[mrjn]

Talking as an engineer who learnt management by building a startup: Do things. But also, make them visible.

I remember my days at Google (first job). I used to just build and build... and had a hard time trying to convey why what I was building was important. In fact, my first manager skipped over me, and promoted the entire rest of the team (still hurts). When I switched teams (and manager), they told me I was 2 levels below where I should be at.

Long story short: Get into those conversations. Don't be overbearing, but have your presence known.