Request for Startup (Jobs)

as of Fall, 2018

👋 Hi! I’m Patrick Perini. I build teams and products. (More on that in my website and résumé.) I’m looking for my next job as a Product or Engineering Manager.

This RFS was my way of codifying what I’m looking for in the next team I join. If you know a team that’s hiring and is a fit, let me know at pcperini@gmail.com, and feel free to send them this article.

I’m also documenting some of the Interview Questions I’ve Enjoyed, if you’re inclined to read my Professional Thoughts.

Industries

1. 📠 Communication & Future of Work. The future of work is even more flexible and remote than it is today. Technology has the responsibility to preserve context, facilitate real understanding, and enforce healthy boundaries. There’s much to be done here.
2. 🍛 Food Tech & Food Distribution. We’re in the nascence of a post-industrial food revolution where nutrition, environmental consideration, and compassion are key. Nutrition tech can help turn ignorance into understanding. And distribution tech can help us bridge the gap between production and consumption.
3. 🅱️ Social Good & B-Corps. At its best, technology is a strong lever for increased accessibility to information and services. From housing to healthcare to new economic opportunities, social good tech can scale access from dozens to millions overnight.
4. 💎 VC, Incubators, & Company Builders. When done for the benefit of companies, venture capital is greater than zero-sum. By redistributing access to liquid cash, VC has unprecedented ability to open doors for the entrepreneurs who are changing the world for the better.

My Favorite Problems

1. 💫 Creating mutual understanding. Alan Alda says that real, empathetic communication increases the agility and resilience of a team. I agree. And I’d add that everyone’s sense of loyalty, from co-founders to customers, increases when they feel understood.
2. 💯 Creating new opportunities for people. The world is full of brilliant people who just need their first break. Teams are at their best when they hire for potential and cultivate it. And technology is at its best when it enables its users to be the best versions of themselves.
3. 🌍 Designing for the real world. From AR games to TEDx talks; from in the office to out in a (literal) field, I start and end every effort with the tangible implications. What sort of real-world outcome should this have, and for whom? I do my best work when I know it will have offline effects.
4. 🔥 Telling stories, and helping others tell theirs. Ultimately, we’re all just sharing stories. The stories from our past help us understand each other, the ones from our present keep us going in the same direction, and the best ones tell us our future.

Culture

1. 👩🏾‍💻 Diverse and inclusive. You’re committed in both words and actions to building a diverse and inclusive team. (Not only is this critical to building a resilient company, it’s the morally right thing to do. If your team is nearly all male and/or white, you don’t need me! Please go interview some women and POC instead.)
2. 🙋🏿‍♂️ Highly communicative. Asking questions and raising concerns increases political capital, rather than expends it. Good ideas come from everywhere, and leadership routinely plays catchball with the team to establish goals. Everyone feels a sense of contribution and ownership.
3. 👩🏻‍🍳 Committed to craft. Your work starts with a deep consideration for your audience: co-workers, investors, customers, readers, et al. Decision making incorporates the team’s highly developed intuitions, and builds a sense of collaborative pride.

Size

As the name of the article suggests, I’m most interested in startups. Seed–Series B is ideal, as is any company with 1–100 employees. I enjoy knowing everyone in the company whenever possible, and I like to have a big impact. That said, I’m the most open on this front!

More About Me

I’m a user-focused product manager who can program full-stack web and iOS. I’ve also founded several startups. If you’re interested in the details of the companies I’ve built and the projects I’ve worked on, my website, pcperini.com, has a pretty good list.

Skills

I love to learn, and I do so pretty quickly. I’m also privileged enough to be able to say “I don’t understand” and have people take that seriously. All of these other things are a consequence of that.

🛠 Product Skills: User research. HCI / UX design & testing. Product strategy, roadmapping, & prioritization. Rapid prototyping. SQL & data analysis. Design & strategic product architecture. Service design.

🤝 People Skills: Managing designers and engineers and their projects. Ensuring that what needs to be communicated actually is. Structuring meetings so designers and engineers waste little time. Recruiting and team building. Writing & storytelling.

🦑 Other Stuff: Full-stack and mobile engineering (Python, React, Node, Swift, etc.). Software architecture (micro-services, API design, schema design, etc.). Public speaking. Podcast production. Cooking.