks. During my start-up’s experience, I got the chance to work with different departments, allowing me to explore and not stay stuck to one specific sector. Besides that, I wasn’t treated like a photocopier or a coffee machine, but instead, I was duly recognized for my efforts and felt needed during day and night.

During decision-making processes, there were no (or a few) procedures in terms of hierarchy, in particular, formalities of speaking with one-another. Indeed, working in a start-up requires fast and efficient thinking and decision-making. Also, your relation with your boss is much more enriched than in a multinational, where the CEO is barely attainable. In my case, he was present to advise me and help me develop my path in the right direction, as well as sharing his professional experience.

Employees as well as external collaborators, also gave me a warm welcome. From personal to business matters, our conversations ranged to all kinds, from personal, to cultural and professional, all point of views were very enriching.

However, I noticed that the “start-up world” was an unforgiving and harsh environment. Indeed, the current economic situation is forcing start-ups to fight daily in order to keep their heads outside of the water, while at the same time, coping with few and restricted subsidies. In this world, nothing is taken for granted, everything needs to be negotiated.

In conclusion from this experience, I have grown not only on a professional and a social point of view but also on a personal one. Indeed, discovering new cultures and working with colleagues of other nationalities, are all factors that have contributed to my open-minded approach to life and work.

At Beta-I, I had the opportunity to argue and to act as an adult, to awaken my creativity, to stimulate my thirst for knowledge, and finally, to have an overview of what my professional career will look like, after entering the extremely active startup world.

And it is here that everything is going to start …

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need. (Voltaire)