Friday, July 06, 2007

The next step


I have spent the last two years on a rollercoaster ride and for most part, you have all been with me. You have seen my thought process go from sniffing at Venture Capital, to being committed to VC, to getting opportunities in VC in the Bay Area, to veering off towards startups and finally getting to this point.

I am going to start working as a Product Manager at Google. I have debated this opportunity along with the others that I had for a long time. I spent time talking to VCs, entrepreneurs, people here, people in India, parents, girlfriend among others, and finally decided this is the most exciting next step for me at this point.

Why Product Management at Google
A veteran VC friend of mine once said to me, "Being a Product Manager at Google is the closest you can get to being the CEO of a small startup without being the CEO of the small startup."
And one day, I intend to be the CEO of a small startup.

Why Google?
Because that is the only operating role that I applied to. The only job in a large, fast growing company that could entice me from Venture Capital and other startups.
And because I do have to learn what they have to teach. For all the experience, I am still a startup myself. I have not taken a product from concept to launch till date, and this is my shot at learning it from the best.
Because the network of amazing engineers and business types that I will make, will be as useful to me as my Wharton experience has been.
And finally, because I believe in the company and the sector I will be working in. For most part, it is the one place (other than my own startup) that will make me feel excited about getting to work (at this point of my life).

What happened to Venture Capital?
I got a few offers in the space. They were all good solid firms. But I had my concerns as I didn't want a position that would:

- Lock me into a niche sector or a nice role
- Hinder my chances at being in the best place in whatever field I was (Venture Capital in this case)
- Not provide me with the relevant mentorship to grow. And by mentorship, I mean exposure to growth opportunities, and not handholding

A lot of my offers failed on one criteria or the other. Even though they were fantastic jobs and fantastic stepping-stones for a good career. At the end of the day, I had to make a call on the choices I had, and I did.

What happens to this blog?
Nothing. It is still my intention to be a VC one day. Not just in the near future. In fact, I do not fancy looking for a VC job. I think the right one will probably find me if I am good enough. Do expect the content to be a bit more operational in the near future. I am still around cutting edge products, people, entrepreneurs and of course, VCs. So I will keep penning down my thoughts as usual.

Some things, like the tagline of this blog for instance, will have to change.

The Bottom-line
The last four months have been very enlightening for me. I wanted something and wanted it badly. I got it. Then when I was faced with a real decision, I realised that I was happy to leaving them on the table. Maybe I will make a little less money in the short term, but as the say in the MasterCard ad, learning how to build and lauch a product, priceless! So I changed course midway and here I am.

The Lesson: It is important not to lock into something so hard that you forget what you really want. What I really want is to be immensely successful and immensely happy. And Venture Capital is one way to it.

For those of you who are thinking of MBA, hopefully my thought process helps you clear things about the MBA experience (and what to get out of it) a bit. For the aspiring VCs, hopefully it helps understand the process to getting a position and how to go about deciding on the opportunities. For the others, you can continue to enjoy a ringside view of my loony life.

The rollercoaster ride goes on.

The next post will be a wrap-up on my Wharton experience. Something a few of you have asked me to blog on.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

lame

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

:) Would love your input on why you think so?
Best

Anonymous said...

I completly agree with comment 1. Also I beg to disagree with your VC friend.
The true experience of startups (and I work for a bootstrapped one) is to be ready to book your own flight ticket, live a barebones lifestyle, pickup your own trash, and yet comeup with the next cool product. PM, developer whatever at google will never give you that experience.

Anonymous said...

As a word of caution..
Be wary of posting stuff on your role at Google. They don't seem to like employees blogging about work -- http://news.com.com/Google+blogger+has+left+the+building/2100-1038_3-5567863.html?tag=nl

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

I agree with all of you. A startup experience is a startup experience and Google gig is not that. But a Google gig is the best thing for me at this point of my life where I am just out of school.

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

or rather a startup experience is not the best thing for me at this point. But I agree with all of these comments. I will also be careful about what I blog about :)

Anonymous said...

Hey at least there is something called a free lunch at Google!

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

Funny!

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

I think my VC friend said it was the nearest you could get to a startup CEO experience without being in one. He did not say it WAS a startup CEO experience.

Anonymous said...

While no doubt Google is a great company and you will learn a lot, please bear in mind that Google PM is nothing like a start-up CEO. Unlike Yahoo where PMs have some control, Google is run a lot more ground up by engineers who dislike managers who dont code..

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

I will find out and report back :) Thanks for your input though. Will bear that in mind as I start...

Anonymous said...

I am glad that you had a number of great options to choose from and I think Google will be a great experience.
However would you mind mentioning the VC Firms that you were considering on joining ? Just Curious !

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

Send me an email and we can talk offline.

Anonymous said...

Google is run by engineers and not by PMs. Some PMs left as they didn't really have much say in the product and this can be frustrating. This, however, could change as the company matures and have more processes in place.
Beyond that, it should be a fun experience.

Punit Soni's Adventures in VCland said...

Thanks for the insight. One quick question: Are you in Google? I have heard a lot of opinions here and they have a pattern about them that a PM job in Google is different from other firms. Was wondering how many who believe so are actually from the company?
I will definitely post my opinion on this as I learn more.