#07 - Erik Torenberg thinks we should build career moats

Every great product should have a moat, and careers are no different.

Product Tropes that Apply to Careers: Capitalize on unfair advantages, insights, or relationships. Disrupt orthogonally, often from below—try not to compete head on. When you’re younger, take more market risk; when you’re more experienced, take execution risk.

When Patrick O’Shaughnessy was asked about his most important career advice, he said to “learn in public, fanatically.” I agree. Because in addition to learning, you pre-sell the world on whatever ambitious project you dream up next.

On Failure: I think seeing failure is really important. It’s important to learn the lesson of what didn't work, sometimes more so than learning the lesson of what did work.On Networking: Replace the word networking with relationships. Networking feels transactional; nobody wants to be networked. Your job in your 20s is to forge relationships and re... See more

Instead of pursuing options that cap downside while also capping upside, make bets that have asymmetric pay-offs: If you win, you win big. If not, you’ve gained valuable skills, relationships, and reputational benefits that will carry you over to your next asymmetric bet.