The Great Career Reshuffling: Should I Stay, Or Should I Go?

In this episode of Mostly Growth, the number one podcast in product monetization, CJ and Kyle unpack the career anxiety spreading across tech. They talk about AI, private-company wealth, career leverage, title vs. cash vs. equity, and why the smartest move may be getting brutally clear on the game you’re actually playing.—SPONSORS:beehiiv is a modern newsletter platform built for creators who want to grow, monetize, and own their audience without piecing together a stack. Its all-in-one platform brings together newsletters, websites, analytics, automations, and monetization tools, and now supports podcasts, webinars, and MCP workflows. Kyle even used beehiiv’s MCP in Claude to audit his site, prioritize SEO fixes, and analyze subscriber trends. Try it free at https://www.beehiiv.com/kyle and use code KYLE30 for 30% off your first three months.Tabs is an AI-native revenue platform that unifies billing, collections, and revenue recognition for companies running usage-based or complex contracts. By bringing together ERP, CRM, and real product usage data into a single system of record, Tabs eliminates manual reconciliations and speeds up close and cash collection. Companies like Cortex, Statsig, and Cursor trust Tabs to scale revenue efficiently. Learn more at https://www.tabs.com/runLightfield is an AI-first CRM built for modern sales teams that want to manage deals without manual data entry or dashboards. By joining sales calls, reading emails, and maintaining full account context, Lightfield helps teams prioritize deals, automate follow-ups, and stay prepared for every interaction. It’s like having a sales coach, RevOps analyst, and EA in one. Start a 14-day free trial at https://www.lightfield.app and use code MOSTLYGROWTH to get 3 months free.—LINKS: Mostly Metrics: https://www.mostlymetrics.comCJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cj-gustafson-13140948/Growth Unhinged: https://www.growthunhinged.com/Kyle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-poyar/Slacker Stuff: https://www.slackerstuff.com/Ben on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/slackerstuff/—RELATED EPISODES:A CFO Explains Secondarieshttps://youtu.be/pENvBuXhGukSam Jacobs of Pavilionhttps://youtu.be/8X-JVOF-1A0Bruno Annicq of Wellhubhttps://youtu.be/dfjSjPAXEEk—TIMESTAMPS:0:00 SF trip and CFO dinners1:27 A consistent feeling: am I on the right thing?2:47 Anthropic secondary: 75 people hit $30M cap3:06 Anecdote 1: CFO at 50M ARR SaaS7:58 Anecdote 2: banker pivoting to defense tech8:03 Cybersecurity: best and worst of times10:40 Sponsors — beehiiv | Tabs | Lightfield13:40 Graduation speaker gets booed for AI speech15:10 The comparison trap: luck vs. merit in SaaS17:54 What are you maximizing for?18:29 Is leaving tech a real path?21:07 Advice for the great reshuffling21:51 Lever 1: maximize equity22:51 Lever 2: maximize base cash23:30 Lever 3: maximize title and opportunity24:00 Lever 4: lifestyle and autonomy24:52 CJ's career story: consulting at 58k28:28 OpenView: pay cut for long-term growth29:13 Is there career arbitrage right now?29:48 Why join a fast-growing AI company31:06 Hot AI startups pay well — but expectations are high32:04 18 months to get in the club33:26 How to pick the right AI company34:19 Can you have a great job at a bad company?35:03 Mediocre at a great company beats the reverse36:18 Career at a twilight company?38:38 If you had to choose: what do you join?38:49 Best time ever to be a small business owner39:45 AI at the pizza shop story41:18 Credits#MostlyGrowthPodcast #CareerGrowth #SaaS #AIStrategy #StartupGrowth