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Peter Yang, a Product Lead at Roblox with a rich background at Meta, Twitch, and Reddit, shares keen insights on breaking into tech. He emphasizes building real products over traditional credentials to shine in job applications. Peter discusses the importance of aligning personal and company values, as well as asking insightful questions during interviews to gauge authenticity. He also dives into his newsletter's success, attributing it to concise, actionable content and explains how maintaining a full-time job fosters creativity. Excitingly, he believes no-code AI tools will democratize programming for everyone.

Chris is a repeat founder, he was the CEO of Laskie (acquired by X), Co-founder of Interviewed (acquired by Indeed in 2017), COO of 42Floors (acquired by Knotel), managed business development for Zillow (NAS $ZG), RentJuice (acquired by Zillow in 2012).Check out Chris on X and Linkedin.At next play, we help people find their next play by sending opportunities, hosting gatherings, and curating content. Everything is off the record and confidential. More here nextplay.soHuge thanks to ⁠⁠Alex Banaga⁠⁠ for designing our thumbnails. Get full access to next play at nextplayso.substack.com/subscribe

Devin Lewtan, the growth expert at The Browser Company and former CEO of Mad Realities, dives into her fascinating journey from founder to operator. She explores her transition to growth strategies, emphasizing community-building and student engagement. Devin shares the viral success of her Clubhouse show, NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys, and discusses the importance of participatory entertainment. With insights on the evolving media landscape and advice for tech professionals, she champions the value of connecting with diverse communities.

Amanda joined Figma in 2018 when it was $1M ARR and built out the global go-to-market (sales, marketing, support) organization. Prior to Figma she joined Zendesk as employee #13 and built and led various marketing and sales teams along with playing a key role in the IPO process. Her expertise includes PLG+Enterprise strategy, pricing and packaging, as well as two runs with learning what it takes to scale from $1->$500M.In this episode we talk about Amanda’s career as an early employee at Zendesk, scaling at Figma, starting off in tech, managing a global team, and much more.Thank you to our sponsor Notion. Get 6 months free of Notion with unlimited AI when you apply at notion.com/startups, select next play in the drop-down partner list and enter code nextplay at the end of the form.At next play, we help people find their next play by sending opportunities, hosting gatherings, and curating content. Everything is off the record and confidential. More here nextplay.soHuge thanks to ⁠⁠Alex Banaga⁠⁠ for designing our thumbnails. Get full access to next play at nextplayso.substack.com/subscribe

Camille Ricketts is a Partner & Head of Marketing at XYZ Venture Capital, previously the first marketing hire at Notion and Editor of First Round Review. In this engaging conversation, she shares how serendipity guided her journey from journalism to tech. Camille discusses the importance of patience and thoughtfulness learned at First Round, her emotional experience leaving Notion, and crafting a successful transition for her team. She also reflects on her time at Tesla and the value of embracing a circuitous career path filled with unexpected opportunities.

Logan Kilpatrick, former developer relations leader at OpenAI and now leading product at Google AI Studio, shares his journey into tech, becoming an AI thought leader, and his advice for tech enthusiasts. Topics include his transition between companies, the collaborative culture at OpenAI, the importance of developers, and future advancements in technology.

Merci is a repeat founder, angel investor, former venture capital investor, and former Head of Growth at Slack. She started her career in tech as a game designer and has worked in product roles at SaaS and consumer companies.In this episode we talk about* The pros and cons of being a founder* Working in a product function at a high growth company* What the early days of Slack were like* What transitioning from an operator into venture looks like* Why go back to being a founder* How to evaluate career options* and more!Thank you to our sponsor Notion. Make sure to sign up for Notion using this link notion.com/benlangMerci’s LinkedinMerci’s TwitterAt next play, we help people find their next play by sending opportunities, hosting gatherings, and curating content. Everything is off the record and confidential. More here ⁠⁠nextplay.so⁠⁠Huge thanks to ⁠⁠Alex Banaga⁠⁠ for designing our thumbnails. Get full access to next play at nextplayso.substack.com/subscribe

Michael Karnjanaprakorn, founder of Skillshare, discusses treating yourself like a startup, lifestyle design, benefits of boredom for personal growth, improving writing skills, and creating life event templates to reduce divorce rates.

Former PM at LinkedIn, Nikunj Kothari, talks about transitioning to growth leader at Opendoor, product lead at Meter, and investor at Khosla. Highlights include insights on joining Opendoor, excelling in interviews, building strong teams, transitioning between companies, and venturing into angel investing and career exploration.

Deedy Das, Principal at Menlo Ventures and founding team member of Glean ($2.2B), discusses his journey from Google to venture capital, the impact of Twitter on his career, joining a startup, and navigating growth and transition in startups. The dialogue highlights the importance of resilience, building connections, and making career decisions in the tech industry.