Leading Product Requires More Courage Than Building the Company Itself
Pat Utz grew up with stories that never sounded heroic to the people who lived them, yet shaped every part of the way he thinks about work.
His father arrived in the United States from Argentina with two hundred dollars, picked up whatever painting jobs he could find, and learned English by holding conversations he could barely follow. Over time he saved enough to build two small businesses with Pat’s mother, and those years left Pat with an expectation that creating something of his own was simply how life moved forward.
That early foundation carried pressure but also a sense of possibility. He grew up feeling the presence of two people who created stability out of uncertainty, who built through instinct and repetition, and who worked with the kind of focus that turns effort into identity. There was no speech about entrepreneurship in his childhood. There was only the sight of two parents who kept moving and kept making, and without realizing it he built his worldview around that pattern. Over time he discovered his own interest in problems that felt much larger than the ones in his home. He felt drawn toward questions that affected entire systems. He wanted to understand the structures people lived inside and the ways those structures shaped daily life. That interest eventually settled on one issue he could not ignore.
He saw how difficult it had become for people to understand their own government. Laws layered on top of laws until they felt impenetrable. Regulations expanded and twisted into forms that no one outside of specialized fields could follow. Pat noticed that the complexity itself had become its own kind of barrier. The impact of these codes touched every business and every person, yet understanding them required expertise that most did not have. That realization became the beginning of Abstract. He wanted to create a way to distill legislation, regulations, and court opinions into something understandable. He wanted to build a product that helped people grasp how government decisions shaped their work and their lives. That human desire to clarify what had grown confusing guided the shape of his company.
Abstract began with that mission, yet the earliest version of the company took a different form than the one people know today. In the first two and a half years, Pat focused on serving lobbying firms in California. It was a smaller operation but one that taught him the pace and demands of the space. The company worked with two hundred of these firms, building relationships and experimenting with how to analyze the information they needed. Those years gave him a foundation but also made something clear. The people hiring these lobbying firms were larger organizations, and if Abstract wanted to deepen its impact it had to meet those organizations directly. That realization, shaped by both the needs of customers and the realities of being venture backed, pushed him to expand the company’s focus toward large corporations and law firms.
Around that same time the world of artificial intelligence changed. Pat remembered the moment closely. In 2023, language models had evolved enough to interpret information that once felt impossible to process. Back in 2019, summarizing a single article with any real accuracy had been a challenge. Summarizing legislation was unimaginable. When the technology caught up, Pat realized the company could take on work that had once been outside its reach. The shift that followed felt less like a pivot and more like an expansion. The product grew in capability. The team grew in clarity. Abstract stepped into a broader version of the same vision it had always held.
Growth, however, brought its own challenges. There was a period when the company had signed a wave of customers and expected momentum to build, but instead the feedback landed with a weight that changed everything. Customers told them they did not see value in the product. Hearing that felt like hitting a wall at full speed. It exposed something fundamental that had not yet taken shape. The product needed direction. The team needed unified leadership. Pat realized that great ideas from many people could not substitute for one clear voice guiding the experience. He believed strongly that in the early stages a founder must lead product. Not as a designer or an engineer but as the person with the most visibility into the market, the customers, and the business. He stepped into that role with intention, listening to every viewpoint, synthesizing what mattered, and shaping a path that the team could follow even if it meant challenging their assumptions. After two months of work the next cohort of customers began using the product daily. The shift in engagement showed what clear product leadership could create.
This period refined Pat’s understanding of leadership. He spoke about how much of the work resembles politics more than anything else. Not the public kind, but the internal craft of hearing every perspective, weighing what matters, and making decisions that move the company forward even when not everyone agrees. He learned how to guide a team toward alignment without bending the product into something fragmented. He learned how to protect the mission while remaining open to new information. It shaped him as a founder in ways that touched every part of Abstract’s evolution.
He also grew more aware of the impact of the people he brought into the company. He talked about the importance of hiring low ego teammates. Passion mattered, but respect mattered more. He believed that building something from nothing required people who listened well, trusted one another, and created space for collaboration. High ego could erode culture and slow momentum. Low ego created an environment where people could work with clarity and shared purpose. It was a perspective shaped by experience rather than advice, formed through the rhythm of building a team in real time.
Pat carried that approach into the moments that felt rewarding. He described the day their first customer paid them as one of the most memorable experiences of the entire journey. The framed checks sat near him during the conversation, reminders of what it felt like to see someone not only use the product but value it enough to invest in it. That early validation meant more than later milestones because it signaled something simple. Someone needed what they created. Alongside that moment he remembered closing a round of funding at a time when it felt like everything might slip away. That type of relief had its own meaning. It showed that perseverance and clear communication could hold a company steady through uncertainty.
The question of how long he wants to run Abstract does not have a fixed answer. Pat sees the company as something with significant potential. The market is still early, and he believes the need for understanding how government affects businesses will only grow. He imagines a future that could lead to a large exit or even an initial public offering, depending on the opportunities that arise. The company sits in a space with layers of potential beyond the first question of impact. Once organizations understand what regulations mean for them, the next stage offers an entire world of compliance and legal workflows waiting for transformation. He sees a path that extends far into the future and plans to follow it with intention.
His advice for people interested in entrepreneurship reflects the same clarity he brought to Abstract’s evolution. He urged them to focus less on venture capital and accelerators and more on the work of building. He said many new founders believe that funding or validation from a program will unlock their path, yet the pattern among successful founders is different. They build first. They gain traction. They get people using what they created. Paying customers speak louder than pitch decks. Pat emphasized the value of learning to build, finding a cofounder who can build, or becoming someone who has that skill. He encouraged founders to create an early version of their product and test it with real users before seeking investment. He told a story about a friend who runs a company with more than half a million users and chose to remain bootstrapped because raising capital would only dilute a business already headed toward a strong exit. Pat believed all founders should ask themselves whether raising money serves their goals or complicates them.
He also carried with him a set of lessons that influenced how he works each day. One of the most lasting came from an early coach who taught him to guard his health with seriousness. Time could not be recovered, and prioritizing sleep, movement, and eating well formed the foundation for every other decision. He noticed how the highest performing leaders held those habits tightly. Another piece came from a founder he admired who reminded him that persistence mattered deeply. As long as the company had not reached the point where shutting down was necessary to avoid debt, he believed the only task was to keep moving, keep selling, and keep finding ways to continue. The final insight came from another seasoned leader who taught him how to approach negotiation. He referenced the movie Inception and the idea of planting understanding rather than forcing it. Pat learned that thoughtful analysis and subtle framing could help another person see the value of a partnership or acquisition in a way that felt like their own idea. It became a craft he continued to practice.
Pat’s story is shaped by family history, personal conviction, and a desire to solve problems that sit beneath the surface of everyday life. Abstract reflects the way he thinks and the values he carries. It holds the influence of parents who built from the ground up, the lessons of early experiments, the humility of difficult feedback, and the persistence required to transform complexity into clarity. Pat continues to move forward with a sense of focus shaped by each of these experiences, building a company that exists not because the path was predictable but because he was willing to make one decision after another until the work became real.
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