By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
Teresa Torres describes a period of struggle as a startup CEO, realizing that her work was interesting to her but not meaningful. Interest fades when products get hard or go wrong, while meaning sustains effort. She spent two months defining a personal list of 13 values, split into universal values, personal freedom-oriented values, and practical ways of getting work done. Applying that list to product work, she found that building products aimed at gratitude, curiosity, or adventure felt worth the effort. The piece argues that product people should identify what is meaningful to them, not only what is interesting, before committing to a product path.
01Key takeaways
- Interest alone tends to fade when products get hard or go wrong; meaning is what keeps you going.
- Take time to articulate your personal values, refining them over time rather than expecting a single answer.
- Notice which values you rank highest and let them guide career and life choices, even when they diverge from convention.
- Ask whether the products you consider would advance outcomes you care about, not just whether they are intellectually engaging.
- Separate values that are universal from practical values that describe how you prefer to get work done.
02Key sections
- A struggle without meaning
- Torres explains that despite a stable company, she felt disengaged as CEO because her work interested her but did not feel meaningful. She distinguishes productive struggle from struggle for its own sake.
- Defining personal values
- She describes a months-long process of answering what is meaningful to her, arriving at 13 values grouped into universal, freedom-oriented, and practical categories.
- Values shaping life choices
- Her high valuation of freedom leads her to question traditional paths like a steady job, marriage, or parenthood, making those choices easier to accept or reject.
- Interest versus meaning in product work
- Across many past products she was interested, but interest alone did not sustain her through hard moments, which is why meaning matters more.
- Applying values to product building
- She concludes that building products that foster gratitude, curiosity, or adventure would be meaningful, and invites readers to do the same reflection.
03From the post
“About a year ago, I was struggling. I was the CEO of a technology startup. We were going through some tough times, but we were okay. I wasn't. Looking back, I realized that my struggle was that while I was interested in what we were doing, it simply wasn'”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.