Founder, The Skip Community Ex-VP Product Meta · CPO Credit Karma · 4× Founder
APR 20 2026
The Divide
Builder vs Information Mover
🔨 Builder
📋 Info Mover
"The information mover is essentially going to become a dinosaur."
~50% of PMs are builders — they're thriving
~50% moved info between people — they're at risk
Builders = founders, engineers who loved product, hands-on execs
Everyone wants a builder right now
The Renaissance
It's the Best AND Worst Time to Be a PM
The good
Most open PM roles in 3+ years
Comp at all-time high
Direct idea → impact loop
Builders becoming founders & CEOs
Smiling exhaustion (not just exhaustion)
The strings
Nothing's constant — perpetual alert
30K shed → 8K rehired (AI-first)
Brand matters less than modernity
Power years = max stress years
Target keeps moving
"This is a complete renaissance for the product industry — but it comes with a lot of strings attached."
Open roles3yr↑
highest since COVID
Hiring ratio30→8
shed 30K, hire 8K
Skip founders14
in 12 months
The Trap
The Power Years Paradox
"Your goal in your power years is to equally disappoint everyone in your life."
6–12 hrs to give, 20 hrs of demand
The ones who mastered the old game find reinvention hardest
Shadow superpower: success in old system = resistance to new one
Change requires time — time is the scarcest resource
The Shift
Fear → Joy: Crossing the Threshold
Before (fear side)
Waiting for approvals
Status reports
Responsibility without authority
Yellow & red meetings
Moving information
Monotony = exhaustion
→
After (joy side)
Ship something by Friday
See the light bulb turn on
Build your own chief-of-staff
Mostly green meetings
Judgment + building
Joy = antidote to burnout
"There is a moment where they experience the first joy in using the new tools. Everyone has a story. And that is when they cross the threshold between fear to joy."
The obsolescence mindset
"The best engineer is someone who obsoletes themselves from everything they do." — Nikhyl's first mentor. AI just put a supercharger on that idea.
Skills
What Used to Matter vs What Matters Now
Before ↓ less valued
Brand logos on resume
Multi-quarter roadmaps
Info coordination
Scale through people
Org navigation skills
Now ↑ most valued
How modern are you?
Judgment on what to build
Obsoleting yourself
Hands-on building
Systems thinking
The 4 jobs that will exist: Builder · Infra/Security · Hot People · Grown-ups
Advice
How to Actually Thrive — Not Just Survive
01Find your moment of joy
Build something silly for yourself. Stay up too late. The bug you catch is the same one that gets you over the chasm from fear to excitement.
02Increase your pace
Bring year-one energy to your current job. Find the reserve. The next 2 years require fire in the belly — not coast mode.
03Swallow your ego
Don't hold out for same-level roles. Brand matters less. Modernity matters more. Take something smaller if it gets you on the right boat.
04Think skip-job long
The chaos settles in 2 years. Optimize for where you'll be after — not the next move. The cream rises once the new system is stable.
"I urge everyone to find those reserves to get there — because once you do, it's infectious. But the longer you wait, the harder it is to cross that chasm."