Build a $500K Side Business Without Quitting Your Job

A former Meta marketer built a half million soap brand from his garage — first 13,000 bottles filled by hand, nights and weekends — without ever quitting his day job. Episode Highlights Why would someone doing an intense Wharton MBA prioritize hosting ramen pop-ups over traditional corporate networking? "If you told me that I can work at your place, I will quit my job at Meta." How a cold email led to staging at a Michelin-star restaurant in Copenhagen. What happens when the safety net of Big Tech's "Product-Market Fit" is stripped away at an early-stage startup? Manually pumping and labeling 13,000 bottles of soap by hand: the unglamorous reality of launching a premium brand alone. Balancing a full-time role at Reddit with a growing side business: Why keeping your 9-to-5 might be the smartest way to fund your startup. Timestamps Chapter 1 | The Corporate Exit: Finding Passion Beyond the Tech Bubble 00:00:00 — Episode Highlights 00:02:43 — Choosing ramen pop-ups over traditional Wharton MBA networking. 00:06:24 — The bold email to top restaurants: "If you told me that I can work at your place, I will quit my job at Meta." 00:08:34 — The breaking point at Meta: Witnessing a new hire get laid off before their very first day. 00:16:16 — Innovation in high-end dining: How the best restaurants A/B test their recipes. 00:27:03 — The pressure of perfection: Screwing up a dessert in a Michelin-star kitchen versus making a mistake in tech. Chapter 2 | The Startup Reality: Losing the Big Tech Safety Net 00:32:09 — Joining Crème: The "perfect bridge" combining professional tech product skills with a deep passion for food. 00:37:04 — Startup vs. Big Tech: Navigating the rudderless feeling of trying to find product-market fit from scratch. 00:43:03 — The Founder's Dilemma: Balancing a meaningful original vision with the harsh business reality of a pivot. Chapter 3 | Building Naomi: From Garage Chemistry to 13,000 Bottles 00:50:06 — The pivot to CPG: The birth of Naomi, a premium, garlic-removing hand soap designed for home cooks. 00:58:32 — Treating chemistry like a tech product: A/B testing soap formulas in a home kitchen. 01:13:14 — The unglamorous solo grind: Pumping 13,000 bottles of soap manually with one arm. 01:14:13 — Selling the first bottle: Why founders should launch even if they are embarrassed by the imperfections of their first product. 01:30:00 — The scale-up struggle: The agonizing one-year wait to transition production from the garage to a real manufacturer. Chapter 4 | The Dual Life: Managing a 9-to-5 and a Startup 01:43:02 — Working as a Principal PMM at Reddit while running Naomi: Setting up systems that don't require 9-to-5 attention. 01:45:51 — The power of a paycheck: Using a full-time salary for cash, stability, and the ability to delegate startup operations. 01:52:40 — Career ambition and taking the leap: How to navigate the fear of the unknown when jumping into a new venture. 01:57:42 — The story behind the name "Naomi" and the 5-year vision for building a cooking lifestyle brand. Meet the Guest Preston Landers is a product marketer, founder, and self-taught chef who has built a career out of parallel obsessions: tech and food. While rising through the ranks at Meta, he spent his free time staging at world-renowned restaurants. This dual passion drove him to send a cold email that landed him a role in the kitchen of Alouette, a Michelin-star restaurant in Copenhagen. After returning to the U.S. as Head of Product at a home-cooking app, Preston is now a Principal Product Marketing Manager at Reddit. Alongside his full-time career in Big Tech, he is the founder of Naomi—a premium personal care brand designed specifically for home cooks. What began as a four-month A/B testing project in his kitchen, where he hand-filled 13,000 bottles, has grown into an award-winning brand recognized by Fast Company and Bon Appétit. In this episode, Preston discusses the quiet arithmetic of running two careers at once, why the best products come from obsession rather than efficiency, and what it takes to take a leap into the unknown when you have every reason to stay. Support Talk to JANE www.talktojane.com Tags #TalkToJane #podcast #CareerAwakening #BigTechLife #CPG #SoloFounder #NaomiSoap #ProductMarketing #WorkLifeBalance #Entrepreneurship