Phillipe Han

~ Courage is Fear Walking ~ One of my long time clients just got laid off from a 20 year role and is feeling really unsteady. I get it. I've been there. We all encounter moments that leave us feeling overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty. It’s tempting to push those feelings aside, to put on a brave face and “think positive.” But here’s the truth: it’s okay and really natural to feel afraid. Our emotions are part of our journey, powerful teachers, not obstacles to be overcome. Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s the willingness to walk alongside it. When we allow ourselves to truly feel—when we approach our emotions with curiosity and compassion—we can begin to learn from them. This process of facing our fears helps us reclaim our power and take meaningful steps toward our goals. If you’re navigating challenging emotions or feeling stuck, please know that you’re not alone. Like I'm doing with the client I mentioned, I can help you explore your fears and empower you to step boldly into the future you envision. ✨ Let’s connect and discover how coaching can support your journey. Schedule a coaching appointment with me today! ✨ #Coaching #Courage #EmotionalWellness #Leadership #PersonalGrowth

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CAREER ADVICE: BE A FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIST A friend messaged me: "At my startup, I’m technically a product manager but have taken on a much broader, generalist role. I’ve been juggling sales, product, engineering, ops, and more. I’m wondering if I should focus on something specific instead, like honing down into just the product role. Would love to hear your thoughts and advice!" My reply: "Be a functional specialist. As the startup grows, the top change they will make is to hire specialists. As a generalist, you'll almost certainly be sidelined and ultimately exited. You need to choose your functional path - I'd recommend product - and become excellent at it. This is the way to career success and growth." The only situation this advice wouldn't apply is if someone is transitioning from I-Banking or Consulting into an Operating role, where it will likely be into a Chief of Staff role.

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I've seen a lot of people starting new jobs (congrats!). We're also coming up to the actual final day for the latest round of Googlers laid off. Starting a new job after having been at the same place (some for 1-2 decades) can be daunting. Here are a few things that helped me. 1) If you don't have a job yet, it's ok. That's what the severance is for. Also, COBRA will back date, so you don't necessarily need to start paying for it on day 1. 2) Bookmark everything. Your new company will have all sorts of new processes and tech. I found bookmarking and adding what they were for was incredibly helpful. 3) Don't expect to be the expert on day 1, and it's ok to not be the expert. It takes some time to settle in. Imposter syndrome was pretty common the first few months. 4) Start to build your network. Meet with team members and cross-functional colleagues. 5) Enjoy the new experience and find areas where you want to learn and dig in. 6) If your new place has a buddy system, meet with your buddy to get further insights. 7) Sign up for your benefits, especially if you're looking to max out a 401K or HSA. #googlelayoffs, #layoffs

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I usually don't post much on LinkedIn, but between ChatGPT's flirty Her-inspired voice and Butker's commencement speech last week (same same but different), I'm a bit fired up. Meta recently announced the formation of a new AI Advisory Council. The kicker? This group, tasked with advising one of the world’s most powerful tech companies on its AI strategies, is composed entirely of white men aged 30 to 40. This decision comes just months after OpenAI faced criticism for its lack of diversity following Altman’s departure. (For a better example of how AI boards can be organized, check out the Government of Canada’s own Advisory Council: https://lnkd.in/gGbpi9wf) I hear you barking, big dog. "There are only four people; why does it matter!" "They're very smart and successful white men; I'm sure they know what they're talking about." "Why is it always about race / gender!" Or, [insert any comment from Tech Crunch's tweet on this story: https://lnkd.in/gAAf_eFn]. ICYMI: BIPOC and women are markedly underrepresented in tech, especially in leadership roles. And, diversity in decision-making—especially at this new frontier of very influential tech—is essential (underlined and in bold) for creating inclusive advancements that serve the whole, not the few. DEI isn’t just a "trend" or an option; it’s imperative for fair and equitable innovation. Technology (or anything, really) built by a homogenous group risks perpetuating biases and failing everyone else. What happens when a homogenous group makes a product? They make it primarily for people who think and behave the same way. Many, including the World Economic Forum, argue that AI is already failing women. From the inherent sexism of personal assistants and chatbots (which are predominantly female) to women being targeted by AI-generated explicit content, it's clear that AI has—and will continue to have—serious ramifications for women. BIPOC have also faced significant negative consequences, including bias in facial recognition (leading to wrongful arrests and privacy violations), discrimination in hiring algorithms, healthcare disparities, and more. By ensuring diverse voices are heard and included in the development process, we can build technology that is more effective, more inclusive, and more beneficial to society as a whole. But without them, AI will inevitably reinforce existing inequalities and fail to serve anyone who doesn't fit the homogenous mould. Anyway, a big shout out to my ladies (and BIPOC) in STEM. Your work is so important, and I hope you feel seen and appreciated every day.

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Calling all IT leaders, developers, and practitioners! Ready to explore the future of data in the age of GenAI? Join Google Cloud for Database Day: Sunnyvale on August 27th! **🔥 Here's what you can expect: ** Two tracks packed with insights: one for IT Leaders & Executives, and another for Developers & Database Practitioners. Expert-led sessions on topics like building GenAI apps with Google Cloud databases, maximizing PostgreSQL ROI, and mastering Cloud SQL. Hands-on labs and demos to level up your skills and connect with peers. Don't miss this chance to build your GenAI future. Register now - spots are filling up fast! #GoogleCloud #DatabaseDays #GenAI #DataInnovation

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Lots have been announced at Google I/O that happened overnight in Asia-Pacific time. Here is a summary of all the keynote announcements, under 10 minutes (9:58!). Some exciting highlights include Project Astra, Searching by recording a video, Ask Photos in Google Photos, a more capable Gemini 1.5 Pro model, and more. Hashtag: #GoogleIO Link to add to post: https://lnkd.in/ectk5dd3

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NVIDIA’s CEO never does 1-on-1s 🤯 AND Jensen Huang has 60 direct reports. This isn’t conventionally considered best practice. But he shares his reasoning: “I believe that when you give everybody equal access to information, that empowers people. And so that’s number one… Number two, if the CEO’s direct staff is 60 people, the number of layers you’ve removed in a company is probably something like seven.” What about giving feedback and coaching? “I give you feedback right there in front of everybody. In fact, this is a really big deal. First of all, feedback is learning. For what reason are you the only person who should learn this?… We should all learn from that opportunity… Half the time I’m not right, but for me to reason through it in front of everybody helps everybody learn how to reason through it. The problem I have with 1-on-1s and taking feedback aside is you deprive a whole bunch of people that same learning. Learning from other people’s mistakes is the best way to learn.” Fascinating to me. What do you think? #NVIDIA #leadership #management

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I am so proud of the work that is being delivered by our team in Search that was showcased at I/O this week. Highlights were... ⚡Plan Ahead with Generative AI in Search ⚡ Thanks to a new Gemini model customized for Google Search, we are able to do SO MUCH more. With planning capabilities *directly* in Search, you can get help creating plans for whatever you need, starting with meals and holidays. Search for something like “create a 3 day meal plan for a group that’s easy to prepare,” and you’ll get a starting point with a wide range of recipes from across the web. And if you don’t like the suggestions, Search will continue working on your behalf. So if you want to swap the dinner suggestion for a vegetarian option, just like that, Search will customize your meal plan. On top of this, there are lots more updates in Search so — for the curious  — have a read of the blog by Head of Search Elizabeth Reid below 🔽 https://lnkd.in/en6_7fvX #GoogleIO #GenAI #GoogleSearch

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The 80th Anniversary of D-Day shares this date with some ominous other dates like the attacks on the Legislation and further back, the Tiananmen Square massacre. What's really interesting is that they all lead to the same goal: inclusion, diversity, equality. In California we are the most diverse state in the US (not to mention being the 5th largest economy in the world). We are now 65% made up of "minorities". 40% of Californians are Latino, 35% are white, 15% are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 5% are Black, 4% are multiracial, and fewer than 1% are Native American or Alaska Natives (from the https://lnkd.in/gArFEV_T). In Texas, as the next most populous state, this trend continues with White majorities down to 42.5%, Hispanics at 39.3%, Black at 11.8%. Just these two states cover 1 in 5 Americans. This shows that as states grow and as our next generation continues to NOT see the lines of origin, our definition of an American is inclusive of all races. We are the dream of all that came before, everyone that gave their lives for freedom and for the ability to pursue their American dream.

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Calling all IT leaders, developers, and practitioners! Ready to explore the future of data in the age of GenAI? Join Google Cloud for Database Day: Sunnyvale on August 27th! **🔥 Here's what you can expect: ** Two tracks packed with insights: one for IT Leaders & Executives, and another for Developers & Database Practitioners. Expert-led sessions on topics like building GenAI apps with Google Cloud databases, maximizing PostgreSQL ROI, and mastering Cloud SQL. Hands-on labs and demos to level up your skills and connect with peers. Don't miss this chance to build your GenAI future. Register now - spots are filling up fast! #GoogleCloud #DatabaseDays #GenAI #DataInnovation

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At Uber, we build with heart. I’m with Dara - that might be my favorite cultural value. I’ve been a part of building shared rides products with a tremendous amount of heart and passion for much of the last decade, ever since I helped start UberPOOL in 2014 and Uber Shuttle in 2019. I had the honor of being a part of our recent annual Go/Get event in NYC, where we shared exciting updates on both of those product lines. I'm thrilled that we’re continuing to lean into shared rides, even while other companies are leaning out. Shared Rides are critical for unlocking rideshare affordability and unbundling personal car ownership, because splitting the driver and vehicle cost is the highest leverage way to structurally drive prices down. Even in an autonomous world, the future of cities will be brighter with fewer vehicles and less congestion. How many text messages do you send a day now vs when they cost 50 cents a piece? How much traffic does the highway have after a lane is added vs before? That’s what economists call ‘induced demand’ - and it will apply to the world of lower cost AVs too. But on-demand shared rides growth has always had the headwind of a tradeoff paradox between efficiency vs predictability. The discount is largely funded by creating a product with a lot of uncertainty - how long you’ll wait before you get picked up, where you’ll walk to, and how many stops you’ll make on trip, because the uncertainty is what unlocks more efficiency. But this lack of predictability limits rider opt-in and therefore how many people we have to match with and the subsequent quality of those matches. Scheduled shared rides solves this problem! By getting the rider intent in advance, we have more time to make higher quality, more efficient matches and fund deeper discounts. AND we can offer predictability by giving more certainty around pickup and drop-off times and route before the trip begins. It’s a path to growing shared rides by offering both affordability AND predictability. Another vector of sharing efficiency is capacity - more seats. I helped launch Uber Shuttle in Cairo in 2019, and we’ve been iterating on our high capacity vehicles platform ever since. And as we shared at Go/Get, after expanding to more markets in India and a number of employee transit use cases, we’re ready to bring Shuttle to riders directly in the US! Soon you’ll be able to take a Shuttle to and from concerts and events at number of US stadium partners as well as directly from city centers to the curb at a number of major US airports. The future of transportation is bright. The future is shared. And if you want to build with heart alongside me, I’m hiring :) If you didn’t see it, check out the replay of our Go/Get event here:

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I'm officially back from maternity leave (thank you, Andreessen Horowitz for a generous one). This is my second maternity leave and return to work. As so many parents have beautifully said on LinkedIn, it is very difficult. But I keep coming back to some of the positivity other moms have shared with me during these times, and I want to pass them along to others who are in the same spot, or are considering being working parents one day. 1. Being a mom can actually make you better at your job. I once saw this analogy on social media: Running with a stroller is hard; you have to push the stroller with extra force and work much harder to maintain a fast pace. But one day, you'll no longer have the stroller. And you'll still have the muscles you built, and the grit required to get through it. When you're a parent, you're motivated to find efficiencies, since your time is more constrained. Plus, once you've done things like stay up all night with a sick baby, other problems just don't seem so serious. So you're able to keep a level head during work crises in ways maybe you weren't before. And anecdotally, I've found that being a parent is common ground anyone you may work with. You've all been in the same trench, and you can relate to one another differently. 2. Having a job can make you a better mom. I know this one is controversial and individual. But I believe I'm a better parent when I'm able to also maintain my career. I'm speaking from a place of immense privilege in pretty much every way. Many (most?) people don't want to be working parents, but have to be out of financial necessity. But for me at least, I believe being a working parent is better for my children than my being home full time. 3. No decision has to last forever. When I went back to work, I worried a lot about what this all meant for my identity. I was a "working mom," and what did that mean about me? The truth is, we all might be "working" parents or "stay-at-home" parents at different points throughout our unpredictable lives. Shortly after I committed to being a "working mom," I was laid off from a previous employer. And not long after, I was back to work full time again. No decision is final. 4. What if it all works out? During this #MentalHealthAwareness month, I'm borrowing one of my favorite expressions from the online mental health community. I tend to consider life's worst-case scenarios. But to consider the opposite: What if it all works out? What if you can have a career you love AND a wonderful relationship with your children? What if maintaining your career is the best thing for your relationship with your partner? What if your story has a happy ending? These are just my experiences, and there are many topics to address here, including the cost of childcare and how not everyone has the opportunity to make the choices they actually want to make. But in case this resonates with you, I'm always happy to share more about what I've found. 

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Like many Xooglers, I have been reflecting on Susan Wojcicki's passing. I did not work with Susan directly, but had the opportunity to watch her regularly at our all hands, TGIF. Every quarter, execs from each business unit would get up to present their progress on annual OKRs. Most would share a slide with 20+ metrics in size 8 font and traffic light status for each. Susan had a single chart: progress towards 1B hours of daily watch time. Every quarter, the YouTube logo would move further up the chart towards that metric, until they hit it in 2017. Although I never worked on YouTube, I always knew what the team was working towards, and what was important to her. Today, I'll be updating my own OKR slide (currently: 20 metrics, size 8 font, traffic lights. Dang it!) and thinking about how I might channel a bit more Susan.

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Thanks for the insightful conversation Lillian Chiu!

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Thanks to Phuong Pham for pointing me at this helpful, relatively recent data from OpenView and ScaleXP. The graph here shows median (22 months for companies $50M and up) and top quartile (just 14 months for that same set) CAC payback periods. An article worth bookmarking for later reference, my growth stage Sales and Marketing friends. https://lnkd.in/gm8s7TgA

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A PMM leader at google gave me advice and I wrote it off... I don't work at google. I probably will never work at a place with the size and resources of google. So how can whatever he is saying be relevant? But I just looked back at some notes and dang it he's right -- even at a startup. Here's what he said, "the #1 goal of a PMM team is to be a cross-functional team player" Got it ✅ Then he said "you also need to be adaptable and fluid. Even when it comes to team structure" Mannnn 😒 I am adaptable. I love change. It is one of my favorite parts of being a product marketer. But team structure? For some reason that is one area I'd rather see stay the same. I get it now... sometimes the business needs different things from PMM (and that is why we are so valuable). - report to marketing - report to product - focus on strategy - focus on execution - think long term - find quick wins Am I thinking about this right? Is this inevitable?

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Ok team, we're on this weird journey together, so here's the after-MRI update. tl;dr Things looking good! Me at Duke with my giant lunch cooler and salad 🥗 MRI last night. Sometimes I get to listen to music, this was one of those times. I do Counting Crows mix as it transports me right back to college. Also, how often do you get to lie still and listen to your favorite band as an adult/parent? MRIs are kind of my favorite. This is the first MRI I've had since diagnosis of any real consequence. I had them post surgeries (duh, tumor looks mostly, but not entirely gone), and after chemo+radiation. Post-radiation always looks like a weed wacker got loose up there. Just a lot of noise. We're now nearly 3 months post radiation & 5 doses (as of 1 hour ago) into my dendritic vaccine trial at Duke. That's still *pretty* early to expect much news. MRIs are the only tool to check progress as GBM doesn't have circulating cancer cells (which we count in other cancers) Previous MRI on August 11th showed (among the radiation/weed wacker noise) 2 spots that "contrasted". But we don't know if these are true tumor or some swelling from treatment. This time spot #1 is GONE. And spot #2 is slightly smaller. Docs => very pleased. There *was* one spot that did *not* contrast that is slightly bigger. An area "contrasts" if it has a lot of vessels & the blood-brain barrier has been compromised. Contrast => angry tumor So then what is this non-contrasting spot that got slightly larger? It's not full-blown tumor. Beyond that we're guessing between 1) Some angriness due to the vaccine: vaccine doing its job. Yay! 2) The start of the tumor sneaking to infect another part of the brain. Yup, it's either fantastic news or nasty news. Flip a coin 🙃. How can we find out? There are a few other types of scans I'm checking into that could help: DWI, PWI, MRS. Knowing if we're crushing it / things are turning against us, I think, is critical. That's it! I feel great & docs are happy. Pending answers from those other scans, I'll be back here at Duke early December for another MRI & my last vaccine dose. Otherwise, life goes on... ... sorta. We stick to our diet, exercise, cold showers, Wim Hof breathing, hardcore walking and deep research into cancer to find and maintain an edge. Sometimes we face a race without a finish line. That's kind of an awesome challenge. Love to all of you!

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