Saakshi J
Fractional CMO | Ex- Founder; 1X Exit | Techstars Alum & Mentor | YC | Startup Advisor, Mentor & Investor
Saakshi blew me away! I was impressed that she took the time to familiarize herself with my website and business prior to our session but I was even more impressed with her attention to detail as to what can be improved. She managed to give me practical steps to increase viewership and engagement to my YouTube channel that even I (a not-so-tech savvy individual) could understand. I truly believe that the advice she gave me will help my niche business reach a level of success that I have always envisioned. The session was eye-opening and to top it off, she's such a sweetheart. Thank you so much Saakshi!
Wow, what an insightful meeting I had today with Saakshi! Her friendly demeanour and wealth of knowledge helped facilitate a very robust, high-level conversation that yielded a brilliant outcome. Saakshi weighed up what my challenges were and cut straight to the crux of the matter to point out what the best course of action would be. I cannot wait to meet with Saakshi again and highly recommend her as a mentor!
Thank you, Saakshi! I needed help validating various aspects of my strategy from bootstrapping, building an MVP, hearing someone else's views on competitors, building brand awareness, and which marketing paths to prioritize. It is clear Saakshi is the real deal and I couldn't be more thankful for her time. Will definitely be back in the future for further guidance.
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Bio
I am a full-stack marketer and ex-founder with over 15 years of experience building brands, driving revenue and growth, and crafting compelling stories. I've built, and managed teams ranging in size from 3 to 28 people across borders & have driven results across industries. My startup, Zelish, was accelerated by Techstars Munich and recognised as the "App of the Year'20" by Google Play and "Product of the Year" by Bosch and Simens Home Appliances. We grew to 250K users and 0.7 MN ARR before being acquired by a Canadian company backed by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I work as a Fractional CMO, Marketing Advisor and Chief Strategist, and I enjoy scaling startups and businesses. My passion is helping startups and businesses scale their operations and achieve their goals. I have advised numerous startups, including five YC & accelerator-backed startups, three bootstrapped startups, and several Series A/B startups backed by renowned investors. I've worked with leaders in various markets & sectors and had the good fortune to be mentored by some of the best marketing experts. Industries and classifications I created brand & growth strategies for: Insurance, NBFC & Fintech SaaS & Software Products Healthcare & MedTech Food & Beverages Fashion & Health Automotive & Security Games & Entertainment Startups & Scale-ups B2C, D2C & B2B org Personally, I have lived in over 21 Indian cities and travelled to 17 different countries. I have a degree in Bharatnatyam and a strong interest in holistic health. In addition, I am a home chef, an amateur artist always looking for a team to jam with, and a reward points hacker who enjoys using these to travel. I am also committed to social causes such as organ donation and girls' education. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you want a marketer or want to have a free-wheeling discussion.
Expertise
Building a team
Built multiple teams from the ground up for MNCs, Funded & Bootstrapped Startups spanning industries like real estate, SaaS, fintech etc.
Growth marketing
Something I am extremely passionate about. I've been a part of the 'growth at all costs' game and spun around the narrative to sustainable growth and tracking the right KPIs rather than chasing vanity metrics. I believe in laying strong foundations, keeping the needs of customers at the forefront of scaling, and adding high value while having fun. I've assisted 14 brands in scaling from x to 1000x.
Mindset coaching
I am a firm believer in hiring the right people and entrusting them with the job. I believe that having the right mindset can help a startup go the distance. Doing whatever it takes, rolling up one's sleeves, and getting one's hands dirty is what it takes for a young company to thrive. Some of my core beliefs for success include: being hands-on; hiring the right people and putting your trust in them; leading from the front; always putting the customer first & emphasising teams over individuals.
Venting frustration
Frustration is somewhat unavoidable in business. . This is especially true for startups, which are nothing short of a rollercoaster of emotions. Internal or external factors such as lengthy approval processes, competitiveness, late responses, and so on can all contribute to this. I've been there as well. Can act as a sounding board for you and assist you in relieving stress.
Toolkit
Adroll
11 years of experienceThis is one of the better remarketing tools I have used in the past. We have more evolved platforms like criteo but this one is a good self serve platform that I continued to use for my B2B campaigns.
Google Ads
19 years of experienceA platform we can't live without. We have been using both Facebook Ad Manager & Google Ads extensively for all kinds of paid or performance marketing campaigns.
Amplitude
9 years of experienceUsed Amplitude for my own startup which was a app-first food tech brand. Have a good hang of the with the way it operates & the kind of insights we can draw from it.
Asana
10 years of experienceUsed Asana, Jira, Trello and a couple of other platforms/ software to organize the task lists & ask a lot better. This has also helped us keep the teams organized and get updates in time.
Buffer
12 years of experiencePretty well versed with various social monitoring and publishing tools or platforms. I have used it successfully for both large corporates & smaller startups at scale. Have deep experience in implementing & rolling out different tools.
Facebook
15 years of experienceHave been using Facebook as a platform for brand postings & then their ad manager for close to a decade now. We have also added Instagram to this suite.
Freshworks
10 years of experiencePretty well versed with various CRM tools & platforms. I have used it successfully for both large corporates & smaller startups at scale. Have deep experience in implementing & rolling out different CRMs and customer support systems.
Google Analytics
15 years of experienceHaving been living on Google Analytics for close to a decade now. Have used it extensively for all kinds of B2C & B2B businesses across the board. Topped it up with additional capabilities like Tag Manager etc.
Google Webmaster Tools
16 years of experienceMy go-to platform or software for tracking all things website. Despite using other sophisticated software, I constantly check webmaster tools or search console to get deeper insights, track backlinks etc.
Hootsuite
13 years of experiencePretty well versed with various social monitoring and publishing tools or platforms. I have used it successfully for both large corporates & smaller startups at scale. Have deep experience in implementing & rolling out different tools.
Hotjar
14 years of experienceUsed Hotjar, Full story, Crazy Egg and many other platforms to fully gaze the customer journey. We have heavily relied on heatmaps to constantly tweak our website.
Hubspot
13 years of experienceProficient with various Customer Relationship Management (CRM) & Lead Management Systems (LMS). Have used CRM tools in companies of all sizes & from different industries.
Intercom
12 years of experienceUsed customer service platforms like Intercom, Freshdesk, Tawk etc to automate our chat service. We have also integrated this with our customer support to automatically create tickets & use them internally.
JIRA
11 years of experienceUsed Asana, Jira, Trello and a couple of other platforms/ software to organize the task lists & ask a lot better. This has also helped us keep the teams organized and get updates in time.
KeywordTool.io
15 years of experienceSuccessfully using the platform to identify the right keywords for the business. Have used other complimentary products & search query platforms to come up with the right blend of keywords.
KISSmetrics
13 years of experienceHave used Kissmetrics & other platforms like Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager & others etc to get insights on how the user behaves on our website/ portal.
Mailchimp
16 years of experienceHave seen the platform evolve & have built numerous campaigns on it & the competitors over the years. I am also familiar with other similar platforms.
Pipedrive
11 years of experiencePretty well versed with Pipedrive's Customer Relationship Management platform. I have used it successfully at scale. Have deep experience in implementing & rolling out different tools.
Quora
14 years of experienceHave been able to successfully utilize the power of Quora in both organic marketing as well as paid ads. While I have limited exposure to their paid ads, organic is something we largely benefitted from.
Salesforce
13 years of experiencePretty proficient with Salesforce & other comparable CRMs. Have used SalesForce for real estate & other bigger businesses. Have used its companion software like social monitoring tools etc too.
Semrush
11 years of experienceUsed SEMRush, Spyfu, Ahrefs and multiple other platforms to drive insights to up our SEO game. These platforms have come in pretty handy in defining our content marketing plan & get insights on the competitors.
Trello
11 years of experienceUsed Trello, Asana, JIRA and a couple of other platforms to keep the team organized. This also helped us track all the requests we were getting from various depts & prioritize the initiatives.
Unbounce
12 years of experienceUsed Unbounce, Wordpress, Wix, Muse and a couple of other platforms to build our landing pages. Have been working with all these platforms for a couple of years now.
Wordpress
11 years of experienceUsed Unbounce, Wordpress, Wix, Muse and a couple of other platforms to build our landing pages. Have been working with all these platforms for a couple of years now.
Youtube
11 years of experienceGrew brands from 0 to 1000x on YouTube. Collaborated with the best food influencers/chefs with a collective following of over 50 million to build our brand.
Zoho
9 years of experienceEvaluated the platform to implement it for our B2B coworking space. Used it briefly to manage all our customer contacts, invoicing, social & automation.
Zoho Social
11 years of experiencePretty well versed with various CRM / social monitoring tools & platforms. I have used it successfully for both large corporates & smaller startups at scale. Have deep experience in implementing & rolling out different tools.
Industries
E-Commerce
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.
FinTech
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.
Beauty
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.
Management Consulting
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.
Real Estate
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.
Hospitality
I have experience working with both startups and scale-ups (corporates) to assist them with marketing, branding, and accelerating growth. Additionally, I have successfully established cross-border teams from scratch.