How I Learned to Be Scrappy in Big Tech: #1 skill missing from MBA & Consulting

5 battle-tested steps to thrive in Tech Strategy or Start-up BizOps! Being scrappy is the #1 skill to excel in these roles but isn't talked about in business school or consulting.

Hi, this is Kate! I come from 7+ years of experience in tech strategy & digital marketing. This newsletter is all about what I wish I read when I just got started.

In this article, I will cover

• What “being scrappy” means and why it’s the #1 skill in tech and start-ups

• 5 tactical steps to adopt and excel in being scrappy

If you are a new subscriber, check out my past articles on working in tech strategy:

• So, What Do You Actually Do in a Strategy & Ops role in Tech?

• How not to sound like a loser during your 1-min segment at the all-hands meeting?

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0. What Does "Being Scrappy" Mean in Tech and Why is it Important?

Being scrappy is one of the most important qualities for Business Operations professionals in tech. I briefly mentioned it in my article "How to Pass Resume Screening for Strategy and Ops". Being scrappy means having the ability to execute and see end-to-end initiatives through from 0 to 1.

Let's consider a scenario: You're the only business function employee in a seed-stage startup, tasked with leading growth strategy and acquiring new customers.

⭕Non-Scrappy Approach: You identify the customer segment the startup needs and ask the CEO for $50K to hire a contractor or agency to run paid ads for customer awareness and acquisition

✅Scrappy Approach: You identify the customer segment, secure a $5K budget from the CEO to test your hypothesis, and personally set up Google and Meta ads while monitoring the data to validate your approach

Why is the scrappy approach important?

Start-ups are looking for BizOps pros who will roll their sleeves up in the second example, not one who talks strategy from the sidelines or slide decks. They must iterate, experiment, and grow rapidly to achieve product-market fit, leaving no time for red tape or wasted resources.

Now, let me cut to the chase with 5 tactics I've personally leveraged to move the needle in strategy and operations in big tech! These skills are not typically taught in MBA programs or consulting firms, but they are crucial for navigating the complexities of the tech industry.

1. Find Solutions with Limited Resources

Tech companies move fast. Even when resources are stretched thin, you will still find creative and collaborative ways to efficiently achieve your goal.

✅ Independence and caring for your projects are key quality of high performers. When the data analytics team couldn't prioritize my request, I took the initiative to create an advanced SQL query myself and had them review it. I got the insights I needed without needing to wait several weeks.

💡While taking the initiative is great, don’t shy away from asking for help. I did ask analytics to review prior queries they’ve built so I could start somewhere solid.

2. Embrace Doing the (Dirty) Work Yourself

In tech, there will be (many!) times when you don’t have immediate support or resources at your disposal for tasks that are technically out of your scope.

✅Taking ownership means you are willing to roll your sleeves up. I created designs in Figma, wrote copy, picked up and sent marketing materials to a key restaurant partner to ensure that their customers will see our marketing poster on-time.

💡Clearing bottlenecks by DIYing is great when it’s within your expertise and capacity. Always escalate and even overcommunicate potential risks to your manager immediately.

3. Influence Without Authority

This is about advocating for shared business needs to ensure project success. You need to understand the different objectives and lens each cross-functional partner has and create a collaborative & safe environment for them to speak up.

✅Constructive feedback is what improves our craft for the better! I led 5+ different teams to launch new restaurants on DoorDash and conduct multiple formal and informal retrospective sessions with all teams involved to iterate the launch process.

💡It’s easy to make assumptions about how other teams operate. I learnt it the hard way to never assign more than 1 Directly Responsible Individual for an Action Item to ensure best accountability for project outcome

4. Adapt Efficiently When Faced with Uncertainty

Projects, products and people pivot a lot in tech. No one enjoys uncertainty, but you will earn more respect and trust by handling it gracefully. Always remember to tackle problems from first principles and stick to your main objective and priorities

✅Prioritize your main objective. For instance, when feature launches faced delays, I focused on keeping end users informed, provided guidance for next steps, and escalation channel for follow-up questions.

💡Don’t panic or become defensive when faced with setbacks. No need to dwell on past actions too much. It’s okay to admit a mistake and move on to improve it. If you didn’t make a mistake, it’s also perfectly acceptable to refrain from over-explaining yourself.

5. Measure and Iterate for the Next One

Growth mindset is the key here. What worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. I am lucky to have been in teams that encouraged a culture of experimentation to test new ideas. After each project or initiative, we also conduct a retrospective to gather feedback.

✅Concept testing helps boost confidence level in pivoting your initiatives. For example,I ran pilot tests to see how to achieve best customer engagement with minimal budget before deciding if/how I should scale it.

💡Avoid becoming complacent with past successes and relying too much on data. Make sure you got your basic statics concepts and dig into the lowest level of detail. For example, spot-check the raw data to ensure that individual rows contain the right information

Embrace the scrappy mindset, focus on execution, and don’t hesitate to take initiative. For ambitious ICs, being scrappy is not just an asset—it's a necessity. I am keen to hear about your experience too. Please feel free to leave any comments here or in subscriber chat on Substack.

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Appendix: some more examples of being scrappy

Being scrappy is a proactive "can-do" attitude:

• You will search for an answer in the company wiki or slack history before asking a colleague or manager

• You will form an opinion on next steps by analyzing existing data before asking your team “what should we do next

• You will think of ways to improve your OKR before your manager comes asking for 1% better opportunities

• You are not too afraid to bring new ideas to the table or to play devil’s advocate

• You are not too lazy to dive into the ROI of running a new initiative due to perceived limits of resources

In the fast-paced, resource-constrained world of tech startups, It's about making the most of what you have and finding creative ways to achieve your goals.

What “being scrappy” is not:

• Your over-analyze data on your own before seeking input from your manager or team

• You make assumptions about how you can improve your OKR without using data to back it up and checking in with your manager or your team

• You ask for budget or headcount without making a case laying out clear ROI and risks

• You try to do everything on your own without prioritizing or delegating, sacrificing your sleep and weekends

• You knit pick the challenges or ROI of new ideas or initiatives