Feeling Stuck at an Early Startup

Hi, I have been working in the Software Industry for the past 9 years. I feel like I have made a good use of my time and money and maybe some of my lessons can help you folks as well. Recently did a calculation for my NW and I am happy and proud to see my NW crossing 2CR+. I have 0 debt and do not own a house. Here is how my portfolio look like TC: 1.3 Cr YOE: 9 I am happy to do an AMA. Ask me anything about tech, career, love, marriage, money management, therapy, songs and movies. #Ask Me Anything #ama #amazon #atlassian #google #startups #bengaluru #networth #money management #finance #india Sorry if delay in responses, I'll answer all your questions eventually.

4yoe Engineer turned Product Manager. It's been 8 months I joined this B2B SaaS startup as an APM. Engineering team... mostly interns. Most of my time goes into execution following up with devs. Is the PR reviewed, is the bug fix deployed. No Jira, scrum, sprint planning whatsoever. CEO runs the whole show. Only fear driven product management. I have no idea what it means to work on vision or strategy. My career has started off with a shitty foundation. Everyday I feel like quitting. What should I do? Quit right away or wait n switch to a better company?

I feel like this is a general problem that people who join startups in really early stages face. They get hired to do a function, then once the startup picks up, someone more senior gets hired and they’re practically demoted. This is happening third time to me, but still haven’t figured how to deal with it. The first time, someone from Stanford got hired and I felt really insecure about it. We got along pretty well but I couldn’t take that we were of the same age and this person was managing me despite me being around in the company for longer. That person left, my function was changed as well and again after a year, I was layered by another person. I just joined a new company four months ago and feel like the same thing is about to happen. I know they’re hiring someone. Makes me feel anxious about how I’ll lose ownership of things I’ve been doing and I haven’t even gotten the chance to prove myself yet. Do I just wait it out? Or talk to the founders about it? I understand where they come from, they do what’s best for the company. But I feel like I should look out for myself as well.

I'm in a budding start up in Bangalore. The pay is less for my role. But I've got ESOPs here. I've been in this company for 2 years without a raise. I know there are better paying companies out there, but I'm also bullish on the company's growth. What would you recommend? Should I hold on and get the hike or search for greener pastures immediately?

I am currently the only PM at a very small Agri-Tech startup. I did my MBA from an IIM. I am currently getting 12 LPA with 18 months of experience. I wanted to know if I am underpaid. If yes, how should I prepare myself to get referred to better companies?

I recently worked at a startup and it was terrible. To be honest, I still worked at one of the better ones but it just sucked. Some of the clear downsides I see - Survival mode leads to chaos. You can be treated anyway and asked to leave whenever even though you left big opportunities to be here - Brand loss to find next job (Big problem) - Trying to make you feel unworthy(Doesn't bother me but I have seen people lose self confidence) - Loss of opportunity to build real skills like building sustainable teams for the long run I think over all working at a startup especially early teams is a losing proposition. Do it only if - - you know the founders/team well - you know the industry and market well and it is a bet you personally believe in - you are secure enough in life that if you go back to your job, you will easily get employed For middle class kids, startups are the worst bets one can take.

Hey folks, So I work as a product intern and have an offer to join full time as an Associate Product Manager at a Fintech B2B startup upon graduating. So cutting to the chase, Recently I have been under tremendous pressure to deliver a product. Our organisation does not have any senior product manager to help guide and I report directly to the CEO. I have been given far too much responsibility and an extremely sophisticated product has been put in my care. This product requires a lot of technical expertise and we do not have that kind of resources. I have put this point across to my boss multiple times over the past few months and he always says we will do it. He goes and promises clients that this product exists they even did a soft launch of this product when we literally have not built more than a few screens. Our company has a high employee turnover and people keep quitting left right and centre due to the Co-founders toxic attitude. Recently I have been feeling very anxious starting work in the mornings. Most days go late into the nights because the Co founders work in a different time zone. So the dilemma here is this, I feel the urge to quit this job but at the same time I am afraid that another opportunity will not present itself soon. They also pay me pretty well compared to other product intern roles out there. I know a lot of people are out there fighting for a product intern or an APM role and here I have it and am considering quitting. Please feel free to ask me any follow up questions and forgive me if it sounded more like a rant. I am open to hearing your advise. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Hey folks, So I work as a product intern and have an offer to join full time as an Associate Product Manager at a Fintech B2B startup upon graduating. So cutting to the chase, Recently I have been under tremendous pressure to deliver a product. Our organisation does not have any senior product manager to help guide and I report directly to the CEO. I have been given far too much responsibility and an extremely sophisticated product has been put in my care. This product requires a lot of technical expertise and we do not have that kind of resources. I have put this point across to my boss multiple times over the past few months and he always says we will do it. He goes and promises clients that this product exists they even did a soft launch of this product when we literally have not built more than a few screens. Our company has a high employee turnover and people keep quitting left right and centre due to the Co-founders toxic attitude. Recently I have been feeling very anxious starting work in the mornings. Most days go late into the nights because the Co founders work in a different time zone. So the dilemma here is this, I feel the urge to quit this job but at the same time I am afraid that another opportunity will not present itself soon. They also pay me pretty well compared to other product intern roles out there. I know a lot of people are out there fighting for a product intern or an APM role and here I have it and am considering quitting. Please feel free to ask me any follow up questions and forgive me if it sounded more like a rant. I am open to hearing your advise. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

PM YOE: 6 Overall YOE: 8 CTC:32LPA ESOPS: 25lakhs Unlikely to get hikes as hiring is frozen and market is bad so I’m stuck at this. Is this a fair compensation ? Should I be looking elsewhere (that is also proving challenging) ? Company is a startup. Up to answer any other questions