Shweta Shrivastava

Here’s the #1 mistake EB-1A aspirants in tech make. ⚠️ They go outside-in versus inside-out. What does that even mean? It means they look externally for how other people built EB-1A profiles as a guide to how they should build their profile. I get it - if you don’t know where to start, makes sense to do what other successful applicants do, right? Wrong. This approach is breeding a generation of EB-1A’s that all look the same. 🐑 The whole point of the EB-1A process is to show why YOU are UNIQUELY recognized as among the best in your field. 💯 So how does it help to get all the same judging, awards, and media that everyone else is getting? ✅ You are supposed to stand out from the crowd, and show the impact of the work YOU are doing within the EB-1A framework. Plus, in tech, everyone has a different story to tell. How does it help to use someone else’s approach to tell your story? These EB-1A’s come across as fake - and you know who hates fakers more than anyone else? 👮‍♂️ USCIS. And when they see these applications they will profile you as a faker and completely disregard the parts that are deserving. We know because we (and many of our lawyer colleagues) are now being asked to help scores of tech workers who got their EB-1A’s denied after filling up their profiles with unimpressive awards and marketing exposes masquerading as media articles in 3rd rate publications. Question: since when do awesome tech employees ever get recognition of their expertise in the press? They don’t. Their employers do. So it looks weird that a generation of employees are now suddenly getting press coverage. ✅ Instead of an outside-in approach, go inside-out. First identify your unique impact proposition. What is your narrative? How are you uniquely amazing? Because if you are a senior employee at an innovative company, chances are you doing some incredible, impactful EB-1A-worthy work! Then, build your case from there in a way that honors that narrative. This is the formula we use in our course, and then in our law firm, that leads to a ~99% approval rate. Don’t be tempted to fake it! #immigration #eb1a #globalmobility -------- Do you work in high-tech, are stuck in long green card backlogs, and are looking to level up to an EB-1A? Our next attorney-led live EB-1A profile-building cohort begins on June 8. Apply now to secure your spot! The link is in the comments below.

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Quick help!! I am planning to scale our MicroSaaSHQ to 100k subscribers this year and also bringing in a lot of changes and want to leverage some email automations. Most solutions like ConvertKit are crazily expensive. No doubt they are great products but expensive. So considering trying Systeme for Emails. Anyone using Systeme for Emails? They have $97/m for unlimited emails. Any one using this?

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If I had to break into Product Management again, here's how I would do it 👇 . . . . Regardless of how you transition, there are 2 things you MUST do: ⭐️ Tailoring your resume and making it relevant >>>> anything else. ⭐️ Networking >>> mass applying to all jobs. 💻 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 → Work with the PM on my team: Share my interest in Product Management and learn from them/shadow them. Work on Strategy/Vision Docs, writing PRDs, attending customer calls, etc. → No PMs on my team?: I would either propose to work on a project on the team acting as the PM or search for another team/company first that has PMs with Eng teams. ⭐️ In the end I would either have enough skills and experience to apply to PM roles or become a PM on the team. 📊 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐌𝐬 (𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠) → Work with the PM on my team: Just like software engineers, I would again express my interest and shadow them to transfer internally. → No PMs on my team: I think of 3 options 1. Apply to APM/PM roles that are not technical 2. Transfer internally to a team (same role) with PMs 3. Go to another company to a team that is close to PMs (same role) ⭐️ Your goal is to get close to PMs and transfer internally or gain skills to add to your resume 💼 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 → Get Close: I would get close to a Product team. Can I transfer to Business Analyst, Product Marketing, or Product Owner? Then follow the same process I mentioned above. → Be a PM within my team: I would search for areas of improvement within my team or for customers, and act as the Product Manager for it. Make a proposal, business case, and strategy, and then convince managers to put resources (e.g. developers) into the project. Be the PM for it. → Be a PM outside of work: I would do the same thing, but outside of work. Find a problem to solve, validate it, hire a few engineers (e.g. Fiverr), and get a product launched. → Volunteer with non-profits: Probably there's a group/non-profit near you that needs help with their app, website, or products. (I don't condone or encourage non-paid jobs with companies) 🎓 𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 → Network with PMs: Your school alumni probably have many PMs in Tech. Use your position as a student to learn. Alumni are usually receptive to helping students - Network to learn, don't ask for a referral or a job on your first message. → Do a project in school: There are plenty of opportunities to be a PM in school. I know of a PM who made a simple app that would text students the cafeteria menu every day - he did it for fun, and it grew into a product. ⭐️ And whenever I'm ready for interviews, I would of course... take my course 😂 (Current record: a student got 6 offers! - Link below) #productmanagement

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Switching to an outcome driven model cost us $500k USD. While building Lean Apps, our pricing model was the industry standard — based on time commitment and materials used (T&M). But a few years back, I came across an article about Phaneesh Murthy - the then CEO of iGATE shaking up the IT industry by charging for results instead of base fees. I realised we weren’t adding much value to our customers’ lives through T&M, and this could be a game-changer. It would make our offer a no-brainer. I discussed this with the team, and we made the switch to outcome-driven pricing. It immediately attracted customers, and things looked promising. But over the next 6 months, it backfired — - Almost every project was delayed - Client requirements kept changing - We covered project costs out of pocket We needed consistent results for this risk to pay off, but that didn’t happen. So we started losing clients, and missed out on projects worth $500k. We had only 3 months of runway left. Neither our clients nor our delivery team was satisfied, and there was a lot of pressure on us. That’s when we did a bit of introspection, and spotted our mistake: We were running agile projects with fixed costs. But our clients often didn’t know what they wanted, which made this a blunder. This created tension as clients could adjust the scope, but our model would absorb the changes without additional compensation. This was not going to work — we thought we had to either move back to T&M or give up the agility. But we chose… neither. We were committed to finding a solution that kept our offer intact. So we used endless trial and error to crack the code. Our new model achieved 90% sprint accuracy within the agile framework. This meant exceptional efficiency without foregoing flexibility. Using this, we delivered every active project on time, and built a runway for the next 2 years. Now, clients not only love working with us, but they also see the value we deliver. This helps us close leads and maintain long-term partnerships. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve, because our delivery team is our most effective sales force. Because at the end of the day, it’s the results that do the talking. Have you ever made a pivot that went haywire? #entrepreneurship #productdevelopment #businessmodel

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Company Founder  When do you hire product help? Not in the beginning… The team is building that One Thing that You conceived to build a company around. That product needs YOU. But then… If that V1 was good, soon after, most of the time, your smart, expensive team of engineers is making - Small enhancements - Technical improvements. Between every major new feature release, there are many sprints of smaller work. All of this minor work must be identified & prioritized. Should a Founder/CEO spend even One Second of valuable time and brainpower on these routine updates and improvements? No. A CEO must stay focused on Sales, Investors or Strategy. This is the time to hire your first product help. Probably not a CPO. Probably not a VP. Maybe not a Director? You need a skilled Product Manager who keeps you informed and who you can trust to identify and prioritize all of the small enhancements WITHOUT your constant attention. Hire the Right role at the Right time. Your company, and your life, will be better. Call me for advice. #ProductManagement #ProductMgt

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