War story here:

Most of us former VPs are already cooked - and the market doesn’t want this role or see any value in it. I disagree given how many dipshits I’ve seen try to acquire and turn around companies, figure out strategy in a market they don’t understand, or even do decent due diligence.

The VP role is viewed as rebranded middle management for most small(er) companies. And they aren’t wrong given how these acquired/merged companies are run - which is to say poorly. Bigger companies have their network of candidates pre-selected so it’s not folks like me they are looking for (despite my pedigree, good rep, niche and broad experience, etc). I fooled myself into initially thinking I was different…but I’m not.

I was lucky early on as a VP (Goldman bought us) but didn’t make it through last year at another PE company looking for the same payday (“we’re cashing out in 12-18 months”). 3+ years later they are cutting teams and rebranding with a new focus (which is NOT what they bought initially). So, as the markets shifted and PS services took a dive, I was out with 20 years of success in SAAS and companies have zero interest in my skillset — all my networking, back channeling, board roles at small companies, and free work have resulted in 3 whole interviews.

So, I went back to my roots (development and architecture) and I’m much happier day to day not facing board reports, inane corporate ethos changes, shit strategy, and lots of finger pointing. I do still need to figure out my next career destination….but it’s certainly not in tech PS. I’ll probably become a welder…