Personal update: I've joined Accel as marketer in residence
Plus some bonus reading and listening for the new year
In 2012, the small team that made up Freshdesk had just moved into a small office in a new IT park. It was my first time in an office that actually looked like one.
In one of our first few weeks there, Girish took me and some of the others to another larger conference room. We’d evidently borrowed the space, so I knew something was happening. After a while, a very serious looking man came in and started asking me questions.
I looked at Girish, as if to ask who this person was. I don’t remember specific questions now but I know they were about content, something we were doing pretty well at the time.
I learnt only later that this person was Shekhar Kirani.
Accel became Freshworks’ first investor, when we were not even 15 people. In time, I would spend more time with Shekhar and others from Accel. Even then, I was quite curious about how a firm like this operated. Later, as Accel’s early investments practically fuelled India’s startup space, I kept following how they were doing.
Last month, another Accel company, Zenoti, became a unicorn. The story that Shekhar published about it focused on the strategic decisions that Sudheer Koneru, Zenoti’s CEO, took to get the startup to where it is today.
It is an exceptional seed to scale story, but I have another reason for you to read it: I helped write it.
It was my first story as Accel’s marketer in residence, a role I started last month.
The role came my way around mid-2020, and took a while to work out. I’m glad it did.
What am I going to do at Accel? Two things, mainly: First, to help Accel’s own content and branding initiatives, and second, act as a marketing consultant to its portfolio of amazing startups. And I’ll of course be dipping my hands into all the other stuff Accel is doing.
Hopefully, I’ll do all of this well. Wish me luck!
I also worked on one more story that is worth your time. This one, by Shekhar again, narrates how Chargebee made its first million.
In both stories, we tried to bring out the milestones that mattered, and Accel’s process for investing in the startups themselves.
Lastly, I’m thankful to my bosses at iMocha, who understood my motivations, and were incredibly graceful as I left way before I thought I would. Shoutout to my team too, a super bunch of marketers, who I was lucky to work with. I knew iMocha’s marketing was in good hands, which made the decision easier. Only a bit, though. I was certainly sad to leave, and I told Amit and team that.
Remember the name. iMocha is a startup, and a team, to watch out for.
As for what the shift means for this newsletter, the answer is that my position at Accel gives me an unique vantage point into how early stage startups are thinking about and executing marketing.
There’s so much to learn, so much to explore, and therefore so much more to share.
This journey we are on will continue. Happy new year!
PS - Long time reader of this newsletter Akshaya Chandramouli interviewed me about how it began, and the process of writing it. She calls her podcast the Newsletter Nerd Show, and this episode is about 20 minutes of conversation on writing and marketing. You can listen here.
Note: You can find me on Twitter, and this is me on LinkedIn.