Changing Roles at a Startup
“I've said “yes” to just about any opportunity that was presented to me.” —Bre Fairley
Navigating a role change at a startup might seem daunting or even mysterious— just how did that coworker of yours go from customer success to working on the product team?!
In this post, I’m chatting with two early-stage startup employees to hear how they navigated a role change, how the transition process went down, and what advice they have for those looking to do the same.
Let’s get into it!
David Henriquez, Klaviyo (alumni)
Starting Position:
Senior Sales Engineer
New Position:
Engineering Manager
What led to your role change?
When I first started at Klaviyo, my team was called Sales Engineering. There were two of us, and a big part of our role was to identify opportunities to improve our product to support more businesses. From speaking with customers to deploying new code to solve their challenges, this was a super impactful role for the company. However, this type of "do everything" role does not scale as the company grows, and it started to become obvious that it was not going to continue working as we grew.
As the company grew, we needed to focus on doing things that scaled. We needed to empower customers to be able to help themselves.
We gained leadership approval to split our team and make the engineering responsibilities into a formal engineering team, which we called the developer experience team. With this team, we would rebuild the way that customers and partners integrate and build code-level solutions with Klaviyo.
By rebuilding our developer experience, we were able to solve client engineering challenges in a scalable way while relying less on our solution architects to build custom things for customers.
How did the transition process work?
We split our existing team into two unequal parts. I took on the role of Manager for the new team and took a few engineers with me. Most of the remaining team rebranded from Sales Engineering to Solution Architecture, which was more fitting with their new charter (and also how other companies usually named this role).
Our team reported to the CTO, which helped in being strategic in the team's formation and continuing evolution as we gained our footing. Often, new teams will go through a period of rapid iteration, so reporting directly to leadership can be super helpful in making quick and good decisions.
What advice do you have for someone looking to transition roles?
“As a company grows, look at ways that your responsibilities can evolve in a more scalable and impactful way for your customers. When companies are small, you do many things that don’t scale. Figuring out how to transition from that stage to the next stage of process automation and role specialization will unlock a lot of career opportunities.”
To reiterate, focus on providing value to your customers at scale, if you can identify opportunities to do that, the rest will take care of itself.
Bre Fairley, Postscript
Starting Position:
Customer Experience Advocate
New Position:
Product Marketing Manager
What led to your role change?
Most of my career is a product of curiously meandering, really. For the last two and half years, I’ve been exploring different areas, tasks, and projects— even if I don't know much about what I am getting myself into.
I've said “yes” to just about any opportunity that was presented to me.
Do you need support writing articles for the help center? Yeah, I can try my hand at technical writing.
The marketing team needs a blog post documenting how we position XYZ? Yeah, sure - I’ll give it a shot.
Does the field team need a case study on ABC? Okay, sure– I can help!
I feel very fortunate to work for a company that allows me to fail safely, respectfully exchange valuable feedback, and encourages me to try my hand at new things when my curiosity is piqued.
This combo has moved my career forward from Support (Customer Experience Advocate) to Customer Education, Customer Marketing, and, most recently, Product Marketing.
How did the transition process work?
Before moving to Customer Education, I did a bit of a knowledge transfer where I documented technical information, processes, nuances, tips, etc. from my brain in our internal knowledge base– making this information accessible to current and future support agents.
We announced my new title and responsibilities to the greater company, and I established a process for project and task intake.
It was a bit of a crawl, walk, run.
I had a new manager, a new team, and a completely new view of our org, so I put time on new teammates' calendars to understand their role and how we can work together.
What advice do you have for someone looking to transition roles?
Say “yes” to the things that interest you.
Say “yes” to the things that scare you.
When opportunities don't present themselves, ask what projects could use extra hands or eyes. In the startup world, teams are almost always lean so reliable help is appreciated.
Lean into hard things with the humility to be coachable and ask for help.
“Growth is uncomfortable. Get comfy with being uncomfortable. ”
Pay attention to the tasks that get you into a rhythm of “flow”.
Communicate the work you enjoy to your manager and ask for more or similar tasks.
Closed mouths don’t get fed.
We loved hearing about how David and Bre transitioned roles at early-stage startups. Have you been through a career transition within a startup?
Tell us about it in the comments below.
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.