hello! i'm a previous founder, looking for my next journey/role in product management, ops, or product marketing!

gracestephenson·Jun 07, 2022

Posted in:Advice Favors Job Hunting Career Growth

hello lovely ladies of elpha! i'm new here and absolutely loving this community.

i'm a previous founder of an lgbtq+ and women-centered digital health and wellness start-up, called Glimmer weglimmer.com. it was an amazing experience, so much growth, with many successes. i built this little mission-centered company from the ground up (literally starting with crowdfunding on iFundWomen!) through Angel rounds, from launching our MVP to a full deck catalog of digital products. while there have been many beautiful wins, i've decided to take a step back for my own emotional/mental health and embark on this next professional journey.

within running a company, one of my favorite things was product development, building our products end-to-end, and managing teams from idea, to strategy, to launch. i'm driven by innovative, mission-centered start-ups (and all the fun bumps that come with it!). i'm looking for a way to get a foot in the door in terms of product, ops, or product marketing roles. i would be absolutely honored to receive any advice, chats, or learn in any way i can from folks on elpha.

i'd be happy to share more info + would love to connect with each and every one of you!

Naomi·Jun 07, 2022

Hi Grace!! congratulations on that move -- no easy feat :) Glimmer seems so cool (and important -- definitely felt this need on a personal level).I kind of ended up doing this founder-to-start-up transition too -- and I know there are a lot of other founders & former founders on here as well. One thing I learned quickly in my job search after being a co-founder was that it's really important not just to take stock of what you _can_ do but also what you _want to_ do -- I was in the habit of listing out what's possible, rather than what I wanted. Learning to be a generalist is great but don't forget the stuff you hated doing (even if you were good at it!)also, it was super helpful for me to think about the type of company I wanted to be at -- even within the mission-driven start up world there are so many different types of companies i think (size-wise, culture-wise, etc.)what do you think are the most important things to you about your next role/company you're at? so excited for you!!

gracestephenson·Jun 12, 2022

ah thank you so much for all this advice + wisdom. i’ve been doing some soul searching as you mentioned — thinking about values, culture, work-life balance. i’m feeling so ready for this next step! really appreciate you ✨ happy to be connected!!!

Naomi·Jun 16, 2022

me too :) reach out any time!! would be happy to connect and just chat through things too if you want! Another thing I did when I was looking was just talk to people about their jobs as if I was a college grad again hahahhaa. It helped me a lot!

tracysaunders·Jun 11, 2022

Hi @gracestephenson Great to meet and congratulations for stepping into your next adventure. I'd love to connect with you. I'm the founder of BossmakeHer. I look forward to connecting with you!

gracestephenson·Jun 12, 2022

thank you! just sent you a dm :-)