What Startup Careers Actually Look Like

Many Kiwis are launching into new markets, working across time zones and building international businesses from right here.

We teamed up with Icehouse Ventures to co-host the second Careers of the Future: Going Global conversation, exploring what it really looks like to start your career inside a New Zealand startup.

One of the things we love about the startup ecosystem here is that you don't need to have it all figured out, and you don't have to leave home, to build a genuinely global career.

The aim of the evening was to make startup career pathways feel a little more real and share honest reflections from people building their careers inside globally ambitious Kiwi companies.

We were fortunate to hear from Michaela Egbers from Ideally, Tim Judd from Timescapes, Emily Hett from Halter, and Christine van Hoffen from Concord Visa, who shared their own experiences of navigating startup careers and international opportunities.

A few themes came through consistently.

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01 - Careers rarely move in a straight line

Several speakers reflected that their careers made far more sense looking backwards than they did at the time.

Startup careers tend to move sideways as often as they move up.

People try things, learn quickly and gradually build experience across different parts of a business.

What can feel messy in the moment often becomes valuable later on. More than one speaker described their career as a series of experiments, saying yes to opportunities before they were completely sure where they might lead.

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02. Your first role doesn’t define your path

One speaker talked about starting in a customer support role and worrying it might limit future opportunities. In reality, it opened doors.

Small teams mean people quickly gain exposure to how the business actually works.

Early roles often create learning and visibility across the organisation in ways larger companies can’t always offer.

And in startups especially, the job you start in is rarely the job you stay in.

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03. Startups hire for attitude as much as experience

Another theme was how differently startups approach hiring. Rather than looking for the perfect candidate on paper, founders often look for people who show initiative and genuine interest in what the company is building. 

Some practical advice that came up:

• reach out directly to hiring managers
• use your network to make introductions
• tailor your application rather than sending something generic
• show curiosity about the company and the problem it is solving

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04. Passion for the work really matters

In a startup, you can't really hide behind a job description.

Teams are small, the pace is fast and everyone's contribution is visible.

Several speakers talked about how much it matters to genuinely care about what the business is trying to achieve, not just the role itself.

That sense of connection to the mission is often what keeps people going through the harder stretches, and it's something that's much harder to manufacture in a larger corporate environment.

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05. New Zealand experience travels well

Another interesting reflection was how valuable Kiwi startup experience can be internationally.

Because teams here are often small, people learn to operate across different functions and solve problems quickly.

That generalist experience can translate well when companies expand overseas or when people pursue international roles later in their careers.

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06. Opportunities are often created

Many of the global opportunities discussed during the evening didn’t arrive through formal career pathways.

They came from people putting their hand up, spotting possibilities or making the case for trying something new.

In startup environments especially, initiative tends to create momentum.

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So you want to work in a startup

At Humankind, we spend a lot of time working alongside founders and leadership teams as their companies grow.

Conversations like this are a useful reminder of how many startup careers actually begin, through curiosity, experimentation and a willingness to step into opportunities before they are fully defined. For anyone considering a role in a startup, that mindset tends to take you a long way.

If you're hiring for your startup, download Foundations for Going Global: A Talent Playbook, our guide that gives you practical ways to approach the people-side of expansion.

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