Maria Angelidou:Product Lessons Leading Facebook App Monetisation Team to Billions in Revenue |E1210

You only promote people to the next level when they consistently already demonstrated they can operate successfully at that level for a long period of time. Because at that next level, they will be calibrated compared to the group of people, the whole cohort of people who are already operating really well on the next level. And if you promote them prematurely, that's actually going to be really bad for them.

Ready to go? (upbeat music) Maria, I am so excited for this. I'm also excited, this is your first time on a podcast.

It is.

So thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for having me, Harry. I'm really excited to be here.

Now, I heard there was a sliding doors moment, uh, when it comes to your entrance into Facebook. So tell me, how did this sliding door story come to be on joining Facebook?

Yes, it was, uh, indeed a sliding doors type of moment. So I'm gonna take you to 2013. And I was invited to one of those alumni events, right? This is the Boston Consulting Group. I worked at the firm for, you know, many, many years ago. And I typically don't go to these, right? Uh, but that time was different because one of my friends, uh, made partner, and it was a big deal to her. And so I wanted to go and congratulate her and give her a hug, and so I, I said I'm gonna go. And, you know, I remember that, uh, day, I almost didn't go. You know, I had a lot of, uh, work that day and, uh, my husband literally, I remember, was pushing me out of the door 'cause I already committed, and he said, "You should go." Okay, I went. So I come to this event, and I join one of the groups, um, you know, people who are standing and chatting, and I meet this impressive woman. Uh, she was a director of product management, uh, back then, and she speaks of her job at Facebook so passionately, uh, that I was listening to her and, and then I thought, you know, it's either a bunch of BS or there's something that I really don't understand about this company, you know, from everything just from outside in, everything I know about it, right? So she invites me on site and it ends up being a loop of interviews, and I go. Um, and then on my way back, you know, my house is, uh, in Menlo Park, California, and so it's 15 minutes away from the headquarters. And so it took me 15 minutes to get home, and I'm not even at my house yet. And I am, um, pulling into my driveway and my phone rings, and it's, uh, Facebook offering me a job. And so I was so impressed. You know, it just, it took them literally less than 15 minutes, uh, from the time I, you know, left to discuss, you know, debrief, do whatever they needed to do to offer me a job, right? Incredibly impressive.