10 Years After Leaving P&G: My Lessons Learned

Ten years ago, I walked out of Procter & Gamble's offices for the last time. I turned in my badge, said goodbye to colleagues who'd become friends, and stepped into the unknown.

Here's what a decade of entrepreneurship taught me that P&G never could:

1. SPEED BEATS PERFECTION
At P&G, we spent 18 months on a product launch. In startup world, if you're not shipping in weeks, you're dead. I had to unlearn the "perfect memo" culture and embrace "good enough, ship it, iterate."

2. YOUR NETWORK IS EVERYTHING
The relationships I built at P&G became my first clients, my advisors, and my safety net. Invest in people. Always.

3. DATA WITHOUT ACTION IS EXPENSIVE TRIVIA
P&G had incredible data capabilities. But the gap between insight and action was measured in months. I built TestPilot to close that gap - from data to decision in 72 hours.

4. CULTURE EATS STRATEGY
At P&G, strategy was king. In a startup, culture is everything. The wrong hire can destroy 6 months of progress. The right hire can 10x your output.

5. CUSTOMERS DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR INTERNAL PROCESSES
P&G's stage-gate process was legendary. Customers don't care. They care about whether your product solves their problem at a price they'll pay.

To anyone considering the leap from corporate to founder: the skills transfer more than you think. The discipline, the analytical rigor, the customer obsession - it all applies. You just have to apply it 10x faster.