Personal update: I'm part of the founding team of Atomicwork

It's time to build, again

Last year, when Freshworks went public, I wrote about the people that made the company, the founding team of 5 people that came after the founders. It still remains the most read piece on the newsletter.

Today, two of them, Kiran Darisi and Parsuram Vijayasankar, are co-founders of Atomicwork, and I’m part of our startup’s founding team.

Life’s a circle, don’t they say?

Leaving Accel was a decision for me, something I had to think deeply about, but the decision was made easier by the person they partnered with: Vijay Rayapati, someone I knew from before, but hadn’t yet spent time with. I had heard a lot of good things about him from Avinash Raghava, one of my closest friends and well-wishers in the industry, and when Vijay and I started talking with the intent to build, the alignment was immediate.

So there it is, here we go again! :)

At my leaving party at Accel, I reflected on the journey I had had. I got a chance to join an early stage startup that became the poster-boy of an entire industry, Freshworks. I also led marketing at one of India’s most important bootstrapped startups, Wingify. I then had the opportunity to lead brand and content at India’s era-defining VC firm, Accel.

This entire journey took 10 years, and I see it as the first act of my career. I have done a few things, I have gotten somewhere. But as I enter my career’s second act, I see a need, an imperative to challenge myself. And thanks to Vijay, Kiran, and Parsu, I now have a platform to do so.

Finally, as I tell my friends, there are certain phases of work that are the most enjoyable. This can be when you are working in great environments, or doing work you love, or are building something from the ground up. When you have phases like that, I always say, never let them go. They are rare, and those are the times you’ll remember and cherish.

With Atomicwork, I hope to have this for myself, of course, but also build this for all the people we are going to work with. Wish me, and us, luck. We’ll need it. :)