2022-02-28
I joined Mutiny to lead product and design.
Congrats! What do they do?
Today, Mutiny helps marketers personalize their websites to increase conversion. Boring, right? I thought so too when I first heard about them. But most companies start with a wedge that seems insignificant. The question is what that wedge can expand into and your conviction in the team's ability to achieve it. I liked what I saw for both.
The vision is big. What is the top problem any company faces after product-market fit? Growth. Mutiny will eventually be the growth engine behind every great company [1]. The role machine learning and good design will play is huge, which feed into my curiosities and strengths.
The team is stellar. The cofounders built a world-class growth engine at Gusto and started Mutiny so anyone could tap into that power. The CEO (Jaleh Rezaei) has one of the strongest reality distortion fields I've seen, remarkable product intuition, and incredible go-to-market chops. The CTO (Nikhil Mathew) is the embodiment of speed and customer-obsession. He knows when to move fast and when it's time for scale. If there is anyone to solve this problem, it is them.
That's nice. But what about web3??
If I'm being honest, this was not the obvious choice. I was convinced I would join something in web3, or at least web3-adjacent [2]. But the decision became clear when I really thought about which game I wanted to play [3]. And with whom I wanted to play.
I have tried to start a company. I have been the first hire. I have been a product manager at a hyper growth startup. And I have led a large cross-functional organization at a public company. I have never scaled a company from product-market fit to exit. And I have never been part of the exec team [4]. It sounds hard. It sounds fun. And I want to see if I can do it. I'm still pretty young, so I need to keep placing bets, experiencing new things, and refining my zone of genius.
After weeks of conversations, they made me feel like the missing piece to their puzzle. Every interaction felt natural. I found myself thinking about the product in the shower (great sign). And I felt like the CEO would support me through this adventure [5].
This was an incredibly personal decision (i.e. don't use this as a rubric for yourself). This may end up being the dumbest professional or financial decision I make [6]. But I believe I will learn the most (in the areas I want to learn) and have the most fun (with the people I want to be around) by joining Mutiny [7]. And I couldn't be more excited.
Oh one more thing. I'm hiring :)
Shoot me a note if you are a product-minded designer or systems-oriented product manager!
[1] The best companies have full stack growth teams. But most don't have the resources (or knowledge) to do so. All the tooling sucks. Everything is disjointed and hard to use. You need to learn dozens of tools and beg engineers to get anything done. Machine learning and good design will play a uniquely important role in this space.
[2] In case you aren't part of the same circles as me, there is a deafening roar around web3 right now. The hype train is at an all-time high and it's impossible to ignore. Smart people I respect are saying if you don't jump in now, you're dumb and missing out. It took a lot of introspection to get over the FOMO and even more to understand my place in the value chain (i.e. the unique leverage I possess will be more valuable when the ecosystem is more mature).
[3] My use of the word "game" here is a reference to the game cartridges one might swap out on an N64, not in the sense of "gaming the system". Every job you hold is a different game cartridge. Do you want to play Super Mario? Zelda? Super Smash Bros? They are all great games, but they are very different. And who you want to play with changes based on the game.
[4] I cringe every time I write the term "exec" but don't want to shy away from it in this instance. As much as we like to talk about transparency, my interviews with successful leaders revealed that the conversations among the exec team are unreal. Getting a front row seat to how a company really makes decisions (big ones) is a worthwhile experience and something I finally admitted to myself I wanted. I may find out I don't have the stomach for it or it's not what I envisioned, but there's only one way to find out.
[5] One of the most important factors to my success at Square was my manager, Bruce Bell. He believed in me more than I believed in myself. He knew when to hold back responsibility and when to pour it on. He pulled me up faster than I could have ever expected. But I was never scared because I knew he would be there to support me. He would be in my corner. That is invaluable.
[6] I am leaving a lot of money on the table by leaving Square (now Block). And my competing offers were higher (both base and equity value). Mutiny will need to blow it out of the water for this to be the "best" financial decision. I believe that can happen. But it doesn't need to for this to be the right decision.
[7] The entire team gave me the warm fuzzies. I looked forward to every conversation. I wanted to prioritize having fun at work. Not in the sense of drinking after work (though I hope we have a chance to do that too) but more in that working together (and winning) is inherently fun. One of Mutiny's core values is "work should feel like play" and I love that. It is very aligned with my personal values.