How to Choose a Company You Want to Work.
This August, I made a big life shift by moving to Bengaluru –joined Rocketium.
Before joining Rocketium — I took about 2 weeks off. Many people asked what made me choose the Creative Ops platform over other opportunities I had, and I’ll share with you my mental model and my decision framework.
What are you curious about?
I’ve asked this question to every person I’ve met / interviewed for the past four years. “What are you curious about?” This helps to paint a better picture about what’s important to them in their next opportunity.
Titles and pay are just surface-level noise. The real gems lie in surprising candidate answers. A Software Engineer eyeing a leap to Product Manager (PM) or an IC aiming for TPM, all fueled by the desire to make a real impact. While most stick to the same old tune, keep an eye out for the one ready to nourish that curiosity.
Notes from my curiosity list —
- Early stage company building product & services.
- Customer Experience, Productivity tools , or Creator Economy.
- Work like it’s your — last day, show up & make others’ lives easy.
Here’s the decision frame work — I wrote this during my early days at ed-Tech before I joined Sprinklr.
My curiosity list is something I’ve had clarity for several years, What you are curious about doesn’t show up in job descriptions. They appear in conversation, Once you know what you’re curious about you know how to rank your priorities and make the decision.
The three F’s –
On a Design MBA Show, Lattice SVP of Design Jared Erondu spoke about the decision to join Lattice as a founding designer after doing High Resolution. He mentioned three P’s for him: People, Purpose, & Pay. Inspired by Erondu (which we all are), I reflected on my own version what a post–sprinklr world looked like for me.
My stack ranked three F’s were :
Fix it, Faction or Fuc* it.
Fix it–
Rahul Verma, my first manager and the person who hired me at Sprinklr, wrote, “Don’t complain about a sense of urgency — foster a sense of purpose.” That’s the mantra of Sprinklr: Fix it, Don’t Complain. This mantra stuck with me everywhere else I’ve gone, purpose and curiosity is your life version of being mission-driven.
During our daily stand-up calls Rahul used to push the team towards collaboration & figuring the problem rather than being a micro-manger and a Ticket Junky.
Work is a big aspect of my life, and it’s the best for me to contribute to something meaningful. Purpose in the workplace can have various definitions. It could be helping build a product that has a positive impact on the world, helping the company scale effectively, or growing other people on the same mission. My hope is that what I contribute exceeds my own lifetime.
Pablo Picasso : “The meaning of life is to find your gift & purpose of life is to give it away.”
Faction–
If I ain’t excited about the people, I won’t join the company. The product is the artifact that delivers purpose. Regardless of title, compensation, or any other incentives, I will never work at a company where I don’t believe in the people or can’t be enthused by fostering it.
One of the principle from 37 Signal — 03 : Small teams which stuck with me.
I have no interest in being a Chief Product Officer or any other fancy title at the workplace at a place where material change can’t be made and the product is shitty. I care more about the people and what can we achieve vs. the hype of leadership royalty or shiny promises.
During my early days at Board Infinity i reported to Somu Barua he’s was the key pillar and a driving force in the organisation — i learned the knack of attention to details, how pick hard problem and solve them with small set of people who cares about the problem deeply, He’s was one of the coolest & curious guy I ever had a chance to work with, working with people like him has made me more self-aware & fulfilled during my early days at work.
That’s what I learned if you find your people stick with ’em and win together WORK LIFE <> LIFE WORK
Fuc* it –
When asked Steve, “Do you care about Apple? Do you give a damn about it?” he shot back with a simple, “Yeah, I do care about Apple, and I give a damn about it.”
Now, here’s the kicker: some might think that “Fuc* It” is at the bottom of my priority list. But let me be clear — it’s not that I’m indifferent to the product and purpose. It’s just that if the purpose and product alignment isn’t spot on, the company culture and collaborators become irrelevant, tying back to the point above. Over my career, I’ve encountered plenty of products I’d love to dive into again or kickstart with friends, but if it doesn’t tackle the right problem, it simply doesn’t matter. That’s why I often find myself collaborating with folks across different companies where all three F’s are in sync.
I don’t optimise for work, by making friends. I’m not seeking a work-family dynamic, my focus is on achieving goals with a team — Of course, friendships may organically formed along the way and can be cherished for a lifetime! :)
Let your intuition be the guiding principle and set your goals.
As you engage in discussions, look for signals that might indicate whether a role is a good fit for you or not. One person’s red flag might be another person’s green flag. It all depends on what each person is looking for. Personally, I seek a company where I can engage in a multi-year effort. This approach aids in building my mental model and allows room for learning from mistakes. If it’s a shorter stint, it becomes challenging to see tangible results.
Before delving into signals, I established some goals as thoughtful filters in my conversations. While not obligatory, they act as guiding principles.
Before delving into signals, I set some goals as filters in the process. They’re not a must have, but they act as guiding principles and making discussions clear and purposeful.
Here are a few —
- Title : it doesn’t carry weight for me anymore. I’m in a privileged point in my career where it’s no longer on my priority list.
- Org Size : In an ever-evolving job market with layoffs and the influence of AI, I foresaw shifts in organisational structures. Team size is no longer the sole measure of success.
- Job Deja Vu : I aimed to avoid repeating roles. Wherever I land, it needs to offer a new challenge, providing opportunities for personal growth.
Reflection :
Don’t spend all your time career planning, but have an idea by exploring your curiosity & what makes sense for you. Like all the good things in life, if it’s meant to be it’ll — even when you’re not trying too hard to make it happen.
- Identify what you’re Curious about.
- Establish a priority stack (Note: they don’t have to start with the letter F)
- Let your intuition be the guiding principle & set up anti-goals.
In retrospect I always ask people who are considering a job change, “Are you running towards an opportunity or running away from one?” If the place you go to work is a hell — fire and you need to get a new job immediately, then GTFO.
If what you’re running towards something that isn’t clear then create more time as there’d be silver lining in this that you might not have encountered yet, create separation b/w work and purpose.
Talk to people who are there in the system, seek new perspective, engage more in conversation.
Find me here :
