Personal Reflection on Professional Growth

Reacting from my personal experience Elena Verna's article.

Because it’s a reaction—something I almost never do—to an article written by

Elena Verna

. It struck a personal chord with me because, honestly, I’ve often felt I didn’t take these ideas as seriously as I should have.

Here is the article:

Your Career is a Startup: Building Sustainable Growth, One Stage at a Time

Disclaimer: This isn’t a critique; it’s a thought-provoking exercise to reflect on how Elena’s points apply to my career and to share the consequences of not always following them.

Another disclaimer: The following comments and reflections come from my perspective as someone who is currently employed. While the principles hold true universally, sometimes circumstances force us to make exceptions.

Let’s dive the learnings once at a time:

First, and foremost, don’t be in a hurry to get to the next ‘stage’

This is probably one of the hardest lessons to embrace. When you’re starting your career as a PM (at least in my case), the lure of titles can trick you into climbing the career ladder as fast as possible. I fell into that trap—I was so eager to become a Senior PM that I lost sight of other, more meaningful things, like the joy of building products and solving wicked problems.

Rushing doesn’t always lead to progress. I’ve learned that slowing down to focus on the craft itself, rather than the title, often leads to more meaningful growth.

Know your Product-Market Fit (PMF)

I only started thinking about this after working on a product in a space I didn’t enjoy (like most human-beings discard by knowing what they don’t like). It felt like climbing Mount Everest without the right gear.

When you’re just starting out, it’s natural not to know what kind of product or space excites you. But as you grow into the PM role, you start asking yourself: “What if I find a problem and space I’m passionate about?”

I remember my first role as a Platform PM—I was interested in the functions of a PM but had no idea what my day-to-day would look like. After a year, I realized I wanted to apply my skills to a different kind of problem.

If you’re still figuring out your PMF, don’t beat yourself up. It’s a process, and not everyone discovers their ideal fit right away.

Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Here, I learned to hold a strong vision while staying open to changing my opinions. When I joined Nexthink, I kept telling myself for the first three months, “I’m probably not going to stay here for more than six months.” Yet I ended up staying nearly four years and making a significant impact.

When I left, I joined a startup that I thought was the place for me to thrive. Seven months later, the company went out of business.

This taught me to ask critical questions upfront—not just about the company’s mission or product, but about whether it aligns with my principles and goals.

Evolution is essential

Evolving in your career can take many forms. For instance, if I were offered a manager role today, some might see that as a step forward, but I don’t know if I’d want it. Right now, I find more joy in tackling complex problems and navigating the messiness of product development than in building the right team of PMs.

Elena highlights the importance of aligning your evolution with your long-term career goals. But here’s the thing: I’m not someone who can map out a 5- or 10-year plan. My horizon is closer to one year ahead.

And that’s okay. Don’t punish yourself for not having a crystal-clear vision of your future. Focus on adapting to your environment and finding joy in what you do, while creating value for your company.

Choose your ‘investor’ carefully

I’ll admit, I never gave this much thought beyond “I like this person, I feel safe, and I can learn from them.” I’ve always had high expectations of my bosses, but sometimes I overlooked their strengths and the lessons I could learn from them.

Don’t get fixated on finding the “perfect” boss. Instead, focus on what you can learn from the one.

Don’t forget about your ‘angel investors’:

If I had to pick one regret, it would be this. While I’ve engaged in communities and meaningful conversations, I haven’t prioritized finding mentors or guides who could truly help shape my career.

Why? Maybe pride, maybe laziness—I’m not sure. But I’ve realized that while I’ve often been the one giving guidance, I haven’t been on the receiving end nearly enough. It’s something I’m actively working on now.

Not every company needs to go public, and not every career needs to end at the executive level:

This point resonates deeply with me. Early in my career, I dreamed of becoming a CPO or VP of Product. But after years of experience, I’ve realized there’s nothing more fulfilling for me than building things people love to use.

Why the change? It became clear how challenging it is to be a great product leader. The time and effort required to excel at that level simply don’t align with what I enjoy most right now.

Don’t be a generalist:

This one stings a bit—I’m a generalist at heart. Looking back, I wish I’d explored different industries and product types earlier in my career. That might have helped me find my true passion sooner.

But it’s never too late to focus. While I can’t change the past, I can be deliberate about the choices I make moving forward.

Final Thoughts:

Elena’s analogy between startups and professional development is both insightful and challenging. While it’s easy to read a playbook and nod along, applying these lessons in real life is far more complex.

Your career, like a startup, is a journey full of experiments, pivots, and learning. Sometimes you get it right; sometimes you don’t. And that’s okay. The key is to keep iterating and growing.