The Great Career Reshuffling: Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ and Kyle unpack the career anxiety spreading across tech. They talk about AI, private-company wealth, career leverage, title vs. cash vs. equity, and why the smartest move may be getting brutally clear on the game you’re actually playing.

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SPONSORS:

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LINKS: 

Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.com

CJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/

Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/

Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/

Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/

Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/

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RELATED EPISODES:

A CFO Explains Secondaries

https://youtu.be/pENvBuXhGuk

Sam Jacobs of Pavilion

https://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0

Bruno Annicq of Wellhub

https://youtu.be/dfjSjPAXEEk

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 SF trip and CFO dinners

1:27 A consistent feeling: am I on the right thing?

2:47 Anthropic secondary: 75 people hit $30M cap

3:06 Anecdote 1: CFO at 50M ARR SaaS

7:58 Anecdote 2: banker pivoting to defense tech

8:03 Cybersecurity: best and worst of times

10:40 Sponsors — beehiiv | Tabs | Lightfield

13:40 Graduation speaker gets booed for AI speech

15:10 The comparison trap: luck vs. merit in SaaS

17:54 What are you maximizing for?

18:29 Is leaving tech a real path?

21:07 Advice for the great reshuffling

21:51 Lever 1: maximize equity

22:51 Lever 2: maximize base cash

23:30 Lever 3: maximize title and opportunity

24:00 Lever 4: lifestyle and autonomy

24:52 CJ's career story: consulting at 58k

28:28 OpenView: pay cut for long-term growth

29:13 Is there career arbitrage right now?

29:48 Why join a fast-growing AI company

31:06 Hot AI startups pay well — but expectations are high

32:04 18 months to get in the club

33:26 How to pick the right AI company

34:19 Can you have a great job at a bad company?

35:03 Mediocre at a great company beats the reverse

36:18 Career at a twilight company?

38:38 If you had to choose: what do you join?

38:49 Best time ever to be a small business owner

39:45 AI at the pizza shop story

41:18 Credits

#MostlyGrowthPodcast #CareerGrowth #SaaS #AIStrategy #StartupGrowth