Pathways for Product Managers and Cautious Entrepreneurship
Side note: forced entrepreneurship. How many people actually get pushed into starting a business? If you can earn a living through employment, why risk it?
Startups are tough—long after the initial excitement fades. Constant staff turnover, stagnant metrics, endless product bugs, payroll, rent, and so on. These aren’t occasional hiccups; they’re the baseline reality of running a company.
Be brutally honest about the cost of failure. Youth doesn’t come back. You might never get another shot at a big-tech job. The stakes are enormous.
So, what are the paths for product managers?
1. Join an early-stage startup for equity and hope to cash out.
2. Trade up for stability in the public sector.
3. Move to a tech giant for options and stock.
4. Build a side hustle for extra income.
The hard truth is that most of us face the “age 35 crisis” in this industry. Ask yourself: who’s going to pick up the tab when you hit that milestone? It won’t be your company. It won’t be your friends. It’ll be you.