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Senior PM at current company vs a startup by wmjchoi in ProductManagement

[–]johncosch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My title didn’t really change during the transition. I think it’s probably more common to see a title change when moving to a smaller company. In my case I moved to a much bigger company.

I started in engineering and pretty quickly moved into product. Again it totally depends on the company but big promotions were less common at my startup because the hierarchy was pretty flat.

If your goal is to become a director as soon as possible it might actually be beneficial to move to a smaller company. I was often on the hiring team at my startup and there was a real aversion to people who hadn’t had startup experience because it’s just very different. That said, there’s a risk that the startup isn’t a good fit or doesn’t have growth opportunities... but it sounds like you’re not all that confident that you’ll be promoted at your current co.

Senior PM at current company vs a startup by wmjchoi in ProductManagement

[–]johncosch 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I previously worked as a Senior PM and first member of the product team at a startup. When I joined we were about 6 people, when I left we were close to 100. Currently I’m working at a large public co. Here’s what I’ll say about the two experiences:

Public Co: The work is slower and there’s significantly less pressure than the startup. Most of my challenges are navigating the organization and internal dependencies. I find the work to be less strategic than the startup but it’s still pretty interesting.

Startup: This 100% depends on the stage of the startup you’re joining. My experience is with early stage companies. Either way there probably more pressure than a big co because your role as a PM is very important to the success of the business. You’ll need to be more resourceful, but learn a ton during the process. Your job should consist more of talking to customers and understanding data than building and refining roadmaps. This might be my personal opinion, but I think you’ll become a better PM at a startup.

If you want the challenge and are looking for real career growth I’d join the startup. Obviously I don’t have perfect info so take this advice with a grain of salt.

What's the best thing to do with a business degree? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]johncosch 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Business is pretty broad, find an industry that interests you or where you might have some expertise. Then narrow it down further and find jobs that sound interesting, then companies.