Friday, October 3, 2014

Onwards and upwards!

After a year and a half on Google's social impact team, today is my last day. At day's end, I'll hand in my hard-won Google badge, say goodbye to the plentiful free food, and part ways with many colleagues who have become respected mentors and friends. These last seven years, on again off again, with Google have been an incredible ride: arriving at the Googleplex for the first time as a bleary-eyed 19-year-old, taking a year to travel around Africa on the emerging markets team, and last but not least, working with many extraordinary people.

So what am I up to next? On October 20, I'll be starting at Kickstarter as the PM responsible for the "backer experience", i.e. the chunk of the product you've probably interacted with as a non-project-creator. I'm insanely excited to start this new adventure, and I'm incredibly thankful for the journey that Google has taken me on.

Why am I joining Kickstarter, you ask?


You may remember from the last time I was looking for a job, about 2 years ago,  I had a set of criteria that I used to evaluate opportunities. I the meantime, I've added a few more as well.

  • Impact: Work on something that provides real, tangible value for the world.
  • People: Collaborate with smart, passionate people.
  • Work: Do what you know and enjoy: product management on web/mobile software.
  • Location: Be in NY, major bonus points if the company is based in NY too.
  • Alignment: Work on projects core to the company's strategy and ultimate success.
  • Size: Smaller companies with less bureaucracy are better than big companies with lots of it.
  • Scope: Find a meaty role with room to grow.

On pretty much every one of these dimensions, Kickstarter felt like a step up.

Kickstarter's mission is to bring creative projects to life, and I can speak from personal experience, that a number of the projects funded on Kickstsarter have had a significant positive impact on my life. The people there are thoughtful, passionate, and happy. The entire company, fewer than 100 people, is based in NY, and the role itself is big and strategically crucial for the company's continued growth.

Onto the next great adventure. Onwards and upwards!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Congrats and good luck!