Leaders Unscripted

Conversations with leaders about the challenges they’ve faced and what they’ve learned.

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2: The Life of a First-Time Exec at an Early Stage Startup with VP of Engineering at Range, Jean Hsu

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Having worked at huge businesses like Google, and early stage startups like Pulse (which is now LinkedIn’s news feed), Jean Hsu has mastered the challenges that come at every level.

Now VP of Engineering at Range, having taken the role mid-pandemic, Jean is the perfect person to share the joys and drawbacks of working within early stage startups, and why you should question your assumptions about them.

She joins me on episode 2 of Leaders Unscripted to detail her route into tech, the value of a trust bank within your network, and how the VP role evolves in unique ways.

This Episode Covers:

  • Jean’s route into tech and development experience at Google before the startup life
  • How the VP role drastically differs from the manager role with a big picture outlook
  • The value of a trust bank with your network
  • Assumptions on life within early stage startups, and whether they align with reality

Episode Highlights:

“I spent the next few months picking up Android development, started working with a small startup called Pulse which later became LinkedIn Pulse, the news feed of LinkedIn. Worked there for about a year, but fell in love with that early stage startup environment.” - 4:35 - Jean Hsu
“When you're coaching you really just hear from this one person, and that's their experience. But as someone who's kind of a manager and on the team, you can sometimes see more than what they may bring to you as a coach.” - 9:00 - Jean Hsu
“I spent the first few months at Range getting up to speed supporting the team, but also learning the code base. I wanted to be able to contribute. But a few months in, I realised the gap that I can help fill is really getting the word out more about Range in our target audience, which is engineering managers.” - 15:25 - Jean Hsu
“One of the challenges I found is navigating how to support your team in a way that feels aligned with your own integrity of how to be a manager and how to support people, plus how to make sure the company is moving along and making progress in a way that the company can continue to exist.” - 25:20 - Jean Hsu
“One of the big differences about the VP role, at least for me, is how rapidly it can shift. In the first few months, I agreed with the CEO and it made sense for me to contribute technically and be familiar with the tech stack. Quickly, it became clear that that was not where I was going to be most useful.” - 29:35 - Jean Hsu

Links & References:

Constellary: https://www.constellaryhq.com/

Suzan Bond: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzanbond/

Jean Hsu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanyhsu/

Range: https://www.range.co/