The stories that will make Interview Mocha
Part three of a four part series on storytelling for SaaS startups
Please note that this essay is part three of a series on storytelling for SaaS startups. You can read the first two part of this series - the stories that made Freshworks here, and the stories that made Wingify here.
When I joined Interview Mocha in March this year, I realised very quickly what I would have to do.
The startup, supremely confident, well led, and already profitable, had very little recall in the Indian SaaS ecosystem, except that built by the founders Amit Mishra and Sujit Karpe. They were well known because they were already successful entrepreneurs, and the domain of skill assessment knew the company and our product. But to grow faster, we knew, that wouldn’t be enough.
A bigger story needed to be told.
That is where I come in.
I have written before about my decision to join Interview Mocha. But there was one factor that overwhelmingly influenced my choice - Amit is a great storyteller.
The first marketer in a startup is the CEO. If he can sell his company convincingly enough that you are on board, it is likely that he will be able to convince others too.
This is what Amit told me when we spoke for the first time: We want to make skill assessment synonymous with Interview Mocha, that’s the vision. Like thanda matlab Coca-Cola.
The ease with which he conveyed what his startup did, and the scale of its ambition told me all I needed to know.
Which meant that all that I needed was already there. In unstructured, loosely connected anecdotes, multiple use cases, and customer feedback, Interview Mocha already had all the raw ingredients.
It just needed to be stitched together and presented in a repeatable, memorable form.
That was what I needed to do.
In probably the most influential essay I have written, I wrote about how getting your story right as a startup remains the most important thing you will ever do.
I’d also written about what I call the marketing MVP, and given it a definition of sorts.
The macro part of your marketing: Your marketing strategy, content strategy, positioning, your brand, your design and visual language, your blog and what it stands for, and so on; you get the drift. This is your marketing MVP.
My task was therefor cut out at Interview Mocha - I had to get the story right, and then get the marketing MVP in place for Mocha before I could launch a full scale marketing assault. And I had to do this with a new team, hire new people, and execute as we all worked from home.
That wasn’t the plan, and I’m still a bit annoyed by the circumstances, but everyone is in the same boat, and I was hired to get the job done, not to complain.
Firstly, the story. I knew that the origin story of the startup was compelling. I had read about it before, and heard Amit talk about it several times. So that was something we could do well. But that wouldn’t be enough in a competitive space like skill assessments. Interview Mocha is new, and relatively lesser known than her other counterparts.
We needed a story that would differentiate us.
I worked on this for a few weeks, but it was Sujit who gave me the version I was able to translate almost into a manifesto.
Secondly, the marketing MVP. Our branding strategy (which is connected to our story), our positioning, our visual identity - we had to get these right as well. And because this was a task best known to the founders, Amit got to work.
To get the positioning right, Amit spoke to at least 20 customers and industry veterans, figuring out how best to tell people what we were, in a way that would stick, and let prospects know that we could help them.
At least we think so.
I’m sharing part of both our stories here. Remember, these are not complete. I’m publishing these parts here only so you understand the process and what the results should look like.
These stories will not just be the way we announce ourselves to the world, but the base around which our entire marketing edifice will be built, including content, PR, collateral, and even RFPs. That task is now ahead of us.
Also, note that it is not just me who worked on these. I have a stellar team, and they all had inputs, corrections, and advice.
What you’ll read is a distillation of our founders’ vision, my strategy, and the teams’ work.
Here you go.
Our story
Our CEO Amit D. Mishra, and our CTO Sujit Karpe, were frustrated.
It was 2012, and time-to-delivery was proving hard in the services company they had founded.
They needed more talent, fast.
And as they tried to recruit talent, they realised that hiring was inefficient. Incredibly inefficient.
They wanted to do something to fix this obvious gap, firstly for themselves. But very quickly they realised that this was a problem others were facing too.
They figured out that traditional practices were wearing organisations down and killing productivity. So, as tech-driven people in the tech-driven world, they decided to solve this.
This was how Interview Mocha was born.
In the beginning, it did one simple thing: digitize interviews.
Growth was gradual but consistent, there were ups and down, and there were phases of flat sales.
But they persevered. And as they sold more, they understood that it was not just the interview process that needed a revamp.
The entire skill assessment space was ripe for a simpler, better solution.
In February 2015, Interview Mocha was launched as a skill assessment product.
By the end of that year, Mocha had 600 clients in 50+ countries, and had over 1000+ skill assessment tests. We onboarded one paying client every day, and haven’t looked back since.
Our vision
30 years ago, computers were not used in workspaces like they are now.
20 years ago, technology was not a part of every aspect of work, like it is today.
10 years ago, many of today’s critical skills were unheard of.
The jobs we’ll be applying for 10 years later don’t exist right now.
The skill landscape is shifting under our feet.
Don’t take our word for it, though.
Gartner reported in a study that 95% of the world’s HR leaders are investing in upskilling programs for future digital opportunities, and that 77% of the world’s L&D executives are creating learning plans for their current workforce to meet growing needs.
And a report by IDC says that the financial implications of this continuously increasing skills gap will go from $302 billion in 2019 to $775 billion in 2022.
As the pace of this change accelerates, how will you adapt and thrive? In this new world of skills, where assessing soft skills is as important as measuring hard skills, who do you trust?
You need an assessment partner to make sure that you fill the gap between where you are and where you need to be.
It is to face this brave new world that Interview Mocha was created.
PS - I know I didn’t reveal the positioning. For those you’ll have to wait until we launch. This essay was about the stories, after all.
Note - Reminder that this essay is part three of a four part series. This is what’s next:
Part four: Follow these 5 steps to create a great startup story
A framework for founders and marketers to use as they try to do the same for themselves and for their companies. Like the one you just read.
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