Be an early adopter and life long learner
Every startup that you have ever heard about is fundamentally trying to solve a problem/pain point…well hopefully. They are jam packed with creative ideas and strategies that founders have spent hundreds of hours pondering over. This is the perfect opportunity to improve your user experience design skills. Be resourceful. Learn from others around you and try to place yourself in their shoes. If you were working at this start up how could you help the site become successful? What parts of the user experience could you improve? What parts of their site do you find innovative, clear, and just plain awesome? Everything from placement, wording, navigation, pictures, and overall flow to help users solve their problem. Adopt what they have thought about into what you think about when you design your next project.