Hello from the stunning isle of Crete!

We’re in Greece for our friend’s wedding.

At times like these, I’m grateful for remote work, which allows me and my wife to work while traveling.

Speaking of partners, this week we’re featuring my college friend building a unique CPG business with his spouse.

Today, in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:

• 🥘 From tech to high-protein Indian foods: Josh’s entrepreneurial journey

• 👫 Lessons learned from managing two businesses with your spouse

• 🤑 How much Josh made before quitting his full-time role and why

• 🫶 Why personal branding is crucial when transitioning to a new industry

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🫓 From Software Engineer to Starting a CPG Brand | Josh Wang

Josh was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. As a teen, he helped his parents open and run a neurology practice which was his first experience with entrepreneurship. He attended Dartmouth College, where he met his now-wife, Diksha (Dee) Gautham. In their senior year, they started their first venture together, an online recommendation engine for finding your perfect perfume or cologne. 

After graduating with a degree in Computer Science, he moved to San Francisco with Diksha, and they both worked in tech. Diksha quit her PM job in 2018 to launch Boss Body Revolution, an online fitness and nutrition coaching company empowering South Asian women to live healthier lives.

In 2023, they moved to Houston, where Josh also left his tech career to launch their latest venture, Jōsh Foods, a CPG brand that makes high-protein Indian foods. Jōsh, pronounced JO-sh, in Hindi, means strength, passion, and drive–qualities our foods bring to your table. 

Tell us about your career journey.

My career has been a series of pivots. 

I started out making mobile apps.

I leveraged that expertise to make libraries for mobile developers and then developer tools and platforms.

I joined Opendoor to a platform supporting their various mobile apps, then switched to working on the IoT Platform team, where I was promoted to engineering manager.

During COVID, I was laid off and moved back to Memphis, where I helped my parents manage their neurology practice through the lockdown, incorporate the practice of telemedicine, and open a new office.

At the same time, my wife’s online fitness and coaching business was taking off, so I was helping her grow her business as CFO.

After COVID slowed, I joined two ex-Opendoor leaders as the founding engineer at table.ai, an AI analytics startup, and we moved back to SF. 

I eventually left the startup and worked as a career coach for other software engineers.

This year, we moved from SF to Houston and started Jōsh Foods.

You’ve gone from software engineering manager to career coaching to Co-Founder of Josh Foods. What inspired you to make each career pivot?

At the core, each represents a desire to expand my horizons and grow in a new way.

1. Going from IC to engineering manager allowed me to develop the skills to manage a team, have hard conversations, and grow those around me.

2. After working at startups, I ventured out and tried career coaching as a solo entrepreneur because I wanted to have more control over my time and try building a business myself.

3. After working in tech for a decade, I saw Jōsh Foods as a challenge of building a different type of business and learning about an entirely different industry.

All of these pivots were exciting for me as new challenges and opportunities for growth.

What are 1 or 2 things that helped you to make these pivots successfully? How did you handle fear and imposter syndrome?