The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Scott’s Career Advice: Imposter Syndrome, Startups & Networking
Wed, 26 Feb 2025
Today, we’re kicking off a special two-part series all about careers—navigating them, advancing them, maybe even surviving them. In this episode, Scott talks about navigating imposter syndrome, how to know if working for a startup is worthwhile, and shares his best networking advice. Subscribe to No Mercy / No Malice Buy "The Algebra of Wealth," out now. Follow the podcast across socials @profgpod: Instagram Threads X Reddit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is Scott's approach to career advice?
Welcome to Office Hours with Prop G. Today, we're kicking off a special two-part series all about careers, navigating them, advancing them, maybe even surviving them. I'll be sharing my best advice, which may not be very good. No corporate speak, no bullshit. I am going to tell you exactly what I'm thinking. And it might offend you and it might upset you. And guess what?
We're both going to be fine. Let's bust right into it. First question.
Chapter 2: How to overcome imposter syndrome in your career?
Hey, Prof G. My name is Hank, and I'm an American that's been living in Stockholm, Sweden for the last eight years. And I've really loved your office hours advice, listening to you, getting your opinion on things. And what I thought that would be very helpful to get your thoughts on is dealing with imposter syndrome.
all the time i feel like when i'm working that i don't know maybe i'm not good enough even though from all my previous jobs all the feedback's been great and now i'm about to move on to a cmo role which i think is kind of way out of my league even though all the interactions with the ceo and all the interview processes went really well so i don't feel like i should have those feelings but
And again, they're still there. Just wondering if you've ever faced this in your life and if you have any strategies to kind of get over this. Anyway, looking forward to your thoughts and thank you so much for everything.
Chapter 3: What are strategies for dealing with self-doubt at work?
Hank from Sweden. The data says with imposter syndrome that you're supposed to practice self-compassion, be kind to yourself, acknowledge and accept your feelings, challenge negative thoughts, say, well, the market and other people who are smart think I'm in the right position, so maybe there's something to their views.
I find that talking stuff out really helps, like telling people, Jesus, I feel like I'm in over my head or I don't deserve it. I just feel like You know, getting those thoughts out, help address them. And hearing yourself talk, you start to solve that type of thing. Being positive. I mean, eating, you know, eating well, being in good shape.
And I think you just start to feel more confident across all areas of your life. Like I'm strong and I'm healthy, which means I'd be really good at anything, including my job. So imposter syndrome is a form of intellectual self-doubt that can affect anyone, regardless of their job. People with imposter syndrome often feel like they could have done better, even when things go well.
I think if you don't have a little bit of imposter syndrome, it probably means you're a bit of a sociopath or arrogant, because the whole point, the reason we're so competitive is is that it's good for the species, right? I want to do better than the guy or gal next to me, which creates better performance, which results in a better society, and onward and onward, and things get better.
So this competitive spirit is important. Constantly referencing and comparing yourself to others is natural, and that's part of that competitive instinct, but it can result in a lot of self-doubt. I just think, well, first off, a lot of people have this. I just said on a previous Office Hours that I've never felt like I was qualified to do anything I did.
And then I realized when I showed up that everyone else is an imposter too, and everyone else feels as if they're an imposter. So it sounds like you're doing really well. Acknowledge everyone around you that they might be smarter than you think, and it picked you for a lot of good reasons. I would say be kind to yourself, try and engage in things that make you feel positive.
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Chapter 4: Is working for a startup a good career move?
I think working out and eating well make you feel talented and healthy and that you would be good at almost anything because you're this strong, healthy person. But recognize everyone feels a little bit of that. And again, go back to the notion that the market may be smarter than you think and you deserve to be where you are. Thanks for the question. Question number two.
Hi, Prof G. My name is Nicholas and I'm a huge fan of your podcasts. Special shout out to Ed for having to laugh at your dick chokes. Anyway, I'm 36, Canadian, and have about 10 years of experience as a business generalist. I started as an engineer, got a top MBA, and then spent about five years in Luxembourg at McKinsey and Amazon.
Tired of corporate, I moved to the south of France to join my in-laws' family business, only to confirm your thoughts about that region. Great place to spend, but not to earn. So, my wife, two kids, and I have moved to Toronto for better opportunities.
Chapter 5: How to choose the right startup to join?
Now, I think my best move would be to join an early stage startup as a COO or chief of staff to build a company and some wealth along the way, which sounds super interesting and challenging. My question to you is this. Knowing the high failure rate of early stage companies, what advice do you have for picking a winner?
How can I assess which startup is worth betting this next chapter of my career on? Thanks and keep doing what you're doing.
Thanks very much, Nicholas from Canada. What an interesting life you've led and how it's kind of good to be you. Okay, so it sounds like you want to go to a startup. So first off, nobody knows. And there's hints. What I've always done is I've always picked people, not companies.
And that is, if you have the opportunity to interview with small firms, you want to go where you think the people are most impressive. Because a lot of times with small companies, they end up doing something that they hadn't originally anticipated. But If the people are super smart, they can more often than not figure it out.
So I think you want to go somewhere where you think the person I'm going to report into, I'm going to learn a lot. And these people just seem really together. Now, hopefully if it's just a stupid idea, then fine. There might've been a lot of smart people with that dog walking app backed by SoftBank, but that was just a stupid idea.
But you basically want to go into battle with people that you would want to go into battle with. And then also, I think the... where the company is in the life cycle is sort of interesting. My general experience is that joining a company with zero to 10 employees is that the risk reward ratio isn't there. Now, if the company works, those people make a shit ton of money.
But those are the people we read about in the newspaper. We don't read about the six out of seven companies and end up with a zero. Even worse than that, sometimes they go three, five, 10, 20 years and then end up with nothing. That happened to me at Run Envelope. I was there 10 years to work my ass off, invested $3 million of my own capital to end up with nothing.
That story doesn't get told a lot, although I tell it a lot. But the zero to 10 is huge upside, but I would argue like if you're not the founder and you're not gonna get 20 or 30% of the company, I'm not sure the risk reward is there. At the same time, when you join a company that's already at a couple thousand people,
unless it's a moonshot like a Google or a Salesforce, you'll make good money, but you'll never make super, super huge money. I find that the sweet spot from a risk reward standpoint is kind of 20 to 200 employees. And that is you're still early enough to get significant equity, but if they're at that point, it means that they have probably some level of product market fit.
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