Still, Wegis says he tries to see it all as positive. "Every day is different. Some days I do peer development, or some days it's [quality assurance]. Some days it's administrating servers, or I'm getting hit with IT problems or setting up new computers," he says. "I have less time, but I'm definitely more laser-focused at work."
Start-up expert Melissa Chang, who is president of Pure Incubation, says wearing many hats is par for the course at most start-ups. "The change in mentality is huge [between] an established company and a start-up," she says.
"In a big company, it is much more accepted for an IT person to say, 'I can't' to a request, and have a reason for it. But in a start-up, the mentality of every person, including the IT person, has to be, 'Yes, we can make this happen.'"
Organizational structure will be minimal
While you work to start up an IT department, the rest of your new company will also be in gear-up mode, which can make for an interesting work environment, start-up veterans say.
"The most surprising thing might be that the leadership is not as strong as you suspect. There's a certain amount of flailing and floundering," says Sharer.
Take a job at an existing enterprise, and you will probably be asked to focus on only a handful of tasks, says Street. "You're likely to be able to start doing your primary job almost immediately." In a start-up, he says, you could be asked to help out with any or all of the following: corporate concerns like tax IDs, licenses and insurance; human resource responsibilities; physical plant concerns, including telephony; sales and marketing; or management and accounting.
Even if you're not recruited to help in any of those areas, say Street and others, you should be prepared to work in an environment where only some, or none, of those departments are fully up and running.
Money will matter
Baldly stated, when it comes to start-up capitalization, you want to ensure that your new company has enough money to pay you and to adequately fund an IT operation, to say nothing of financing its line of business.
Street advises that IT people clearly understand the finances behind a start-up before they sign on. "To me, the single most important thing to determine about a start-up is whether investors are willing to put in enough funds for it to succeed, and if the investors are truly committed and willing to give it a chance to succeed," says Street, who watched The NIC Company pay off its bills and close up shop in 2003 after its sole investor, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, pulled funding during the dot-com meltdown.