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Akshit Kumar Gupta
Fintech Product Manager | Ex- Niyo, Paytm | IMI - New Delhi
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October 30, 2024
๐ŸŽฏ "Akshit, do not spend time on making a fancy plan, just focus on bringing leads to the table." That's what a US SaaS founder told me as I started to help her in marketing. SEO? Content marketing? Paid ads? Newsletter? Lead magnets? After a little deliberation, we chose the most fundamental approach: Cold emailing. Why? Most businesses generate their initial sales through cold outreach - emails, calls, DMs. It's not glamorous. We're taking the scrappy route: - Mining YCombinator directories - Leveraging LinkedIn search strings - Using free email finding tools We just started and I'll be sharing our learnings with our cold email experiment. What has been your experience with cold-emails? #SaaS #StartupGrowth #ColdEmail #MarketingStrategy #ProductMarketing
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October 30, 2024
7 ๐‹๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ฒ๐จ ๐„๐ฑ๐ข๐ญ:(๐’๐จ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ง ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‡๐š๐ซ๐ ๐–๐š๐ฒ) During my Niyo exit, HR head of Niyo ๐‰๐š๐ ๐š๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ promised full notice period payment for early relieving. Reality? They paid only till last working day and then ghosted. As the head of HR, his role was to provide transparency and ensure ethical treatment of employees. Here's what I learned: 1. ๐„๐š๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐‘๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ Know the notice period rules: Companies can cut it short when you resign, but must honor it fully when they terminate. The initiator of the exit matters. But making false promises about payment? That crosses an ethical line. Prepare your finances for early exit and get ALL payment commitments in writing. 2. ๐„๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ฌ ๐‡๐š๐ฌ ๐๐จ ๐‡๐ข๐ž๐ซ๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐ฒ When I specifically asked HR employee ๐’๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ž๐๐ก๐š ๐’๐š๐ฑ๐ž๐ง๐š about the payment, she confirmed they would settle the full notice period amount. She was present in the meeting with HR Head Jagadish B and backed his promises. Later, when confronted, she hid behind the excuse of being 'just a junior employee without authority. If you help mislead others, you're equally responsible. 3. ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐‘๐ž๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ ๐ž Instead of admitting they wouldn't pay, they chose deception. True leaders face tough conversations. 4. ๐Š๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐š ๐‚๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐€๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ When I tried to call ๐‰๐š๐ ๐š๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ he said he is in meeting and would call after the meeting. When the HR head lacks courage to even take calls (3 months of "in meetings" now), it shows character. Stand up against fraud - it matters. 5. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง'๐ญ ๐“๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐„๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฒ ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ Despite founders ๐•๐ข๐ง๐š๐ฒ ๐๐š๐ ๐ซ๐ข and ๐•๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ญ constant reminders of their employee-to-entrepreneur journey (to highlight empathy towards employees) and claims of '5 years of runway' in every townhall, their actions spoke louder: they couldn't even honor simple promises. 6. ๐๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐…๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐–๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ Creating jobs isn't enough if they're toxic. Many Indian startup founders prioritize business goals over ethics. Choose role models wisely. 7. ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ'๐ซ๐ž ๐•๐š๐ฅ๐ฎ๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ'๐ซ๐ž ๐๐จ๐ญ Top ratings for 2 years meant nothing when their "values" were tested. Companies can flip overnight. This isn't about settlement anymore. It's about calling out a culture where leaders make false promises. Where ethics are preached but not practiced. Remember: If you can't face someone after making a promise, don't make that promise at all. Sharing my story so others don't have to learn these lessons the hard way. #StartupCulture #IndianStartups #WorkplaceEthics #LeadershipLessons #TechStartups Niyo Solutions Inc.
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January 7, 2025