How I went from 1st PM to VP of Product (Startup Edition!)

Where the journey begins

💡Level Up: The Beginning

When I first joined FabFitFun in 2015, it was a 15-person startup operating out of a small 2nd floor unit above a Beverly Hills nail salon. At the time, the company was small, but growing quickly - carving out a name for itself as one of the first full size lifestyle subscription boxes under the leadership of its co-founders, Michael, Dan & Katie. Having luckily managed to impress my then-manager at a chance networking event the week prior, I suddenly found myself in a cramped interview room being peppered with start-uppy-esque questions like “Do you know photoshop?” and “What’s your opinion of spin-wheels?” After a few more questions like these, he finally asked me the pivotal one:

“What do you want to be called?”

He then rattled off a few potential titles that I might like.

Before he could finish his list, I had already responded.

“Product Manager,” I said, with zero hesitation.

Truth is, I had had minimal “formal” product management experience up until this point. For the past several months I had searched (in vain) for a startup that would take a chance on me as a PM, despite my finance and big company background (Disney, J.P. Morgan). All I knew was that I wanted to own something, build something, invest in something I could believe in. And the beauty of Product, I felt, was that this was its very essence. The art of leadership in the pursuit of creation. Product.

He looked up at me and nodded.

“Ok, done.”

And just like that, I became FabFitFun’s 1st PM.

Over the years, I learned how to manage difficult stakeholders, identify hidden landmines, and find the needle in a haystack of seemingly irreconcilable opinions. In the early days, I voraciously studied Product Management as a discipline, believing that “skills” and “best practices” would be my path to success.

Wrong.

With tight engineering bandwidth, systems buckling under runaway growth, and an entire company hungry for technical resources, I quickly realized that to succeed, I would need to approach Product through a higher lens - one of leadership, influence, and the ability to evangelize change.

While I didn’t intentionally set out to “climb the ladder” - in hindsight, my gradual rise to VP was a function of both timing and a steady expansion in my circles of trust. These circles looked like the following:

1. Building a Strong First Impression (amongst my boss & peers)

2. Expanding my Circle of Trust & Leverage (amongst cross-functional leaders)

3. Exercising Strategic Focus & Resilience (focusing on long-term trajectory-defining problems)

Essentially, each of these circles are the same - just progressively larger problems requiring progressively higher levels of trust.

Some foundational notes before we begin…

While I am a huge proponent of championing your career, it’s important to recognize that all sustainable growth (in any field, be it building muscle or playing a sport) requires building on solid foundations: you must conquer the first milestone before jumping to the next. Punching above your weight is expected, but jumping to a level you’re far from ready for rarely does you any favors (and mostly comes with a whole lot of stress).

It’s also important to be aware of your environment. For leveling within an organization to work, you must be in an environment where leadership makes decisions based on results (or one’s potential to deliver results). Effectiveness can be learned regardless of where you work - but it’s much harder to be noticed and level up (in a meaningful way) if you and your leaders are playing different games.

Finally, remember that titles are only a proxy...my goal here is not to share with you how to get to “VP” (as a literal title) in any particular organization, but to position you to achieve your highest potential. Trust the timing and location of where it lands you.

Anyway, that’s enough for now. If you made it this far, kudos to you :). Hit me up here if you have any questions. In the meantime, I’m working on sharing some of my strategies for building influence and respect up and down the chain. See you next week.

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⚡️Extra Energy

Need a little juice in your day? Here’s a quote to lift your week.

“Our life is a constant journey, from birth to death. The landscape changes, the people change, our needs change, but the train keeps moving. Life is the train, not the station.” - Paulo Coelho, Author of The Alchemist

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