The biggest differences that I found were the relative lack of rules and procedures in the smaller company, the need to roll your sleeves up and do stuff (much of it nothing to do with HR!), the importance of the management team and the value of shareholders money
What made my move to Ribotargets from GSK so pleasurable was the quality of people in that team of 40+ people. At GSK I was a deep expert in people stuff, whereas now I was treated as an equal member of an executive team with a broad input into all things management and leadership
Before committing to a smaller company you need to be sure that the senior team hold similar values to you, so make sure you interview them as much as they interview you! The CEO plays a huge part in creating the culture and Simon Sturge at RiboTargets/Vernalis was one of the best. If you need to work to rules and dislike ambiguity, or your ideas always cost lots of money to implement, then steer clear
When I later switched back to a bigger organisation the extra confidence that I'd gained in my knowledge of the wider business, especially finance (due to excellent tuition from Susan Lowther at RiboTargets), set me up well to play a full leadership role
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