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If your head of product would rather write an internal memo addressed to the entire company instead of coming to you and telling you to shut up you have to wond

If your head of product would rather write an internal memo addressed to the entire company instead of coming to you and telling you to shut up you have to wonder how you assume you could ever get to a billion dollars. "I myself didn’t know what to do and which inputs to pay attention to. After months of this and because of the memo, I found out that this was exactly how the team felt too." Can someone explain this to me? I genuinely don't understand this attitude. I mean maybe a week of introspection and pondering is acceptable, but months? At no point does it seem he truly understands that his leadership failed completely. The only thing he tells you is "I’ve learned that the key to driving growth on product is to create product processes that produce repeatable wins." This dude literally was so bad at management he tanked what he considered to be a billion dollar company and doesn't even admit to it after the fact?

duxup 7y ago
I think he does say his lack of leadership failed, but like his description of the company it is a bit unfocused and all over the map.
- zarriak 7y ago
  It just seems odd when he is one of the people who founded this blog it is posted on. I'm sure he has great stories to tell and things in hindsight do seem more clear even if I find it odd in the first place. Like you said it is unfocused and that disappoints me when this is his own blog. I'd really like to hear the story of what running a startup is like when your main competitor is Google.
  - pm90 7y ago
    Its seems bad writing. Good writing is quite hard actually, and he may not have even realized that what he wrote is unfocused or may not really convey what he wants to convey. That's the charitable interpretation. The not so charitable interpretation, which to me seems likely, is that he's using this "blog" as part of a campaign to create a new identity for himself, the "almost-billionare startup founder", who has great stories to tell and advice to give so can you please hire him on your company board because he's so well known in the community right? He also seems to suffer from a profound lack of the ability to listen. Literally all the issues seem to be one of him being unable to comprehend reality because he's not listening to the customers,or to the industry trends; he's focused only on creating some mythical product which will be so amazing. Every little success he has buttresses his idea of himself as a visionary, but after that instead of continuing with the good ideas, he goes off on a tangent trying to fulfill this myth.
- wastedthrowaway 7y ago
  "a bit unfocused and all over the map" is the perfect tldr; for this piece, including meta considerations.

duxup 7y ago

I think he does say his lack of leadership failed, but like his description of the company it is a bit unfocused and all over the map.

zarriak 7y ago
It just seems odd when he is one of the people who founded this blog it is posted on. I'm sure he has great stories to tell and things in hindsight do seem more clear even if I find it odd in the first place. Like you said it is unfocused and that disappoints me when this is his own blog. I'd really like to hear the story of what running a startup is like when your main competitor is Google.
- pm90 7y ago
  Its seems bad writing. Good writing is quite hard actually, and he may not have even realized that what he wrote is unfocused or may not really convey what he wants to convey. That's the charitable interpretation. The not so charitable interpretation, which to me seems likely, is that he's using this "blog" as part of a campaign to create a new identity for himself, the "almost-billionare startup founder", who has great stories to tell and advice to give so can you please hire him on your company board because he's so well known in the community right? He also seems to suffer from a profound lack of the ability to listen. Literally all the issues seem to be one of him being unable to comprehend reality because he's not listening to the customers,or to the industry trends; he's focused only on creating some mythical product which will be so amazing. Every little success he has buttresses his idea of himself as a visionary, but after that instead of continuing with the good ideas, he goes off on a tangent trying to fulfill this myth.
wastedthrowaway 7y ago
"a bit unfocused and all over the map" is the perfect tldr; for this piece, including meta considerations.