Break the Loop #1

Phew! Week 1 of launching my business is complete - and it's been jam packed with learning. First to say, I wanted to start this newsletter to share my experience of being a (female, autistic) founder of a business, just in case it might inspire someone to begin their own journey one day.

Here's what we're going to cover in this episode:

• What's in a name? How I chose the company name Product Karma and what it means
• Launch retrospective - what went well, what could have been better, what are the actions for next time
• What's coming up - releases, events, public speaking
• Hot jobs - companies that are hiring for Product roles now

Let's dive in!

What's in a name?

They're not joking when they say 'naming things is hard'. I had been thinking of names for my business for ages. I dabbled with the thought of just going with 'Caroline Clark', after all, a lot of great brands are built around personalities. But that felt uncomfortable to me, and also somewhat restrictive if I should choose to expand beyond employing just myself in the future (I like to keep my options open!)

I noodled on several different words... 'product' with something, but a lot had already been done. It needed to be unique. I wanted to incorporate something about the mind, thinking, psychology if possible, given that's my other mega passion (special interest). Eventually (it may have been in a dream or a conversation with ChatGPT, I forget which) I came up with 'karma'. Something clicked: I really liked the name Product Karma. It drew on a lot of metaphors and similarities between developing products and karma. You see, karma is about:

• Cause and effect: Product folk create products to have positive impact
• Cycles: like iterations of developing a product, making improvements on every turn
• Enlightenment: gaining insight into what customers want and how they respond to your product

I thought the name could be spun in different ways for different communication channels. I've gone for Break the Loop on this newsletter to represent breaking through negative cycles via mindful actions and personal growth - given this is documenting my experiences as a founder I thought that quite appropriate.

It would have been super easy for me to overthink naming this. The short of it? It doesn't really matter what you call a company because you can always change it later. Nothing is forever.

Launch retrospective

I launched Product Karma last Thursday, and have been blown away by the support expressed from the Product community - thank you all. So much positive energy was cultivated, and I felt really encouraged (and humbled) by everybody's kind messages. It goes to show that when you are prepared to take a risk there will be people cheering you on - just go for it!

On launch day itself I ran a giveaway of a Catalyst product coaching package, which was won by Jordan Payne (congratulations!). There is also a whopping 41% discount off all our packages running throughout June for bookings made this month (so book now to take advantage of that offer!) However, I realised I had not done enough promotion leading up to the big day - I had not engaged much on Linkedin in the weeks leading up to it, had a last minute thought to share a few teasers a few days before, and then went straight into it on Thursday. Given another shot, I would plan a soft launch and start talking about it on socials earlier, with a full launch later once I had some traction. Actually, I could still do this now?

The first couple of days were busy with 'outbound sales' aka reaching out to my network to let them know I now offer these services. I just want to say a HUGE thank you to the people who responded, even if it was a no. The misery of uncertainty is worse than the certainty of misery, or something like that. From that exercise I generated a good number of leads and I'm looking forward to the discovery calls scheduled over the next couple of weeks. However, I have definitely felt a strong need to hustle - like, always be on, always be ready to respond, always be thinking about new ways to generate business. It's both a blessing and a curse, as I'm feeling super creative but also super chaotic. Systems are going to be key here (more on that in next week's newsletter).

All in, it's been a fantastic first week and I'm looking forward to what's coming next!

What's coming up?

Releases

• Now live - our free download, the Product Coaching Workbook, containing 3 key exercises to support your learning and development as a product manager or leader
• Coming soon - Land your dream Product job e-book, taking you through our 5-step STARS approach to finding a new role

Events

• 13 June: Tech4Good: Shifting mindsets and changing behaviours meetup in London, hosted by Thriva and sponsored by Burns Sheehan
• 21 June: AI / ML implications for our roles, products and businesses meetup in Cambridge, hosted by Cambridge Product Management Network
• 28 June: Using data as a product manager meetup in London, hosted by Product Tank

Public speaking

• 22 June: IWTTF conference panel discussion on Neurodiversity in the workplace, hosted at Google HQ in London. I'll be sharing insights from my lived experiences as a late-diagnosed autistic, and how employers can support neurodiverse employees to succeed

Hot jobs

People have been asking me if I've heard of any Product roles available, so in this section I'm sharing a highlights list of what has come across from my network this week (if you are actively looking, I highly recommend checking out Otta for more roles)

• Trainline (travel tech) is looking for a Product Manager - Supply
• Zoe (health tech) is looking for two roles - a Senior Product Manager - Ops and Scaling, and a Senior Product Manager - Testing and Results (their Dec 22 raise secured them $30M)
• Elvie (women's health tech) is looking for 2x Senior Product Manager - Mobile apps
• Motorway (e-comm) is looking for a Principal Product Manager
• Humble AI (AI tooling) is looking for a Head of Product / Product Lead
• Supercritical (climate tech) is looking for a Head of Product

That's all for this week! If you have any feedback I would love to hear it, please send me a message. May you have positive karma with your products!