I am going to jump right into my biggest take-away from Gokul’s podcast and spoiler alert — it is not product related. Gokul doesn’t believe in titles and this can be confirmed and seen clearly on his Linkedin profile as his position is listed at “Investor and Company Helper”. Just the tip of the iceberg of his extensive experience. Listening to Gokul speak about giving titles out at startups too early really connected with me. But it also humbled me because I do believe that I have been living a life of chasing a title.
More recently I had a major mindset shift to start chasing the opportunity and user vs the title and position. It has been so freeing so to hear someone at this caliber confirm that titles do not indicate skill level and value. I honestly needed to hear this to be the nail on the coffin of my previous mindset. So as I continue to be in the market for my next role I know that title is not going to be a consideration. I am all in on opportunity, user value, leadership and collaboration.
Gokul has such a depth of knowledge on investing and what he looks for in startups and more specifically founders. I highly recommend listening to his advice if you are thinking about joining a founder led start up as a product person.
Where to listen:
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/gokul-rajaram-on-designing-your-product
Where to find Gokul:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/gokulr
References:
– Gokul’s current favorite app, Coinbase Wallet: https://www.coinbase.com/wallet
– Favorite book, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://rogerlmartin.com/lets-read/playing-to-win
– TED talk: TEDxConcordia — Lenny Rachitsky — Losing Serendipity
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