Rohan Raghavan

🚨 The 11.11 Hustle at Momentum Commerce: A Survivor’s Guide 🚨 Brace yourselves: 11.11 is almost here, and if you work in eCommerce, you know what that means! When kopi becomes mineral water, emails come in like roti canai orders, and every other message is a "NOW!" one. 😂 Here’s a peek into the typical 11.11 survival tactics at Momentum Commerce: ☕ Kopi Peng as Life Support: One cup where got enough? We need kopi peng on standby – masuk terus! 📱 Triple-Screen Juggling: Laptop, phone, and a tablet, because who doesn’t need three screens to handle 11.11? 🔥 Hotfix Frenzy: Patches, edits, tweaks – fixing the fix because eCommerce waits for no one! 🍜 If we can’t sapu it while still typing, no point. Food that can be tapau only, okay? 😅 To everyone in the trenches with us, keep that hustle strong, and remember: the sales are temporary, but our caffeine dependency is forever. 💪

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Zomato's latest on hiring like an MBA programme (and even asking to pay) is bold. But at the core, this is not a new thought. Companies are like Universities. From Google to Tokopedia, many companies have operated with this culture. At Mezink, all our roles are structured to optimise learning. + We are remote, stable and we pay. This is our own version of building like a University. You should have yours. After all, each University should have its own culture. PS: Below is a screenshot from the graduation ceremony (exit meeting) of one of our core team members. #culture #startups Zomato Google Tokopedia Mezink

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Wrapped up an incredible chat with Vignesh Sairam from Plivo on the Marketing Mavericks Podcast! 🚀 Vignesh, an engineer turned marketer, shared some insights on how his tech background shapes his approach to scaling global brands. From leveraging tech in marketing to navigating the SaaS world, his perspective is pure gold—especially for anyone in B2B and SaaS marketing. Huge thanks, Vignesh, for sharing your journey and all those valuable takeaways. Don’t miss this episode! Podcast link in comments. #MarketingMavericks #SaaSMarketing #EngineerTurnedMarketer #TechInMarketing #GrowthMindset #IndieFolio

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I see a lot of bashing across my LinkedIn feed about the layoffs at Freshworks as well as Sharan Hegde's 1% Club (next its going to start around KukuFm) - I felt the need to share my contrarian views on this. 1. If job stability was the core facet of one's requirement - then traditional companies or government institutions are the way to go. 2. When you join a 'modern company' - essentially you're optimizing for 'High-risk' - 'High-reward'. The 'reward' cannot be 'high' when the risk is 'Low' 3. The core tenet of a 'software' or any 'technology' is 'efficiency'. Efficiency means 'output per employee'. So every software that we use - has reduced the additional manpower at some point of time. Its just that we don't speak about it. 4. Lay-offs in new companies will continue (especially VC-backed companies). Here's why - Companies want to build fast and get going ASAP. If it is a problem money can solve - Money is thrown at the problem statement. Once the job's role is done - lay offs begin to happen. For instance - Oyo wants to onboard as many as hotels as possible. They had a hundreds of people at these functions where their mere role was to tie up with hotels. Once they've covered a huge part of their TAM - they will be affected when lay offs happen. When entire functions are laid off - there is not much you can do. But the only way to try to protect yourself from layoffs is by: 1. Be the best you can in your domain. 2. Try being in a revenue-generating function that is core to the business. 3. Be involved in the ecosystem you are in and understand what is happening.  4. Look for a job when you don't need one. 5. Never stop learning. Always upskill P.S. My heart goes to everyone who has lost their jobs in these lay offs! It's horrible so many people are out of their jobs but let's not shame these companies for doing what's in the company's best interest. Freshworks for one has made several people crorepatis in the past. #Startups #Freshworks #Layoffs

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Here are some crazy insights from my recent meet with Ritwika Founder CEO Unscript , on How AI is redefining things for products and brands • 3x faster content creation with AI-driven workflows saving 80% of the cost. • 40% higher audience retention using AI-optimized hooks driving massive product growth* • Redefining Performance marketing for brands by getting 2x on ROAS I think, now this isn’t just about content—it’s about driving real product growth. Faster testing cycles, optimized hooks, and smarter scaling are helping brands enter new markets, engage audiences better, and grow efficiently. The future of product growth and marketing is here—and it’s powered by smarter strategies and smarter tools! It was a fun and insightful meeting Ritwika Chowdhury shared her journey of building Unscript and how AI is driving incredible growth for brands and products globally. Her vision for how AI is unlocking creativity and scaling product growth was truly inspiring #AI #productgrowth # #performancemarketing #infoedge #unscriptai #chatgpt #openAI #marketing #growthstrategy #technology #machinelearning #LLM #artificialintelligence

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Thoughts on “Quality over Quantity, and what it means for growth seekers”: When I was an undergrad at GGSIPU, getting noticed globally felt impossible. I came from a small, close-knit city with a family deeply rooted in medicine, politics, and public service. Growing up, Stanford wasn’t even a name we knew. But I was an aspiring musician (for the first two years of my CS undergrad student life) who then almost unexpectedly fell in love with coding—the thrill of creating something that genuinely helped a user lit a fire in me. From being that “lost” engineering student who didn’t know the world beyond my city, to building a meaningful career in tech, one principle has transformed my journey: quality over quantity. Quality mentors over a high follower count gave me a higher ROI on learning. Fewer, deeper friendships built a real support system. Targeted, intentional job applications led to roles where I truly belonged. Selective reading and focused initiatives delivered measurable outcomes. And impact-driven academic research in Machine Learning, rather than sheer volume, created social and financial value I felt proud to talk about. Quality over quantity has been my guiding motto, reshaping my path from a small city to a global stage in tech. For me, it’s about depth to some substantial “meaty” degree, while also handling the right amount of breadth that a successful Product Leader inevitably has to juggle. And as I build, this is the standard I hold—driving impact through “meat” aka substance that has a lasting long-term viability, not just scale for the short-term of today. I’m learning everyday, and do see founders who focus on scaling for how the world looks like today (not necessarily focusing on how it would look like in 2027 or so with AGI) succeed a lot in the market, so God knows where this learning journey would take me on this point of view, but for now, I’m proud to have the right logical reasoning to stick with what I’ve learnt till now. And that is, *drumrolls* Yep, Quality over Quantity, all day everyday. Onwards and upwards. #Innovation #QualityOverQuantity #TechLeadership #VC

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The last 10 years of business transition - Phase 1 - “Amazon for X” Phase 2 - “Uber for X” Phase 3 - “CloudSaaS for X” Current phase - “AI for X” What remains constant throughout these phases are- 1. Every phase has unlocked higher productivity & efficiency for X. 2. People who can understand and articulate the value addition of each phase can thrive. 3. Domain expertise of “X” is becoming increasingly less of a deciding factor for career progression. #AIforSales #AIforB2BSaaS

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Had the best time talking to Revathi Pillai about product and engineering roadmaps, the pitfalls women need to avoid when pursuing leadership roles, and a bunch more! Check out the link down below:

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CandorIQ has had exponential growth this year. But it wasn't always that smooth sailing. Sharing some notes for founders as motivation: 🔢 By # of customers: All of these milestones were of equal level of difficulty - 1st paid customer - 5 paid customers - 10 paid customers - 30 paid customers 🦕 Our 1st ACV deal was $2K, now we do orders magnitude and have public customers as clients. Largest dealsize gets much easier, if that's your goal 📊 Win/loss - Our Win/loss ratio has improved 50% every quarter to best in the industry now Why is that? - Product compouds - Customers compound - Brand and reach compound (note: Not sharing this years metrics, nor ARR, but this should help aspiring founders)

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Business Messaging using Whatsapp has truly evolved over the last 3 years to enable consumers to talk to businesses like they do with friends and family. From rich personalized experiences using Flows, Carousel Catalogs, Payments to innovation with Voice Calling for Businesses and now Meta AI, Whatsapp has truly emerged as a very powerful business tool. Customers are seeing high RoI when used in the right manner across the entire spectrum of the sales cycle from discovery to engagement, commerce, native purchases in-app to sophisticated customer service journeys. Read on for more insights. Sandhya Devanathan Ravi Garg Prache Agarwaal Aditi Mathur Rohant Shyam Rammohan Rishabh Khandelwal Rachit Jain Swati Mishra Rutuja Kagwade Ekta Agarwal Riddhika S. Prachi Dhamale Sai Gadkari Gaurav Agrawal Anshika Malviya Kirti Zadbuke Chand Ajmera Shreeya Roy Ambika Balasubramaniam Chetan Chadha Shalki C. Amit Shanawad Pooja Khanduja Ranjeet Malhotra Paras Arora Piyush Vaidya Animesh Baidya Biswas

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🚀 Why Choose PaaS for Your OTT Platform? 🚀 Working on a Platform as a Service (PaaS) model with an OTT provider can offer several advantages over the outright purchase of source code. Here are some key reasons: Lower Upfront Costs 💰 PaaS Model: Typically involves a subscription or usage-based pricing, spreading costs over time. Source Code Purchase: Requires a significant initial investment for the acquisition of the code. Maintenance and Updates 🔧 PaaS Model: The provider handles regular updates, bug fixes, and feature enhancements. Source Code Purchase: Responsibility for maintenance, updates, and ongoing development falls on you. Scalability 📈 PaaS Model: Designed to scale easily with your needs, accommodating growth without requiring major changes. Source Code Purchase: Scaling might require significant redevelopment and infrastructure investments. Time to Market ⏱️ PaaS Model: Allows for quicker deployment as the infrastructure and software are already in place. Source Code Purchase: Developing, customizing, and deploying the platform can take a considerable amount of time. Technical Support 🛠️ PaaS Model: Providers offer technical support, helping to resolve issues promptly. Source Code Purchase: You need to establish your own support team or rely on external consultants. Focus on Core Business 🎯 PaaS Model: Frees up your team to focus on content and business strategies rather than technical challenges. Source Code Purchase: Requires significant technical expertise and resources to manage the platform. Security 🔒 PaaS Model: Providers typically offer robust security measures, including compliance with industry standards. Source Code Purchase: Ensuring security and compliance is entirely your responsibility. Continuous Improvement 🌟 PaaS Model: Providers are continually improving their platforms, often adding new features and capabilities. Source Code Purchase: Any new features or improvements must be developed and integrated by your team. Flexibility and Customization 🎨 PaaS Model: Many PaaS providers offer customization options to tailor the platform to your needs. Source Code Purchase: Full control over customization, but this requires significant development resources. Risk Management ⚖️ PaaS Model: Risks are shared with the provider, reducing your overall exposure. Source Code Purchase: All risks, including technological obsolescence and operational downtime, are borne by you. Overall, a PaaS model can provide a more flexible, cost-effective, and scalable solution, allowing you to focus on your content and audience while leveraging the technical expertise and infrastructure of a specialized provider. To launch your own OTT Platform - www.mogiio.com #OTT #PaaS #TechSolutions #DigitalMedia #Scalability #mogi #mogiio #VideoStreaming #StreamingServices #ContentCreation #OTTPlatform #VideoMarketing #StreamingSolutions #ContentCreator #VideoOnDemand #VOD #OnlineStreaming #ContentDistribution

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Karbon just celebrated its fifth anniversary a few months back. It sounds long but always feels there's so much more to do. Would like to share five takeaways that I wish someone had repeatedly reminded me over these years. 1) the leader is always the ceiling: no matter how talented and intelligent you believe your team is, if you don't grow as a leader, your team will not be able to surpass you. Eg. if you openly object an idea, it takes significant amount of courage and work from your team to confront you since they may think they need to have a well justified reason . And true talents after trying to convince you of certain things will simply leave if you are not able to comprehend and support. 2) talent density trumps almost all things: applies to all leaders, team members across functions. just gotta keep improving talent density constantly. again, otherwise good people leave and bad people stay. 3) thinking deeply > doing extensively: you can only do it right if you are doing the right things 4) pessimists are usually right but it's the optimists that are successful 5) learn to enjoy the journey with the people (your tribe and your customers) and love the product that you build (if u don't, why would anyone?) bec the goal post will just keep moving Oh, and definitely stay healthy and have solid evening for a good night's rest and a morning routine rejuvenates your body/mind cuz it's a bumpy ride:) Note: tried the "rewrite with AI" function, quite cool, definitely sounds better, but I am old school, prefer the message to sound genuine and not touched up.

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When we talk about competitive edge or moat we often talk about product, brand, tech, GTM, etc. One thing that doesn’t get spoken about enough is organisational design. Here’s an example of how a decentralised org design helped Blinkit execute better than than its competitors. Softer aspects such as culture and org design play an equally important role as hard things like product, tech and brand in a company’s success. Amit Somani

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A rubber band has a singular purpose - hold things together. But its real magic lies in its ability to stretch, contract, and maintain the perfect tension. 🏆 Singular Purpose: Every team thrives when everyone is aligned towards a common goal. Like a rubber band, our unity gives us strength. 🔄 Flexibility: Challenges require us to stretch our capabilities. We expand to take on more, and contract to focus when needed. 💪 Tension: Just enough tension keeps us moving forward without breaking. It's the sweet spot where innovation happens! Balaji Kesavaraj, thank you for being part of Wozku - Attendee Engagement Platform - stretching limits, contracting to prioritize, and balancing the dynamic tension to drive success. PS... Wait till we introduce rest of the team ony by one.

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🎙️ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞? On the Venturis Stories Podcast, I (Palash Somani) dove deep with Gaurav Vaid and Arjun Ghatak to unlock the powerful lessons from India's historic T20 World Cup win and translate them into actionable strategies for YOU to level up your product management game! 🏏🌟 My non-traditional journey to Director of Product at Dream11 (civil engineer > finance > subscriptions > product!) is living proof that 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬. 💪🚀 Here's a 𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐤 of what we discussed: ↳  𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐯𝐬. 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞: Growth mindset trumps having a traditional background.🧠 ↳  𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 + 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 + “𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟” = 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡. Balance data with a touch of "irrational belief" to spark innovation. 📊✨ ↳  𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 & 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫: Instead of “what” to build, focus on “why” - the desired outcome. 🎯 ↳  𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠: Be the ultimate all-rounder, just like a cricketer! Learn to shift gears and conquer any challenge. 🏆 ↳  𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦: India's World Cup win reveals the secrets to a high-performing product team (shared purpose, trust, and celebrating wins are key!). 🌟🤝🎉 ↳  𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 & 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐈: How AI will transform the product landscape and the two paths for product managers. 🤖🚀 Huge thanks to Gaurav and Arjun for having me on the Venturis Stories Podcast! Ready to become a product management champion? Listen to the full conversation here: 🔗 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gd_FYFra 🔗 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gse-yVQq 🔗 Apple: https://lnkd.in/ga3vS4zA Let me know in the comments what resonated most with you! 🗨️ #productmanagement #growthmindset #dream11 #cricket #generativeAI #careerdevelopment ------------------------------------------------------------------- Enjoying my content? 👍 Like and ♻️ repost if your network will find it useful! 🔔 Every Mon-Fri at 10:30 AM I talk about Product, AI and Growth Mindset. Follow to 10x your growth. 📆🕥🚀

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Call me biased but I do have a genuinely high amount of respect & admiration for what YouTube has done for the entire Creator economy globally over the last decade+. Having seen this journey from close quarters for APAC (esp. for India market) for a good part of this phase, I couldn't be more assured of the fact that for most meaningfully successful creators today (across social platforms), the base was firmly set on YT. Pick your favorite online creator & track back his/her journey. Most likely, you'd agree with the above statement. Ok, gratitude for the day -- done!!! Now, came here to share that YouTube (/ Google) is hiring. Global YT open roles: https://lnkd.in/gQrSVRsM YT openings in IN: https://lnkd.in/gj49rC7j If you find a fit, feel free to apply and send some blessings my way. I can't "get you the" job , but more than happy to help with any candid guidance/questions I am capable of addressing. Pls feel free to DM. RD. ( PS: that "get you the" job part was primarily meant for my desi friends, with a very positive intent. #IYKYK )

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