Gee-Wey Yue

Today is my 3rd anniversary working at Yelp. I am very grateful for the luck that fell into my lap for landing the role. As a personal rule, I never talk about my day-to-day work at Yelp, or Yelp in general. I made that a rule to myself when I first started creating content, because I want them both to remain separate. I didn't want one to end up managing the other. I wanted that external balance. I will break that rule for this post. My first job in the tech industry was almost 15 years ago, I worked for a local furniture company as their solo in-house web developer. The company had 5 employees, and I was the only one even remotely close to tech. I didn't know testing, barely OOP, I didn't have a clue. What I did have, was an immense amount of passion and willing to learn. Coding was my passion, I did it since I was an early teen, I was so grateful that someone wanted to pay me to build stuff. If you told that young man, that 15 years later he would be working leading critical teams at Yelp, I would have been so emotionally proud of myself. It's so easy, as you continue to chase goals to lose sight of your journey which brought you here. But I try to remain grateful and proud of myself. Anyone that has worked with me knows, my greatest strength is resilience. I remember the day I got the call from Aysel Huseynova telling me I got the job. I accepted the offer on the spot in that same call. I didn't have to think for a second. Yelp were patient with me during the interview process, I purposely chose an interview date a little far out, because I wanted to let it consume me. I lived every part of preparing for that interview day and night. It's all I did. I completely lived the prep for that interview for weeks. I wanted it so badly. I never wanted a job like that before. My growth has been immense whilst working at Yelp. I am challenged and I am given room. My managers have been a brilliant mix of people leaders and technologist. My motto of 'we are there to guide and not decide' was born from my experiences here. I've made mistakes and I have been allowed to fail. This lesson will stay with me as I continue my leadership journey. One of the greatest things about working at Yelp is my team. I lead one of the largest engineering teams at Yelp, and we manage critical purchasing infrastructure. Every single individual on my team is brilliant. They are vulnerable and they are capable. They are quick to pivot and they are incredibly human during incidents. We have had only 1 person leave in the 3 years I have been here, and I am incredibly proud of that. To my team, thanks for always backing me and each other. Thanks for being patient with me as I grew as a manager over the last 3 years, and I have had to grow. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be grateful to Yelp for the opportunity of a lifetime. Whether my journey here last one more month or 10 more years, I will have fond memories.

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"Do you think I should be a founder?" is a question I get asked a lot. It's #SeattleTechWeek and I'm seeing great quotes and advice being shared, so I wanted to share an early story before we had any funding. I had been trying for our initial funding for months. I was learning, we continued to work on the product, marketing, and investor pitch. We were improving but it was still one rejection after another. I will never forget the moment after a pitch that went particularly poorly. I found myself staring at my calendar realizing I didn't have anything next. No more pitches, no meetings... just nothingness. I had called every favor, exhausted every network connection I had, and I felt no closer than the day I quit my job. I opened my slides to iterate and look for improvements, but what was the point? Onward, let's go. There is always the next person you can approach. This person I didn't know well, he was a tech exec I'd worked with previously. I had a lot of respect for him, and noticed he was connected to an investor that I hadn't reached. Requested an intro and the he told me "Ozan... you have no customers, no revenue, and your team is quite small. Unfortunately there isn't enough here for me to justify the introduction." It seemed reasonable enough, and I thanked him for his time anyways. I thought... maybe asking for the intro was disrespectful. The next day I was sitting at my kitchen table across from my advisor and mentioned my failed attempt at securing the intro. I'll never forget him saying "Hmmmm, I don't know that person, but let me say something. Fuck that guy, fuck him. That's such a load of bullshit! You've quit your job where you were a top performer, you're putting everything on the line, you're dipping uncomfortably deep to the end of your savings, you're out there hustling with very little support, and he can't even do the bare minimum? No that's not reasonable, that's bullshit." It didn't matter whether or not the person was justified in not making an intro. It didn't matter if my advisor was biased towards my perspective. What did matter was that it was an extremely dark week for me, after so many rejections, with what seemed like no light at the end of the tunnel, and it reminded me that I'm not always wrong. "Do you think I should be a founder?" is therefore such a hard question to answer. It was mentioned this week that startups are hard and they're not for everyone. I don't say it, but the first thought in my head is always "If you have to ask, then probably not." It's a long, lonely journey. It's filled with dark days, doubt, very little support, and more often than not it doesn't feel logical. But - there are some amazing moments as well. When I have to sum it up I mention that it's an endless string of high highs and low lows. If you do it, the number one thing I'd say is never ever stop asking for favors. I'm still asking for them 6 years later, and the answer I usually get hasn't changed either. Push.

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My "interview examples" document was a mess. I'd done a great job of writing up examples and mapping them to role responsibilities and company values. But, with 20+ examples it was becoming a bit unwieldy. In a conversation last week with Maekaila Montero, I had an idea for how to add more structure to the document. Thus, the Interview Examples Worksheet was born. I recorded a short video of how to use it, and I'll share the template in the comments! https://lnkd.in/egxDkFmW P.S. It's a work in progress, so would love any feedback or suggestions! ======= ⭐ Found this helpful? Follow for more! ⭐ I help people find clarity and build confidence in their career journey. ⭐ Are you ready to figure out what's next? Shoot me a DM or leave a comment.

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My new startup Onward has been on an absolute tear and today, we are posting our first public role (link below). Looking back at my early career, here's what I wish someone had told me in my 20's: #1 - Working at smaller companies will be vastly more valuable than "coasting by" at a larger one. I worked at Intel out of college for 3 yrs "hiding" behind a cubicle thinking I was "beating the system", but friends at startups doing real work leapfrogged me in the next few yrs. Don't be jealous of your friends who brag about working 5-10 hours a week remotely full-time. You will figure out "what you want to do" much faster. It will force you to find/hone your craft and meet smart, passionate people. -------------- #2 - Put yourself out there! Almost everyone feels insecure. I had killer side projects / startups starting at 21 - but I built in darkness. I didn't have any community - I was too scared to be criticized publicly so they all eventually withered. -------------- #3 - Who you surround yourself early in your career will drive 80% of your future success. When I finally worked at a successful venture-backed startup - it felt like I had finally met "my people". Smart, driven, quirky. It was the first time I was ever "happy" at work. At that startup (shout out meebo), I sat 2 desks away from @mikeyk who would go on to found Instagram. I met countless other wildly talented people that I would be inspired by and later emulate to create my first startup @StackCommerce. That's the power of community. -------------- #4 - Short-term monetary sacrifices can have exponential long-term payoffs. Out of grad school, I had 2 offers - 1 from Yahoo! and one from meebo. Y! was offering $30k more but I still went with meebo. That sacrifice put me on the path to becoming an entrepreneur. If you know this is what you want - don't take no for an answer. Find a way. Take an internship. Offer to work for free at your dream job. Impress the crap out of someone by doing work that they didn't even ask for. It's low risk - but the key here is knowing what you want to do! -------------- If you've made it this far - and you want to learn and work with the best, then take a look at Onward. We're hiring for our first Merchant Success Manager. Learn more here:

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“We were using Teams for meetings, town halls, and projects, Slack for our tech teams, and Workplace for everything else. It became chaotic. Slack is now our primary tool for collaboration and information.” We love to see it 👏 With Meta recently announcing the sunsetting of their Workplace tool, the timing couldn't have been better for Scandinavian HR technology company Simployer to transition to Slack. Being in the business of people, Simployer understands the importance of everyone having access to the information and systems they need to perform at their best. Enter Slack. By consolidating their communications onto one platform, they have cut out the noise, making everything easier and less time-consuming. When one person asks a question, the entire team can see the response, reducing time spent searching for answers and boosting productivity. Beyond communication, Slack continues to enhance everyday tasks with new tools. An AI bot will simplify work for the HR department and its clients, while Confluence, Jira, and Outlook are already integrated into daily operations. Additionally, Slack Connect supports seamless external collaboration. If you'd like to learn more about how Slack can improve your team's productivity, collaboration, and culture, get in touch today. #slack #slackcommunity

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"Who are you?" It's a simple question that often yields a complex answer. For 22 years, my response was automatic: "David Long, Business Development, Intel Corp." That title was more than just words – it was my identity, my comfort zone, my shield. But, two years ago, I chose to step away from that comfort zone. I chose to pursue a new identity based on a dream born from my transformative experience as an exchange student in Chile years earlier. It wasn't an easy decision. I loved my time at Intel, and some of my best friends are still there. But sometimes, growth requires us to embrace uncertainty. I took the leap to follow my passion, creating immersive experiences that balance outdoor adventures with authentic cultural interactions in Patagonia Chile. To those facing unexpected changes or transitions, you're more than your job title: 1. Get outside in nature! 2. Take time for self-reflection. Ask, what truly matters to you? What dreams have you put on hold? 3. It's an adventure, embrace the journey....Building a new identity takes time. 4. Reach out to others. Your network can provide support, insights, and unexpected opportunities. My personal journey has taught me the value of slowing down and being present. As they say here in Patagonia, "Quien se apura en la Patagonia pierden su tiempo" - those who rush only waste their time in Patagonia. Whatever change you're facing, remember: it's an invitation to grow, not just a challenge to overcome. Take the time you need. Do your inner work, not just, the work. And if you need someone to talk to during your journey, my door is always open. #PersonalGrowth #EmbraceChange #IdentityBeyondWork #ReachOut Eko Patagonia

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There is a ton of opportunity in the "Communities Slack Doesn't Want" market. Many online community builders are choosing Slack as their home. Especially professional communities. It makes sense, right? We use Slack at work. I don't particularly enjoy Slack as a community platform and wouldn't choose it myself, but I get it. These communities are doing their best despite the fact that Slack's pricing structure is adversarial to good online communities. In general, Slack doesn't want to be used as an online community platform, and they couldn't be more clear about it. - Great online communities understand that members ebb-and-flow. We don't try to addict our members. But Slack's price per person setup puts pressure on that relationship. - Long-lasting online communities are harmed by vendor lock-in. But Slack doesn't even let you export messages unless you pay them $12.50 per person per month and from what I've read in the Slack help center, that data isn't actually tied to usernames and logins, so it's just a big old text dump or questionable worth. These tools are built for IT departments called in to work on the workspace communications tool - not community builders. - I would argue that Slack has severe downsides when it comes to workflows and how activity is presented, unless you are specifically looking for a chat-like environment. That's why Slack rightfully has its own forum for community members to ask questions about the product. But this is a matter of taste. For some, Slack is set up exactly as they dream. I know I'm no genius here. This fairly obvious stuff, which means Slack knows it. This isn't a use case they want to cater to. Or at least, they haven't demonstrated that to me. To me, the communities that use Slack (that aren't part of a workplace) are a very approachable market for someone to build a competing tool that succeeds at: - Appropriate pricing for online communities. This is usually more along the lines of the storage you need or bandwidth you actually use. Not per person. And you should never price gate features that are core to community success, like moderation or safety functionality. - Allowing community builders to leave you through powerful export tools. - Product development aimed at the needs of community builders, and not the needs of workspace communications. Go build it! 🙂 I am sure there are people who are already working on this. If you are, I'd rather you not spam my comments section (please feel free to DM me). But if you have a tool you recommend that you are unaffiliated with, it's cool to mention it below. Vendors, please don't get around this by asking a client to recommend you. I am not in the market, just sharing an observation. Thanks. #OnlineCommunities #CommunityManagement #CommunityManager #CMGR #Slack #Product

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Quality and Craft is the difference between people using your software and loving it.

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I’m hiring a new Chief of Staff. In tech, a CoS can mean a lot of different things. For me it is two things. First, a person that gives me institutional grade leverage. Second, a person that can speak for me both inside Carta and outside. Many CoS’s have gone on to do incredible things like Matt Howland who after being my CoS became Carta’s General Manager of the captable business and subsequently a founder and now CPO/CTO of Cordial, Sumeet Gajri who became Carta’s Chief Strategy Officer and then Managing Director of Original Capital, and Jane Alexander who became Carta’s Chief Marketing Officer and now Partner at Capital G. Every chief of staff has brought their unique skills to leave a positive impact on me and on Carta. It is a hard gig. You will work my hours (which are a lot). You will do everything from deciding how to use my time to developing Carta strategy. You will be in every meeting I’m in, you will be involved in every decision I make, and you will see what it’s like to run Carta. You will see things you haven’t seen before, and if you’ve seen the press, it is not for the faint of heart. But if you do it, you will learn a ton, experience things most people never get to, and see the world in a whole new way. It is a three year tour of duty and then we try to place you in a leadership role somewhere within Carta. I’m posting this because I’d love to find a wonderful person to work with for the next three years. If you are interested please consider applying. For those that apply I’d like to ask you to submit two things. 1. Please submit a short answer (less than 600 words) to the following question. Last November I got a lot of negative press for sending a pre-emptive email to thousands of customers about upcoming negative press about my leadership style. The subsequent storyline was “Henry is terrible at PR and what an idiot for bringing more attention to negative stories???” They could be right. I could be an idiot. But for this question, assume I wasn’t. Assume that it was a calculated decision and, in hindsight, still a correct one. Why did I do it? Please write it in the form of a in memo to the Carta Board explaining why we made that decision and thought it was the right one. 2. Please submit a short video presentation (less than four mins) teaching me something I don’t know. It can be about anything. It can be a cooking lesson, a business lesson, a history lesson. I’ll give an example in the next comment. I know it is a big ask but hopefully not much more time than preparing for an interview. And it will give us a head start so that in the second round, instead of asking you questions, you get to come in and grill me. 🙂 If you are interested please apply through the posting below with your board letter and a link to your video; I'm excited to see it. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’m super excited to hear from you. https://lnkd.in/gtmFfrjV

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This is how you write a job post

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Two months ago, I quit my job. I had nothing lined up. No clients. No plan. A 1-month-old baby. And 6 months of runway. Here’s what happened next. I knew something had to change. I was leading product and design in GamerPay, a Y Combinator startup. On paper, my dream job (and in many ways it was). But I knew I wanted to start my own thing. So, I decided to quit. Scary? Yes. Exciting? YES! So what’s my plan now? When I resigned, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But I knew: • It had to be in the startup space (I like working in and with startups). • It should involve building products (what I’m good at and love doing). • I found AI interesting and wanted to learn more. So I immersed myself in AI and started building. I took the Notion system I’d built over the years for product discovery and growth and started building AI Assistants to help execute every step of it. Now I have AI assistants to help me: • Create ideal user profiles. • Create user interview guides. • Summarize user interviews. • Analyze growth models. • Create growth experiments. I didn’t have a plan other than learning. But halfway through building these assistants, I realized how powerful they were. I could use them to: • Deliver a way better and faster service. • Give other product managers access to them to speed up their discovery work. So last week, I decided to test two hypotheses: 1) Can I create an AI-assisted product consultancy service for startups? 2) Can I get users for an AI-powered Product Discovery system? The feedback I received exceeded my expectations: • I advised Cleve.ai, an early-stage AI startup, and got amazing feedback (check them out, super cool startup!). • Got the first 20 product managers on the waitlist for the Discovery System. So, I’ve decided to double down. Now, I plan to continue validating these hypotheses (it’s still early). And I want to bring you with me on the journey through content. PS. Let me know if you want more content like this by dropping a like. It’s the best way for me to know what to make more of in the future.

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Not sure who needs to hear this in my network, but Bonnie has summed things up for tech pretty well. The SJ Mercury News summed things up this way (**-emphasis mine): "Since the tech industry’s bouts of layoffs began more than two years ago, these 10 companies account for the most tech industry layoffs in the Bay Area. The periods cover 2022, 2023 and **so far in 2024**: — Facebook app owner Meta Platforms, 5,195 — Tesla, 3,051 — Google, 2,507 — Cisco Systems, 1,754 — Broadcom, 1,267 — Salesforce, 1,202 — Intel, 989 — Twitter, 900 — PayPal, 772 — LinkedIn, 711 Plus, Apple, for the first time, revealed plans for layoffs that included the Bay Area. The iPhone maker in recent weeks disclosed that it would chop 614 jobs in the region." source: https://lnkd.in/gecnSaQ7

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People people, check this awesome guide on salary benchmarking and pay transparency from Alistair Fraser 🔥🔥🔥

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Hey all... JOB OPPORTUNITY !! mini story included_ 2 weeks ago I posted for this role and we made it through interviews in 1 week. I hate dangling 'speed' in front of people bc I know how frustrated people are (this market sucks!), but this truly was a special, refined process. ⚒ Took the brief > presented a stand-out candidate > interviewed over 5 business days > offer! 🙀 It was wild but in the best way! A dream for a great recruiting partnership. But also a > 🎢. And as things go, it wasn't the right timing for this particular candidate. That's okay! 🥁 That means the role is still open, and I gotta fill it. This client has been interviewing for a couple of months, and by now, knows exactly what they are looking for, and are ready to hire yesterday. So here is what we learned we really need from this most recent interview round: 🌟 🌟 🌟 Have you worked at a startup? Have you worked for a big company? Are you in the Bay Area (able to get to San Mateo 2x/wk for jam sessions)? Can you get down with being an IC for 6-12 months and want to/have experience building a team? Do you want to be a strategic partner and build from 0-1? And hang out in Figma every day? 🌟 🌟 🌟 Please see original post below for all relevant/required info! Hit me up and share with your SF buddies/networks. I appreciate you! This team is cool. Level-headed. Accommodating. Clear-sighted. Passionate. TYSM. 🧡

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🔎 👀 Job hunting observations 👀 🔎 Next up, a few observations from my recent (successful) job search. These are observations rather than insights/action items since I'm not sure that job-seekers can actually ~do~ anything about these, but hopefully sharing these reduces surprise for folks. If anyone has ideas on how to handle these, do share in the comments! 4️⃣ Less tolerance for doubt In prior searches, the vast majority (90%) of my rejections happened right at the recruiter screen or at the final round; I rarely got dropped in intermediate rounds (e.g. hiring manager first round). This time, 50% of my rejections happened in intermediate rounds (remaining 25% in screen, 25% in final). My read is that interviewers are now being more stringent. In the past, if there was some doubt, they would still let you through and let the next person deal with it; but now, if there's any smidge of doubt, they have so many candidates that you'll just get rejected right away. 5️⃣ Long wait times even after doing final rounds Before, I would typically get a decision within 3 to 4 days after doing a final round, but now it can stretch to several *weeks*. My read is that the market is now so much in favor of companies, that even if a candidate clears the bar, companies now keep interviewing candidates to try to find the BEST person, which results in these long waits while they keep you warm. 6️⃣ The start-of-quarter pop is still real If you’ve been on the hiring side, you’ll know that new headcount gets authorized at specific points in the year, rather than on an ad hoc basis, and it’s often granted at the start of a quarter. This pattern seems to have stayed true, despite other market changes - I saw a noticeable pop in callbacks at the start of quarters (January, April). As a job seeker, it doesn’t mean that you can take your foot off the gas in the last month of the quarter though! It just means that all your March applications may only bear callback fruit in April. 👉 Read Part 1 here, with 3 actionable job-hunting insights: https://lnkd.in/ghv9c5Ay

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Code Career Mastery is a full proof way to navigate any job market, especially in today's climate. We see clients land interviews within 2 weeks of starting at startups that pay $120K+ for Software Engineers with 2-3 years of work experience. Both 🚀 Nate Hobi and I know exactly what's it like to search for interviews without results, so we created a system - no guessing what works or cold applying and waiting. Together with 🚀 Nate Hobi, we help Software Engineers learn how to communicate better while acing those technical interviews. 𝗜𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲, 𝗜 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀. Message me 'Mentor' for details on mentorship to land your next role. It's 1:1 training that will land you interviews and make sure you pass them.

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Comp leaders - is your equity program working? How about beyond year 4? Charlie's latest newsletter highlights the hidden factors at play in common equity programs. How do we make it a win-win?

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While I always advocate for anyone to stretch in the morning Andrew Chen's idea of '10x work' from his latest Substack is quite dynamic and fresh: "Imagine the thousands of tasks you did in the past year and sort them by impact. How many of them actually moved the needle? I’m certain this list of tasks would sort themselves into a power law where a tiny number of high upside tasks drove the most impact. These are what I’ll call '10x work' — these are key tasks where your doing them well/poorly really matters, and the result might define your professional output for an entire year (or more). 10x work is weird and often the opposite of routine. 10x work seems to come up randomly, often hang on a few quick and important decisions, unfold in a few days or weeks, and the results can be huge (or catastrophic). Often there’s no undo button. A deal might fall apart and never recover. A product launch might cause usage to explode, when the right punchline in the launch video is crafted. 100 lines of brilliantly written code might be the difference between state of the art versus rapid obsolescence." So much of our work is about 'those' moments you can't plan or snap them into existance. However, you can manifest them. You can be aware the opportunities are out there waiting for you to discover them. "The 10x plan for 10x work for 10x people We need to remind ourselves that our careers are defined by the highest moments of the biggest swings. Let’s maximize these opportunities. Make a Master Plan, and then pick a direction and go! Embrace more serendipity, talk to more interesting people, take more swings, and go deep on your craft. Proactively position yourself to jump into action when 10x moments emerge, and create the opportunity to pour resources (time, people, capital) into a project that catches on. You’ll note that there’s no yoga or meditation on this list. (But fine, do it if it helps). And I don’t advocate working even more hours. In the end, I’m not sure that it’s possible to avoid the ~60 hours/week we all spend on emails/meetings/etc., and the most productive people on the planet aren’t working that much more than that. Perhaps someone like Elon can breathe/sleep his work and increase it +50% more, but not 3x or 5x. It’s just not possible. To achieve more, it’s more about how you fill the time you have." TLDR; Get out there and shoot your shot!

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SVP of Product is looking for an Upstream Product Manager position and the pay range is $98.96 - $114.59/Hour. Product managers that are being staffed by tech recruiting agencies in this market are some of the best roles to target as a candidate. There are two type of recruiters in tech. There are internal recruiters who work in house and external recruiters at agency who are paid a commission by the company to staff an extremely urgent role. 80% of the positions in tech haven’t even been posted yet, because everybody procrastinates doing work they and there’s nothing a refuting hates more than posting up jobs. Yuck, just writing this out brings back such painful memories. Here is a link to all the product manager roles being staffed by recruiters along with their name, contact information, pay rate, and remote or hybrid status. See you in Skool! https://lnkd.in/gCsMZ-Ab Don’t be late to Skool! https://lnkd.in/gCsMZ-Ab PS Let me know if you would like me to refer you and if I can I will. I am connected to tons of recruiters in the industry, but I can’t say I am close with all of them. Please RESHARE this post for all your colleagues still looking for a job.

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