This weekend we're doing a double header. Why? Because after 1,065 days of moving-fast-and-breaking-things, this Wednesday was my last at Meta.

I got a lot to share (feel free to ask me any questions you have) and you'll be hearing more from me over the next next few weeks as I embark on a 10 week sabbatical. Newsletters don't count =)

—Jason

PS - Now you know where the lessons from Meta came from, and those will continue soon!

What's on deck this week:

1. ⚡️My Badge Post Video
2. 🌪️  25 Thoughts I've Had Since Leaving Meta

⚡️  My Badge Post and Video

At Meta there's a tradition of taking a picture of your work badge and writing a post about why you're leaving, what you will remember, thanking those who were part of your journey. The post stays up in Workplace, our internal intranet and is often the last thing on your profile—which remains visible since your content is often still relevant.

Being the extra person I am, I made that post, but paired it with the following video which told the broader story of my decision to leave, what I'm doing next, and had some fun memes and jokes.

Could I have spent more of that time writing up a great transition doc for the next PM to take on? Sure.

Was I motivated to do so? Not really.

Am I happy with my choice? Absolutely.

Please enjoy the video and the text of my post

My badge post text:

Farewell My Metamates

Goodbyes are bittersweet and I have delayed mine for too long.
This company is a remarkable collection of brilliant and caring minds, world-shaping products, and astonishing lore. I am grateful to have been witness and contributor to these last 3 years of relentless reinvention in the face of a world transformed by pandemic and preternatural intelligence.

As a longtime early stage founder and operator, this was my first taste of big company tech, and quite possibly my last. I will treasure the memories of drinking from the firehose, back-to-back video calls in my living room, supporting an FTC audit, rewriting a text editor (twice!), debating the meaning of membership, tackling regressions, defending team decisions in leads reviews, exploring the therapeutic possibilities of VR, and getting to hear the hopes, dreams, and stories of so many of you.

After 35 months, it is time for me to return to my roots and build something new again.

Not a startup this time, but a leadership advisory firm (refactorlabs.xyz) focused on resilience and reinvention-executive coaching, workshops, facilitation, offsites and more

I was grateful to get a lot of kind words in the replies and in my DMs from old coworkers as well as folks I had never really interacted with before but had seen my posts circulating internally. It was really lovely to know I had left at least this minor mark at such a massive company and despite the mixed feelings I have for the company's impact on the world, I do believe the folks who work here are by and large wonderful people.

🌪️ 25 Thoughts I've Had Since Leaving Meta

1. I'm free!
2. I can't believe this is the last time I'm going to be walking in these offices.
3. Just kidding, I guess we're doing social visits again so I'll be able to come back and see my friends. Yay.
4. It's weird that people will be able to comment on my posts and documents but, I won't be able to see them.
5. Meta's stock is finally going up and I'm gonna miss out on a bunch of gains & stock vests, ugh.
6. Man, I really need to figure out this health care thing (Mom if you are reading this, I totally have the health care thing figured out)
7. Not working is great! I feel bad for the people who have to keep working jobs they don't like.
8. Now I can tweet all the spicy things I have to say about social media!
9. What if the economy gets worse? Was this a mistake?
10. I'm an entrepreneur at heart and this is where I belong
11. So glad I don't have to go through another performance review process again
12. I wonder how much of my language and communication style is Meta-specific and how that will change as I am out of the company.
13. I hope I don't forget all the things I learned while I was here.
14. I wanna hang out with everyone I know!
15. Hanging out eats up so much time. I just want to stay home and read books and play video games
16. I love working out in the middle of the day.
17. I need to go find some customers ASAP. These bills aren't going to pay themselves.
18. No, I should really take as much time as I can because who knows when I'll be able to be this free again
19. Does 3 years sound like a long time to work somewhere? Not really, but it still was really long for me.
20. Should I put ex-Meta on my bio or will that look tacky?
21. Turns out a lot of other people left Meta recently too, how interesting!
22. I wonder what the next PM will think of my project and team.
23. Maybe my team will like the new PM better and forget about me.
24. Nah, I'm one of a kind, they'll never forget me.
25. I wish we could have had a team off-site before I left.

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