our ideas


Working for a Startup

25/11/2014
Michigan Creative
Jason Fried

I like blogging for Michigan Creative, and I try to do it at least once a week. Brian, on the other hand, doesn’t blog quite so much. I can’t say I blame him, though. Between all of the meetings he’s always running off to and everything else that comes along with running the company, blogging can’t exactly be at the top of his list (as much as I know he wants it to be 😉 ). But, when he does get a chance to blog, they’re always a really good read. This week, I wanted to follow up on his post from last week, “To be a startup or not to be“.

I’ve been with Michigan Creative for almost two years now, and the startup atmosphere of the company has always been one of my favorite parts of my job. I think it’s awesome that we get to work with so many local businesses and do our part to support the Lansing area, and that Brian is so passionate about providing jobs to people in the area so that they, and their families, can stay in Michigan. As much as I hate winter after about two weeks of it… I love Michigan. I even like the snow (…as long as I don’t have to go out in it, and can just admire it from my window, inside my warm home…). I love the fact that we are “Inspiring a Creative, Local Economy”.

So, Brian’s blog was about how we’re nearing the end of the startup period. He talked about how he’s kind of nervous to get rid of that label, that we might not be able to stay fun and exciting and be able to drink beer at work on Friday afternoons… But, like he said, Michigan Creative is run by a 41-year-old guy “with grey in his beard and 4 kids who has a cool hip young staff”. Just because the company is growing and starting to leave that startup stage, does that mean that it will no longer be run by that 41-year-old guy and that hip, young staff?

Nope! I think that Brian’s passion for what he does, coupled with our young staff, are key to the success of this company. Getting such an awesome internship in college, in a field that you’re excited to be working in, lets you do better work (big surprise, right?), which in turn helps the company grow (shocking, I know!). And when people like us love that first experience with the startup so much, we tend to want to stick around and continue to help it grow. Working for a startup, and sticking around to watch (and help) it grow, is an awesome thing.

“What if we could always keep the startup mentality in our culture forever?”

I think we can, and should. And I can’t see the culture of Michigan Creative changing too drastically (besides getting bigger and busier, of course!) as long as it continues to be run by that awesome CEO with grey in his beard, and the world’s greatest staff (I mean, *hip young staff*…).

~ Alli

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