By Meta Careers
Henry E. C. began his career as an entrepreneur. After founding three startups, he was looking for a new challenge to make real-world impact and was attracted to Facebook’s bottom-up culture. He’s been with Facebook for three years supporting product management for Publisher Solutions. We caught up with Henry to learn about his journey to Facebook and how his startup experience helped him grow as a manager.
Tell us about what you did before you came to Facebook.
I spent the first part of my career in start up land, founding three companies over 12 years. My first startup was called Spoonfed, which I started in my last year of university in London. Spoonfed was a location-based app that helped people discover things to do in London. My second start up was Evently, a platform for event organizers and venue operators to help spread the word about their events. And my last start up, called Listora, was a data infrastructure company to help media and tech companies get the best out of their data sets. After a rollercoaster 12 years, I set out to find a new challenge, and I had three options in front of me: start a new company, join a growth-stage startup, or work for a big tech company.
So why Facebook?
After exploring a variety of tech companies, I decided that Facebook would be the best environment for me and was most closely aligned with the way that I liked to work as an entrepreneur. During the interview process in London, I was introduced to some of the most talented product managers and engineers I’ve met in my career. I also realized that many people who work at Facebook are ex-entrepreneurs. But the biggest attraction for me was the amount of autonomy given to team members. At Facebook, you're rarely going to get told what to do. The company has a bottom-up culture that gives every single team member the opportunity to make an impact. And I wanted to make an impact at a company that has tremendous scale, especially after working with early-stage companies in the startup world.
How was your experience moving from Individual Contributor (IC) to Manager?
It was a great experience to start out as an Individual Contributor (IC) focused on building products, which is as close as you can get to being a product-oriented founder at a startup. We get to decide exactly how we want to build a product and make it a success. In my first 18 months as an IC, I got to work on a variety of different products and problems, from building a new interface called Monetization Manager to building out Audience Network's bidding strategy.
I made the transition to management in late 2017, and this is when I found the biggest distinction from working at a startup. At Facebook, managers are much more focused on growing people, supporting them, and guiding them in making good decisions. I went from trying to make a product successful to making my team members successful, and this is where I see tremendous value. As a startup founder, we didn’t spend as much time thinking about people as we did the product, so this was a great opportunity to learn a completely new skillset. Our continued focus on the team and our people ensures we’re creating inclusion, excitement, and a culture that aligns with our values. My ex-entrepreneur counterparts who made similar transitions were extremely supportive throughout the process.
What skills were the most transferable from being a startup founder to working at Facebook?
While I was in the startup environment, I learned to lead, tell stories, strategize, understand market trends and customer needs, solve problems quickly, and inspire people with the work we were doing. These are all qualities and characteristics I continue to use in my current role. The difference is at Facebook, we lead by example and influence, rather than telling people what to do.
What do you enjoy about the London office and the opportunities to make an impact?
There is a strong community vibe and support system in our London office. I’ve made good friends with my colleagues, and we eat lunch together and hang out after work. The office is in a great location in central London, too, just steps from Soho!
I’m also proud to be involved in a new program with a group of female product managers and recruiters that connects more women to roles at Facebook. We organize events in cities around Europe where women can connect with each other and learn more about what it’s like to be a product manager at Facebook as they explore different roles within our organization. Programs like this are hugely important to the long term success of Facebook, where having diverse perspectives is key to making good decisions.
What would you tell entrepreneurs who are considering a similar move to Facebook?
If you’re an entrepreneur just coming to the end of one startup and thinking about what you want to do next, understand that Facebook is a great place to learn an entirely new set of skills that you wouldn’t learn anywhere else. Not to mention, you can make an impact immediately. Being at a startup requires a huge amount of emotional energy. It can be exciting, but intense and draining at the same time. Facebook is a place where you can get that energy back.
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