21–24 of 24 posts
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Redefine the 20% so it's out of scope.
Often the 20% is polish, and it's there because it brings sales or may be the differentiator. There's going to be something that gets redefined and that's where company culture falls.
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Fair points. I’m not a founder, but I’ve navigated three very different domains—business development in high-end fashion (traveling across multiple countries), niche technical leadership hiring, and now technical marketing, SEO, and product advocacy at a product-based startup. Burnout or feeling overwhelmed isn’t pushing me to quit.....I just want to manage it better. Prioritization helps, but in a high-growth enviro…
They can shift priorities as needed as long as they understand that the trade off is going to be not getting something else done. I was the second technical hire by the then new CTO of a startup I worked for from 2018-2020. He was hired to bring the development in house from a third party consulting company after the company had traction. He was in his 50s and very technical and I was in my mid 40s. The founders were…
After that, I received a solid offer from another company with a decent salary. However, during that time, I was traveling to the USA to visit my sister, and I was truly inspired by my brother-in-law, who was building products for his Silicon Valley startup. It opened my eyes to the reality of the startup world—a high-risk, high-reward environment where "no" isn’t really an option. I am here by my choice now, but a lot of things are new, and the work is overloaded, so I’m actively finding ways to simplify things. That said, balancing everything is still tough. Exploring discussions like this is helping me. How do you manage?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They can shift priorities as needed as long as they understand that the trade off is going to be not getting something else done. I was the second technical hire by the then new CTO of a startup I worked for from 2018-2020. He was hired to bring the development in house from a third party consulting company after the company had traction. He was in his 50s and very technical and I was in my mid 40s. The founders were…
I understand where you're coming from, especially with the shifting priorities and the need to make trade-offs. I resigned from my previous job in February 2024 after 10 years with the company, and although I interviewed with a client of the same company, they rejected me, saying my skills weren’t enough—despite successfully placing niche Director-level candidates in tech. After that, I received a solid offer from an…
If you aren’t willing to say “no” and prioritize, there isn’t anything else.
We all make choices based on our priority stack. I don’t judge anyone for having a different priority stack than mine. I do however try to let people know the tradeoffs.
Before I got into consulting, I fell into roles as an early hire when mostly new to the company managers, directors, CTOs were starting new initiatives.
I talk to them about how they manage priorities and work life balance. If I saw a situation like yours I personally wouldn’t accept the job.
In fact, I didn’t accept a job that would have paid significantly more than I was making to be over the cloud migration and strategy for a largish company. I didn’t want the stress.
Again, I’m not saying that a high stress early startup is not the right choice for you just be aware of the tradeoffs and have an exit plan before it starts affecting your mental and physical health and your family if you have one.
I’m 50 and while I still need to work, I don’t need to chase comp. I enjoy my relatively low stress job as a staff architect at a consulting company with unlimited PTO.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand where you're coming from, especially with the shifting priorities and the need to make trade-offs. I resigned from my previous job in February 2024 after 10 years with the company, and although I interviewed with a client of the same company, they rejected me, saying my skills weren’t enough—despite successfully placing niche Director-level candidates in tech. After that, I received a solid offer from an…
The sad truth is then that you can’t. If you aren’t willing to say “no” and prioritize, there isn’t anything else. We all make choices based on our priority stack. I don’t judge anyone for having a different priority stack than mine. I do however try to let people know the tradeoffs. Before I got into consulting, I fell into roles as an early hire when mostly new to the company managers, directors, CTOs were starting…