In the early days, you have a small number of customers that you always try to say yes to, but once you find product-market fit and start scaling, the trouble becomes learning how to say no. Everything has to change. Is your UI built to scale? What about your data schemas and APIs? It’s not feasible to talk to all your customers anymore, so analytics become the better way to measure the user journey. A growing product organization relies heavily on long-term strategy, process, communication, and collaboration, and the best way to navigate all of the chaos is usually to have someone who’s seen it before.

As a founder and a first product hire, I’ve seen startups grow to millions of users, multiple product lines, and from tiny teams to hundreds of employees. I’ve driven the strategy and design needed to make the leap, and more importantly, I’ve learned how to build and collaborate with the right teams.