Sachin Monga
Stuck Between Founder And Team
Inspired by Sachin Monga episode
Sachin's job: facilitate between CEO and product teams, not make all decisions himself. Your job at 3am: facilitate between your partner who wants cry-it-out and your mother-in-law texting "IS THE BABY OKAY."
Sachin joined Substack as the person between the CEO's vision and the product teams. His role wasn't taking over decisions—it was making sure both sides understood each other. This is exhausting. It's also the job.
You're doing the same thing at 3am when your partner whispers "Should we just let them cry?" and you know your mother-in-law is one room away having opinions. You can't make an executive decision. You're stuck facilitating between adults who have different contexts and feelings about infant sleep.
Or it's bedtime. You think flexibility matters. Your partner thinks consistency matters. You could fight about who's right while your kid launches books at your head, or you could facilitate: "We both want them to sleep. You need predictability. I need room to adapt. What if we try a hybrid for two weeks?"
Facilitating is slower than dictating. It's also the only thing that works when multiple adults are involved. Otherwise you're just a PM making decisions that two other stakeholders will silently undermine for the next six months.
