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Episode 51 - Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Escaping Hustle Culture (with Polina Marchenko, Founder @ SIDE PRJCT)

Entrepreneurship
Hustle Culture
Mental Health
Startups
Women in Product
Work / life balance
 

Episode 51: Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Escaping Hustle Culture

Polina Marchenko, Founder @ SIDE PRJCT

30 Apr 2021

30 Apr 2021 Polina Marchenko head shot

Listen here!


Content Warning - May Contain Adult Language or Themes
Or on your favourite podcast app:
Play on SpotifyPlay on Apple PodcastsPlay on Google Podcasts


About the Episode

An interview with Polina Marchenko. Polina is a self-described geekette, product leader and multiple startup founder. Polina saw the dark side of startup life in Berlin, suffering burnout due to the intense hustle culture. She has since moved to the US, and is now focusing her efforts on her new startup whilst ensuring that she does it in a sustainable manner.

We talk about a lot, including:

  • How she developed a passion for entrepreneurship from an early age and through higher education
  • What it was like being a junior PM at a startup and whether it helped her build her hard skills
  • Her struggles with hustle culture, unrealistic expectations and inevitable burn out
  • How she used the lessons from her first startup to make sure she didn't make the same mistakes again
  • How she accidentally moved to Silicon Valley and ended up in a hacker house with 14 other hustling entrepreneurs
  • The problems with hustle culture and why she's actively trying to get her friends to step out of it
  • How a passion for community building and desire to connect led her to create 3 new startups in a pandemic
  • How she used her past startup experience to decide it was time to park a couple of startup ideas and concentrate on one
  • How she's helping people unleash their potential, fight imposter syndrome, and how important this is to her values

Try SIDE PRJCT

"Resumes are overrated, show me what you've built"

Check out the SIDE PRJCT website.

Contact Polina

You can reach out to Polina on LinkedIn.