Moving from Big Tech -> Startup
What to expect when transitioning from an established tech company to an early stage startup.
Hey everyone, hope you're well! Welcome back to my irregular newsletter where I take frequently asked questions and turn them into a structured post 🙂 This one is geared toward the big transition we'll be seeing:
Big tech talent moving to startups
New startups being formed, with a much higher standard for fundraising. Unit economics first
Pre Series A startups raising this year will realize there isn't just a funding/valuation correction but also a Product one.
For all three, we can expect lot's of talented professionals migrating to scrappier work environments with different experiences and expectations about impact, process, distribution. PM's will not only be expected to do more with less, but balance needle moving work while prioritizing unit economics.
Here's what I've been telling friends:
Impact (Depth)
Too frequently I've seen recently transitioned professionals missing the mark on expected impact per feature. And beneath that expected impact is another layer: founder anxiety.
It's very common for early stage startups to have one of the founders working closely with the Product team, almost as a head of product of sorts. With the sudden shift for unit economics expect two types of work:
Rapidly launching obvious, non-risky V1s. Likely that the PM's work will be measured primarily as output over outcomes.
Risky bets that can fundamentally shift the way the startup operates. This is likely to generate a lot of anxiety for a big tech PM since there simply isn't much process, data or sample size to hold on to. There will be little room for sacred cows
Process (Breadth of work)
As a PM, you (and almost everyone else) will be several stakeholders rolled into one, with new responsibilities flowing in and out.
While in a big tech company everyone has very scoped work, at a startup you'll be managing loosely connected features and can very quickly become a bottleneck for unrelated requests.
Keep communication succint and public while double down on aligning expectations. Startup communication is very ad-hoc with an emphasis on speed meaning cross team collaboration will be tested.
Cheat code: Sharing a feature's timeline is less about creating a deadline and more about guaranteeing that we all have more or less the same expectation of work.
Distribution
One of the biggest benefits of PMing at a big tech company isn't the big budgets, the myriad of tools or brilliant programmers to help you but instead…distribution: any minor feature that improves a key metric by .5% is likely to generate millions in extra revenue for the company. Not so for a startup where you're expected to ship several layers of compound interest.
Understand that you'll be creating features for existing users but will be looking closely at product awareness while creating new use cases
Closing thoughts:
Less data and process to hold on to, more ambiguity and accountability than ever
Easy quick wins are still available, but PMs are expected to build a portfolio of bets that move the (right) needle safely.
Sudden shift in unit economics means the company might shift from breadth to depth very abruptly.
As always, if any questions popped up feel free to reach out. I'd be happy to help! :)
I'll be open for the next 30 days for free product consultations. To set one up just reach out
🌍 Cool links from around the web
👩💻 Great Product Content
NFX's Network Effects Masterclass
Lennyverse - George Nurijanian compiled Lenny's posts
🤖 Chat GPT
Of all the interesting language learning models out there this is my favorite one so far. There's a lot of talk about using ChatGPT to simplify web search, but im more excited about adding a more “human-to-human” experience. Feels like Web2.0 all over again.
David Guetta added Eminem lyrics and voice… without Eminem. (There's a Without Me joke somewhere)
🤓 Not tech but interesting
New Lives in the City: How Taleban have experienced life in Kabul (35 mins)
It's likely the last time you heard about the Taliban was on August 2021 when they took back control of Afghanistan. Here's what happened afterwards
That's it for this edition 😉
What would you like to see more? less? Hit `Reply` with a specific question on product, growth or anything startup related and i'll be happy to offer my candid thoughts. 🚀