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From Corporate Law to Product Management: An Unscripted Journey into Startups with Nicole Phillips

Welcome back to Startup Life: Unscripted! Today, we're super excited to welcome Nicole Phillips, who's carving out an exciting path as a Product Manager at Airtasker, one of the top players in Australia's gig economy sector.

Over the past few years, Nicole has journeyed from the world of corporate law into the fast-paced, thrilling realm of startups. Fuelled by a passion for problem-solving and an innate interest in building businesses, she made the switch and hasn't looked back since.

From her days spent navigating diverse teams, crafting product roadmaps, to juggling customer needs with business goals, her role is as multifaceted as it is impactful.

Join us as we dive deep into Nicole's startup journey and her adventures in product management. Whether you're someone considering a career switch, a budding product manager, or simply curious about the startup landscape, this is one conversation you won't want to miss!

Key interview takeaways:

📘 Transitioning from a corporate lawyer to a product manager at Airtasker allowed Nicole to combine her problem-solving skills with her passion for building businesses.

🔍 Nicole highlights some common challenges in product management across various sectors, such as dealing with regulatory constraints in HealthTech and balancing supply and demand in marketplaces.

🎈 The most rewarding part of her role? Collaborating with diverse teams, solving customer problems, and helping businesses grow, with special shout-outs to inspiring companies like Airtasker and the women-led startups she's worked with.

🧭 Looking ahead, Nicole sees significant opportunities in the startup industry, especially in sectors like HealthTech and marketplaces, where there is huge potential for scalable impact.

🚀 Nicole's career advice for those eyeing a role in startups: understand your skills, passions, and values, choose a problem you're excited to solve, and always keep learning in this ever-evolving landscape.

Hey Nicole, thanks for joining us today! Your journey from practising as a Corporate Lawyer to transitioning into the startup world is super fascinating! Could you talk us through that transition? What sparked your interest in the startup ecosystem, and what were some of the challenges you faced during this shift?

One of my favourite parts about practising law was the opportunity to see inside diverse companies and meet the inspirational founders, shareholders and CEOs that built them. I was so intrigued by their entrepreneurial journeys and thought how exciting it would be to build your own business.

I remember working on a matter with the CEO of a huge streetwear brand and being more interested in his sneaker branding strategy than the contracts I had to prepare for them! I thought "I want to be the person sitting on the other side of this board table, sharing my wild passion to solve a problem!" I started working on my own online fashion label and was hooked by the thrill of building a business.

When I got a place in the Women's Startmate Fellowship, I felt empowered by the community of like-minded women to make the leap from law into startups. I was fortunate enough to connect with a founder who had been a client of the law firm I was working at, and joined their startup as a copywriter before soon upskilling online and moving into a product role.

I've never looked back - product is the perfect balance of problem solving, collaboration, working with diverse people and building products that customers love and help businesses grow. Every day is completely different to the day prior and I love celebrating wins (or commiserating losses) with a tight knit team.

Considering your experience as a Product Manager in different sectors, what differences and similarities do you see in managing products in these areas? Do you have any insights or advice for product managers considering a transition between sectors within the startup environment?

Different sectors present their own sets of challenges. For HealthTech, some challenges include regulatory constraints and operational loads. For example, there is a tension between delivering a convenient, digital experience for users while ensuring thorough, patient-centred service.

When it comes to marketplaces, some challenges include launching products that affect users from a two-sided perspective and always maintaining the tensions of supply and demand. When transitioning between sectors, I think it's important to spend some time learning the nuances that inform problem solving in that particular space - that may include reading, learning, talking to colleagues, customers and stakeholders.

I'd also recommend making sure you choose a sector where you have a deep interest in solving their business problem, as this will give you energy to do your best every day.

Being a part of the Startmate Fellowship program must have been a significant milestone in your career. How did this program influence your professional growth in the startup community? What were some of the key takeaways that you feel can be beneficial for other women looking to transition into startups?

When I was considering pivoting from law into startups, I felt somewhat lost: How to do it? Who to talk to? Where to go next? I had only ever interviewed for legal or corporate roles and hadn't really considered what it would be like to enter a new space.

Startmate provided the tools for learning how to get that next role as well as a community of like-minded women who gave me the confidence to pursue a career that made me more fulfilled. I spent 2 months networking, seeking mentors in the startup world and undertaking my own process of self-reflection to figure out what path would make me feel personally fulfilled in life.

I made sure I was open to opportunities and knew I would one day be able to pass on the kindness of any one who was happy to have a coffee with me. Coaching from May Samali was particularly helpful for me to do that process of introspection and figure out what career would make my heart sing.

Global startup job opportunities:

• 🚀 Head of Marketing & Monetisation

• 🔍 Online Media Manager - Search & Social

• 📈 Sales Development Representative

• 📊 Business Development Manager

• 📁 Business Development Manager

• 💹 Accountant

• 🎩 Chief of Staff

• 🔖 Brand Marketing Manager

• ⚙️ Senior Tech Engineer

How does your previous role as a Corporate Lawyer contribute to your current role as a Product Manager? Are there any skills or experiences from your legal career that have particularly helped you in the startup world?

One really important thing to remember is that you are not starting again! It took me a little while to learn that most people come into startups from diverse backgrounds, and skills learned from previous careers are invaluable in bringing fresh perspectives and ways of working to product and startups.

Law is fundamentally about problem solving, which is a day-to-day requirement of any startup. One of the most important transferable skills I've noticed is stakeholder management and influencing without authority in order to build trust in an organisation. Another key skill is breaking down large, complex sets of information into easy-to-understand ideas and communicating those ideas to the appropriate audience.

You seem deeply interested in social impact. How do you see the role of startups in creating scalable and sustainable change in society? Can you share any examples from your own work?

The most amazing thing about tech is its scalability. You spend 80,000 hours of your life working which means the decision you make about where to work can potentially have a huge impact on others, particularly when you consider the scale of people tech products can service.

Our lives and careers are finite, and I believe wholeheartedly that if you have the privilege to choose a career that can make an impact, you should be figuring out how you can scale that impact to help the most people.

For health-tech, that means achieving health equity by offering services to a greater number of people without the constraint of distance. For an online services marketplace, that means empowering people to earn money from their skills without any barriers to entering the job market.

Considering your diverse experiences, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in their career and eyeing a role in a startup? How should they choose the right startup to work with and what skills or mindsets should they cultivate?

Identifying your skills, interests and values is a great place to start. Life has a way of sending us down a particular path without taking the time to stop and reflect about how you got there.

For me, when I finished school I saw a lot of people whom I admired go on to become doctors or lawyers. That was my frame of reference for success, so I chose to follow that path without properly considering whether it suited my skills or passions. When I took a step back and realised I love building and creating things, working with diverse people and moving fast, the decision to join a startup was a no brainer.

An important mindset is ensuring you really care about the problem you're setting out to solve with your career - it's often not the name of the company that matters. Check in and ask whether what you're doing is aligned with your values (whether that be personal autonomy, learning, helping people etc.). That way you'll feel personally fulfilled regardless of the company or sector you go into.

You seem to value diversity and gender equality, considering your preference for women-led teams. How has diversity shaped the culture and work dynamics in the startups you've been a part of? Do you have any insights or suggestions for startups to promote and ensure diversity?

I have been fortunate to work with many strong, brilliant women - both colleagues and leaders - in my startup career. I still see a gap between women entering the workforce and rising into leadership positions.

Finding strong women-identifying mentors and colleagues has been vital for understanding my own value in the workplace. Also speaking up and making noise when you think something is unjust or unequal.

I think women-facilitated mentorship is vital for helping other women see their own potential in a startup and to give them the confidence to pitch for leadership positions or start their own companies. I make a point to have a chat or grab a coffee with any one that reaches out to me or is looking to move into startups. Startups need more amazing women and diverse people to drive their success.

Lastly, could you share some resources or tips that have been instrumental in your journey in the startup ecosystem, particularly for those transitioning from a different industry like law? Are there any books, podcasts, mentors, or courses you would recommend?

I invest a lot of time into learning product skills online and reading a variety of business and product books. I'm currently reading Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.

I have completed multiple online courses from Reforge, Udemy and currently Data Camp (brushing up on my SQL skills!). Once I entered the startup world, I had very supportive founders who facilitated one-on-one learning with product experts like David Wang of Product Academy.

I think as a product person you always need to be learning from others - there's always a different way to approach a problem and everyone has their own way of doing product as a craft. You can learn a lot from working with designers, data analysts, engineers and marketing folks and trying to understand the company from their point of view. I have also learnt a lot from Lenny's Podcast, Ravi Mehta's newsletter and the blog Casey Accidental.

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And that's a wrap! We hope you've enjoyed this edition as much as we loved putting it together. Stay curious, keep learning, and above all, enjoy the rollercoaster ride that is Startup Life. Catch you in the next one! 👋 Not subscribed yet? Do it here and don't miss out! Subscribe Now.