A motivational talk on breaking free from career stagnation by pursuing curiosity and real skills instead of waiting for permission or credentials. The speaker shares examples of people who succeeded by taking initiative without gatekeepers, especially in the AI era, and argues that solving real problems matters more than external validation.
Okay, so I wanted to make this video because I see many people feeling stuck in their career. You know, have you ever caught yourself thinking, if only I can get into this company, role or school, then I can finally do great work? I used to be stuck in this mindset, but I've come to realize that you don't need anyone's permission to do your best work. Instead, you can just do things. So let's talk about why chasing credentials is ultimately a dead end. Real examples of people who have succeeded by skipping the gatekeepers and how to just do things in the AI era without seeking permission. If you are a young person or someone who feels stuck in their career, I think this video is a must watch. So I've spent a lot of time chasing credentials. I have degrees from Brown and mit. I've had jobs at Meta, Reddit, Amazon and other leading tech companies. Now don't get me wrong, fancy credentials can open doors, but it's harder than ever to get into the best colleges and land a great job at a top tech company with a lot of these companies doing layoffs. Still more importantly, chasing credentials blindly will ultimately lead to an unfulfilling career because of two things. Number one, you stop following your curiosity. For example, I wasted years doing consulting because I thought that's what the other smart kids wanted after college. And number two, you don't build real skills. Getting perfect grades and memorizing PM interview frameworks takes time away from developing real skills like building, selling and writing. In today's era, you can just do things. For example, Jay young was a 19 year old when he became head of growth for Noah Kagan, an amazing entrepreneur. He got the job by making a full deck that he co DM to Noah with ideas on how to grow his newsletter. Noah hired him over other candidates with better credentials and now Jay runs his own business. As another example, Shopify is notoriously hard to get into. Their hiring rate is as low as 0.3%. But Akshar, a Waterloo undergrad, found a way to reach Shopify CEO directly. He built an app helping students find study spots on campus and shared it on Twitter. His post went viral and got the attention of Toby, Shopify's CEO. I follow up with Akshar over email and confirm that he got the Shopify job. One more example. Many years ago I was leading product for a credit card marketplace. I was running a ton of growth experiments to optimize this marketplace. I found myself doing work that I didn't enjoy. So that's when I decided to start writing my newsletter to share my knowledge about the creator and consumer product space and now years later, over 100,000 people read it every week and you can find the link in the description. You know Naval had a great quote that changed how I think about careers forever. Code and media are permissionless leverage. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. An army of robots is freely available. Use them and AI has made this army of robots more accessible than ever. I use AI to help me in my PM job, to help me edit my newsletter, to research podcast guests, and so much more. So instead of seeking permission from admission officers, recruiters and even hiring managers, why not solve real problems for real customers? You know, I have young kids and these days it seems like every parent is obsessed about getting their kids into Stanford and faang companies. They pack their kids schedules full of after school programs and weekend activities. I want to teach my kids to think independently and pursue their curiosity instead, or even do their homework if it means that they can have more time to explore what they're actually passionate about. So to wrap up, I share this advice probably once a week with students and people trying to transition into product management. My point is stop asking to have a call, pick someone's brain and grab coffee. Stop chasing the same schools and jobs that everyone else is chasing. Stop being proud of X Company or X title on your LinkedIn. Instead, don't wait for permission to do your best work. The only people you just seek permission from are real customers who want to pay you to solve real problems. This path isn't easy, but it'll make work feel like play and help you build real skills, relationships and confidence that nobody can take away from you. I hope this video helped you if you feel like you're stuck and please like and subscribe and let me know in the comments if you found this helpful. Thanks so much.
