In today's world, building products has become more accessible, and product teams often strive to gain a competitive advantage and impress customers. However, this can sometimes lead to products that focus on promotional aspects rather than addressing actual customer problems. As a product marketer, I am fortunate to be involved early in the product lifecycle, … Continue reading Using Customer Advisory Boards and Focus Groups for Effective Product Validation
Getting into product marketing
In 2019, I quit my job in ad tech to try my hands at a start-up. We managed to get a YCombinator interview and failed at the last step, but that was pretty much the high point of the short-lived attempt. It was too early to have figured out a revenue model. Some of our … Continue reading Getting into product marketing
Ambition and Growing Up
I was an ambitious person growing up. When I was 15 years old, I used to be excited about train rides. Not because of the journey or the destination. But because every time I was at a railway station, my father would agree - more readily than usual - to buying me stuff to read. … Continue reading Ambition and Growing Up
Uncertainty
There are uncertain things one can feel okay about. And then there are those that induce a month’s worth of anxiety in a day. House-hunting is definitely the latter. You see, I moved from Bangalore to London only two weeks back. And in those two weeks, I have spent 10 days in mandatory isolation, trying … Continue reading Uncertainty
Corporate and social boxes
You are too left-brained, so maybe this is not for you. We prefer to hire people that have a growth mindset. Two quotes from the same person. See the irony? Or is it just me? The corporate world defines growth mindset as the belief that a person's capacities and talents can be improved over time. … Continue reading Corporate and social boxes
Ode to Ode to a Sunny Day
So I joined a writing class by Amit Varma this year. Since then, some of the learners banded together to form a community where we share prompts every week and attempt writing a piece. I wrote this post in response to this prompt : Choose your favorite piece of music (non-verbal), either instrumental, classical, jazz … Continue reading Ode to Ode to a Sunny Day
Substack to WordPress
I have always admired good writing. Not only in books, magazine articles and personal blogs, but also mundane emails and business strategy documents. Good writing, as I realized this year, is a reflection of how clear your thoughts are. And I want to be that person. Clear thinker, clear writer. So at the beginning of … Continue reading Substack to WordPress
B2B SaaS Marketing Lessons from CPG
Job To Be Done framework applied in a B2B context I am reading this amazing book, The CEO Factory, which is packed with anecdotes, insights, and marketing wisdom from the CPG world in India. The author Sudhir Sitapati takes us through how HUL, Unilever’s Indian subsidiary, thinks about various business functions - objectives, processes, outcomes. … Continue reading B2B SaaS Marketing Lessons from CPG
What do you look for in a product marketer?
What do you look for in a product marketer? I was asked this question twice this week. People liked what I had to say, so I decided to turn this into a Substack post. It is a weird question for me to answer to be honest because I am myself new to product marketing. In … Continue reading What do you look for in a product marketer?
Utkarsh, you need to be more assertive.
I have often been told that I need to work on my assertiveness. Multiple managers have shared this feedback with me. Often, more than once. It is admirable consistency albeit in a short 6 year career spent in 3 different companies. I used to have a tough time unpacking this comment. In fact, the day … Continue reading Utkarsh, you need to be more assertive.
Utkarsh's Blog 