Going From a Big Tech Employee to Founder

Richa Prasad

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If you're looking for advice in one of these 2 areas, I can give you clear, concrete direction. 1. You've worked at a big tech company and are looking to start your own company or join an early startup as a PM. I left Microsoft about 2 years ago and have been running my bootstrapped AI Health company. If you're someone who is looking into transitioning from a big tech employee to startup PM or want to start your own bootstrapped company or are vacillating between bootstrapping and funding, and come from a tech background, boy do I have learnings to share with you! There are some massive strategy shifts and who-to-listen-to changes I had to make, which I believe would cut your heartache in half. 2. You're struggling to get promotions at a big tech company. In my previous life, I was a PM at Microsoft having worked on Visual Studio for 4 years and Cortana for 4 years. If you're a tech person looking for help in figuring out promotions and/or dealing with your manager/PM/dev/design team, I believe I have good insights for you. How? I was promoted every year for 4 years in a row and it wasn't because I worked 100 hour weeks. There is a set of unsaid criteria you need to meet that exists within any big tech company because of the way they are structured, and having leaned into it the first 4 years, then leaned away from it in the last 4 years (I was promoted once when I leaned away), I have some good insights into what to do to position you well.