Tell us about your role
I head the product marketing pod for InMobi Exchange. We have a team of about fifteen people, spread across geographies in London, North America, and India. There are two aspects to what the team largely does. The first is to bring in outside information to help drive the product strategy. Being customer-oriented is our core value. Therefore, we work very closely with our product managers and business teams to talk to our customers, understand and solve their problems, and bring that into our product planning sessions. The other facet is planning and executing our go-to-market strategies, where we again work along with the marketing and business teams. To explain the positioning of the team in terms of a Venn diagram, we are placed right in the center of where the product, marketing, and business teams come together.
What impact does the team have on InMobi Exchange?
The product marketing team is a new body at InMobi, being only about two years old. The team’s impact is largely around the organization’s fundamental approach of being customer-obsessed. We ensure that customer feedback and point-of-view are incorporated in the what, when, and how of the products that we are building. We are part of an ever-evolving industry, so the other impact would be to keep our internal teams up to date on all the changes that are happening in the ecosystem. Our efforts also have a major indirect impact on the revenue because they lead to transactional conversations that help in building deeper connections with customers.
How has your journey with the InMobi Exchange team unfolded?
I have been at InMobi for ten years now. I started my journey with the InMobi Exchange team and I have stuck with it throughout. I have changed multiple roles during my journey and what has made me stay with the team throughout and not take up roles in other divisions of the organization is the growth path that it created for me. It is as exciting as a rocket ship; it is a two-way relationship of contributing to the business and the business accelerating your career aspirations. I was based out of Bangalore earlier and then relocated to London. There are opportunities here for everyone who has the passion and zest for continuous learning and growth. To sum it all up, it feels great to be working with the team that we have built.
What makes InMobi different?
The culture is definitely one. Having been at InMobi for so many years now, I have experienced and grown accustomed to it in the most natural way. It is when I have conversations with new joiners about their experiences is when I realize how special and distinct the culture here is. The core values of the organization are such that they help an individual grow and flourish, both professionally and personally. Also, the kind of growth InMobi has had, there are instances where we have failed but have always come back stronger. We are always looking for growth avenues and we go out and achieve that said growth. InMobi has done this by not only magnifying the existing set of businesses but also diversifying its portfolio. Therefore, to me, it is the combination of InMobi’s culture and growth mindset that makes it unique.
Your proudest moment at InMobi
Probably the time we touched a one million daily run rate mark for the InMobi Exchange. When I joined, we were doing a run rate of five thousand a day, and that was if it was a good day. That journey from five thousand to a million had its own sets of failures and successes, we made mistakes, rectified them, and learned with each passing day.
The challenges you enjoy at work
What I am currently enjoying the most is solving problems that might come up after the next twelve months or longer. We have teams that are great with execution and have a vision for the next couple of months, so guiding them through that and having an even longer sight is an exciting challenge. Brainstorming and tying our ideas with the pace of the industry is an interesting puzzle with no correct answers. Then eventually seeing those ideas turn into execution plans and results is extremely rewarding.
A piece of advice for individuals looking to join your team
I would encourage everyone to ask a lot of questions and have proactive conversations, right from the interview process. Questions about your role, team, culture, and organization and how they align with your preferences. Talk about your career aspirations and how they fit in because, in the end, it is a two-way relationship that requires honest discussions.
To build a career with InMobi and work with leaders like Saurav, explore opportunities on our careers page.
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