Eduardo Indacochea, Meta, Google and Microsoft | How to Accelerate Your Career: Intrapreneurship, Mentors and Leadership

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

For this episode I invited Eduardo Indacochea, who has had a brilliant career in Big Tech at companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta. In just 15 years, Eduardo went from being an individual contributor to leading multibillion-dollar products such as Microsoft 365, Google’s Performance Max, and Meta’s Business Suite.

Before going all in on digital advertising, Eduardo studied Industrial Engineering, was a Product Manager at Microsoft, Vice President at Microsoft, and went through the Peruvian Navy.

Today, Eduardo and I talk about:

How to accelerate your rise from individual contributor to executive roles
How to find mentors and get them to open doors for you
How to create million-dollar businesses inside a large company
And the choice between working in Big Tech or at startups

Youtube Timestamps*

[03:13] - Career Start and How He Came to Work at Google, Meta, and Microsoft

How did Eduardo enter the world of startups and technology, and how did he picture his rise inside the world’s largest companies?
What traits, habits, or behaviors did Eduardo pick up during his time in the navy that have persisted throughout his career, up to today?

[14:24] - Creating Impact at Large Companies

What was Eduardo’s initial experience at Microsoft, including the advantages he gained by exploring different functions and business areas before specializing in a specific area?
What lessons did Eduardo learn from his time at Microsoft?
Eduardo shares his experience when he decided to build Performance Max at Google. What were the obstacles to introducing a product that rivaled another one already entrenched in the market, and how did he address those challenges?
What does Eduardo advise people who are considering working at FAANG-type companies, and what value does he think it adds to a resume compared with other professional challenges?

[28:11] - Strategies for Professional Success and Personal Development

Over the course of his career, Eduardo has had many mentors. How does he consolidate mentoring relationships? Is there any advice for those who are starting their careers at technology companies, whether large companies or startups?
What decisions did Eduardo make, or what actions did he take, to position himself in a key business inside Microsoft?
How did he come to start Performance Max at Google? What was the approach to working on such a strategic project?
How does Eduardo describe the changes in skills and goals needed to move up in his career? Is there any practice or tool he has found useful as a new manager?

[46:33] - Vision and Perspectives in the Tech Industry

With all his experience, what is Eduardo’s perspective on the future of middle management and product management at technology companies? How does he think it will evolve? Which skills does Eduardo think will become more important, and which less?
Despite his scarce presence on social media, Eduardo has earned respect in big tech and digital advertising. How does Eduardo think about marketing his career?
Is there anything Eduardo has learned about how to get the most direct and honest feedback from the people he works with? How could he improve, in his experience, the advancement of work teams?