Why, after Freshworks and Wingify, I joined a little startup called Interview Mocha
And 5 things for marketers to remember for when looking for a new role
After my stints at Freshworks and Wingify, I turned down a couple of well-known, well-funded startups and joined a little pre-Series A startup in Pune called Interview Mocha.
I had spent a lot of time thinking about this move, why move at all, and why this startup and not any other. I think I had an answer for myself, a mental framework I used to get to my decision. That’s the thought process I’m reproducing here, mostly to help folks who might have a decision like this coming to them soon.
Firstly, why move at all?
There are only two good reasons to do so, assuming money is not a reason.
If you seem to have hit a dead end learning-wise.
If you have stopped having fun at work, for whatever reason that might be.
Once you have come to either of the above conclusions, you can either start looking out for opportunities, or if one comes looking for you, consider it.
I had a personal situation necessitating a move, but I was already getting fidgety.
Freshworks and Girish (CEO of Freshworks) taught me marketing, but being a rookie I was still away from the business side of things. This gap was what Wingify filled, giving me the chance to prove myself under the pressures of a bootstrapped organisation, and understand the business as a whole. But there was something missing in my armoury: My expertise remained in inbound marketing, something that stood me well at Wingify, but which also meant that I still needed to learn how to manage and deploy a marketing budget. This was why I returned to Freshworks, to close out that gap.
Though I was able to do that and well (the Failsforce campaign being something I’ll talk about all my life), as Freshworks grew I sometimes missed that startup environment and speed, that sense of ownership, and the ability to make decisions and execute fast.
And by this time, I had an itch I needed to scratch: I had come to a conviction that there is, right now, an opportunity to create a really big SaaS brand out of India, powered by content and a strong brand, much like the likes of Intercom, Drift and Buffer. I wanted to have a crack at this, and that could only happen if I steered the marketing ship, and if I found a CEO whose vision intersected with mine.
I call this the founder-CMO fit.
And I found that at Interview Mocha. I felt an energy and an ambition that I had felt at Freshworks in 2011. That, coupled with something Girish had taught me long ago, told me that this was it.
So how do you, as a marketer, find this for yourself? You need to, because otherwise you get stuck in roles that give you no pleasure, no growth, no learning, and give the organisation no profit either. That’s not a situation any of us want to be in.
I’ve tried to boil my own thinking down to these 5 points. When looking for a new marketing role, make sure you pay attention to these:
The Founder-CMO fit
For marketers early in their career, this translates to the Marketer-CMO fit. If what you want to do, and believe in, matches what your CMO is setting out to do, get on board. Whatever happens, you’ll learn stuff. For those at my stage, knowing that your vision matches the Founder/CEO’s gives you a slightly longer thread, because things like content marketing and brand building take time. Think about what this means for you, and find that fit.
Pay attention to the fundamentals
When looking at a startup, ask the fundamental questions, how much revenue do they have, what is the ticket size, what is the CAC, what is the LTV, how big is the sales team, and so on. You will not get all the answers, because after all, you are asking these things of a startup founder, but you will get the most important ones, and those would be enough. For example, Interview Mocha is at almost $2 million in revenue, without any external funding, and that told me that something fundamental is right.
See if the role plays to your strengths
Any marketer is a particular kind of marketer. I specialise in inbound and content, and any team I lead will extrapolate from there; A friend of mine is operationally very strong, so his team will be super-efficient in its markops; You get the drift. If you are going to lead the team, see if the role plays to your specific strengths. If it does, go for it. On the other hand, trying to force-fit yourself into a role made for someone else doesn’t usually play out well. Find the perfect nail for your hammer.
Ask for the larger vision of where the organisation wants to go
This will tell you two things: one, if the organisation has a larger vision and ambition beyond the everyday stuff of running a viable business, and two, if the CEO/CMO is a good storyteller and has the ability to persuade. Both these things matter, and they matter a hell of a lot, for reasons that might surprise you now. But if they have both of these, and good ones, get on board.
Get extreme clarity in what is expected of you
I didn’t do this once, just once, and it kicked me in the butt like never before. Please make sure you are very, very clear as to what is expected of you. If you can (and sometimes you can’t), get this in writing. Read it at least five times, and then ask for clarification. Discuss timelines, budgets, and teams. Discuss your growth. Startups won’t have concrete plans, but they will have some idea. Get that idea cleared up for yourself so you are not surprised later.
If you get most of these right, you’ll have made less mistakes than others. And that’s the first step to succeeding at anything new. Best of luck!
This is the first post of Chai, Marketing, and Other things, or The CMO Journal, where I’m going to be writing about my journey at Interview Mocha, from what I learn, to what I do, to what happens inside the marketing team at an early stage startup on its way up.
I’m pretty excited about this, and if you think this has value, you can subscribe here to receive subsequent blogs directly in your inbox.