At a startup, you’re always in a battle against time.
You’re racing to find product-market fit.
You’re sprinting to grow revenue ahead of a new fundraising round.
You’re hustling to launch new features and deliver value to your customers faster than any of your competitors.
Unsurprisingly, the nature of startups and, more specifically, the development teams at those startups very often leads to burnout.
Over the 4 startups I’ve worked at, I’ve seen burn-out at every single one and I’ve been a victim of it before too.
What is Burnout?
According to the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), burnout…
For anyone who’s ever been a Product Manager, I don’t need to tell you that it’s a busy, noisy, challenging, mile-a-minute, exciting, and often, pretty stressful job.
You’re trying to balance long-term strategic vision with short-term deadlines. You’re trying to ship value to users and drive outcomes for your company while keeping your team focused, informed, and not overwhelmed.
In this difficult environment, many junior (and often senior) Product Managers often leave user research behind or simply assume that another team will carry the torch. …
More than 1 year ago, I wrote: “How to Be a Great Remote Product Manager.” Little did I know that we’d be living in a remote-only world for more than a year!
But, things are changing again and they are changing FAST!
As of 4/24/21, more than 53% of the adult population of the United States had received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
It’s Demo Day (again)!
But first, here are my past YC posts if you want to check how my older picks have done. If you want to skip to the bottom, you can also see my own evaluation of my past picks for S20, W20, S19, W19, S18, W18, and S17.
YC’s Winter 2021 class set a new record for HUGE!
319 startups, representing 41 (!) different countries, pitched virtually on 3/23/21.
Quick Diversity Stats on W21:
- Female founders: 19% of the companies have a women founder, 10% of the founders are women
- Black founders: 7% of the companies have…
There were certainly a lot of ups and downs in 2020 to stay the least. A LOT of things changed around the world.
Many businesses failed, but some startups thrived.
I’m excited to write about many of the incredibly impressive startups in the Middle East and North Africa that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly by meeting and exceeding customer needs.
Other Startups to Watch in 2021:
For the past 4 years, I’ve written about my favorite Product podcasts and it’s already that magical time of year again! For a quick throwback, here are my past posts:
While I’m not commuting in-person these days to Kin Insurance, I’m still able to log about 1 hour of podcast listening time on my walks every day.
Here is this year’s list of my favorites for Product Managers looking to level up in 2021.
Note: There are a few duplicates from 2017–2020, but that’s because they are still great!
Top 10 Podcasts for Product Managers
Honorable Mention #1: Ted Talks Daily
2020 was a year of many, many, many ups and downs (2021 has proven to be full of changes so far as well). A LOT changed around the world.
Many businesses failed in the past year, but some startups thrived.
I’m excited to write about many of the incredibly impressive startups in Israel that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly by meeting and exceeding customer needs.
Other Startups to Watch in 2021:
Even though 2020 is now (thankfully!) behind us, there is a lot that we as Product Managers can learn from a year that changed so much, challenged so many of our beliefs, changed our ways of working, and reshaped our organizations.
Whether it is Learning to Act Like a Wartime PM, Roadmapping Remotely, or Keeping Your Customers at the Center of Everything You Do, many Product people wrote seriously inspirational blog posts last year.
Learn from their knowledge and position yourself to better react and adapt in a future that is far from predictable!
The Best Pandemic-Era Blog Posts from Product Managers
1. What 2020 Has Taught the Product World
As I’m writing this, it’s the beginning of 2021. There were certainly a lot of ups and downs last year to stay the least. Many things changed dramatically around the world.
Many businesses failed, but some startups thrived.
I’m excited to write about many of the impressive startups in China that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly by meeting and exceeding customer needs.
Other Startups to Watch in 2021:
As I’m writing this, it’s almost the end of 2020. There were certainly a lot of ups and downs this year to stay the least. A LOT of things changed around the world.
Many businesses failed, but some startups thrived.
I’m excited to write about many of the incredibly impressive startups in India that you need to watch in 2021. These startups not only survived the pandemic but thrived in it, managing to grow incredibly quickly by meeting and exceeding customer needs.
Other Startups to Watch in 2021:
