👋 Hi friends!
I’m excited to bring you the pilot episode (1 of 2) of the 380 Podcast, where I sit down with inspiring leaders to get a unique, more holistic take on their approach to life, leadership, and success. If you’re interested and want to get involved in this series, shoot me an email at lucy@level380.com!
For this inaugural episode, I'm very excited to introduce my special guest and friend, Patrick Burns. Patrick is a dynamic product leader and ex-venture-backed startup founder whose career journey not only spans major tech names like Amazon, Snapchat, Google, and Discord, but also includes early experiences as a journalist, filmmaker, and producer of an Oscar-nominated documentary.
📌 In this episode, we cover:
Balancing creativity and pragmatism in his professional and personal pursuits
Transitioning from journalism to tech, with a focus on Product roles
Finding his “sweet spot” experimenting with tech companies at different stages
Co-founding and scaling a remote collaboration startup during the height of COVID
His creative inspirations and approaches to harnessing creativity in life and work
🎥 Watch on Youtube:
📝 Some key takeaways:
Building a “habit” for creativity is about creating regular space for un-pressurized work. Doing this regularly and consistently gives us the freedom to tap into new ideas that ultimately lead to meaningful creations.
When starting something new in a rapidly changing market, it’s critical to focus on adaptability and market timing. As the co-founder of a remote collaboration startup, Commons, during the pandemic, Patrick found himself in a race against the clock to launch against evolving market conditions.
Knowing when to pivot is challenging, as breaking points are often important moments for perseverance. In both filmmaking and entrepreneurial pursuits, Patrick leaned into his long-term intuition to determine when to persist and when to shift direction.
Energy is energy - finding ways to stay energized and inspired is key. Whether it be at work or outside of work, we can all leverage creativity to get into a more energized and expansive headspace.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:10 About Level 380
01:41 Guest Introduction: Patrick Burns
04:45 Creating Time for Creativity
07:28 Early Career Journey - Music and Traveling
14:23 Being Broad and Shallow
16:16 Creativity as a Habit and Form of Meditation
18:42 Balancing Passion and Pragmatism
30:40 The Journey into Photography and Filmmaking
33:33 Cutie and the Boxer: The Documentary
38:46 Considering being a Full Time Creative
41:17 Transitioning from Journalism to Business School
42:04 Discovering the Product Management Role
45:26 First Product Management Role and Moving to SF
45:58 Joining Snapchat and Moving to LA
47:23 Experiences in Different Tech Companies
53:10 Founding a Startup During COVID
58:44 Importance of Speed and Timing in a Shifting Market Environment
01:03:13 Philosophies around Company Building
01:04:48 Intuition and Balance around Pivoting
01:08:30 Career Reflections - a Late Bloomer and Finding the Sweet Spot
01:13:03 Creative Synergy and Cultivating Energetic Headspace
01:17:46 Salsa, Rosalia, and Patrick’s Secret Skills
01:24:57 Rapid Fire Questions
01:35:23 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections
Follow for more:
For inquiries: lucy@level380.com
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