Rushil Walia

🚀 Gen Z: India’s Largest Generation & Their $2 Trillion Opportunity 🇮🇳 With 377 million individuals, Gen Z has officially become the largest generation in India. Often seen as just teenagers, this generation is far from uniform. Their purchasing power and distinctive perspectives demand serious attention from businesses and marketers alike. To cut through assumptions and better understand this powerful demographic, Snap Inc. teamed up with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to release a groundbreaking report: "The $2 Trillion Opportunity: How Gen Z is Shaping the New India." (https://lnkd.in/dZwqx6EU) This comprehensive study uncovers fresh insights into Gen Z’s unique spending habits across various sectors, exploring how they engage, influence, and shop—shaping the future of India's economy like never before. Download the Full Report here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dhbFfZwm #GenZ #India #FutureOfBusiness #Innovation #ConsumerTrends #Snapchat #Snap #BCG #Marketing

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“People do business with people. Not ideas, not products, not machines, not tactics, strategies, not even money. So you better get the people part right if you really want to succeed. Interpersonal competence is a determinant of both personal and professional success.” Powerful people tips from Carole Robin, Ph.D. in Lenny's Newsletter: ⭐️ In any exchange between two people, there are three realities:  1️⃣ My reality: my intent, how I see the world, my background, my history  2️⃣ My behavior (verbal or nonverbal): what I do or say or don’t do  3️⃣ The impact: whatever happens on your end, how you see things, your background When we don’t recognize that those three realities exist, we don’t understand that we are only privy to two out of the three. ⭐️ The art of inquiry in conversation Helps you better understand yourself + what the other person feels 1️⃣ Approach the conversation with the mindset: is there something for me to learn? (suspend judgement) 2️⃣ Ask questions that start with WHAT, WHEN, WHERE or HOW (don’t start with WHY, it makes people defensive) ⭐️ Know how to repair in conversations   1️⃣ One of the most powerful things you can do when somebody responds in a way that feels very unexpected and out of whack with what you just said is: “What did you hear me say?”  2️⃣ "Now that I understand that that’s what you heard, I understand why you reacted the way you did. Let me try it again."

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Product Operations as a dedicated function has been gaining traction across various industries over the past 5 years. But how does Product Ops impact an organization? Based on my experience and in discussing this with Product and Ops teams over the years here is a quick take on the value add: 1. **Scaling Efficiency**: Product Ops streamlines processes and aligns teams for efficient scaling. 🚀 2. **Cross-Functional Bridge**: It facilitates collaboration across engineering, product, marketing, customer success, and more. 🤝 3. **Data-Driven Decisions**: Product Ops empowers data-based prioritization. 📊 4. **Seamless Lifecycle**: It ensures a seamless product development cycle. 🔄 5. **Complexity Management**: Product ops tackles organizational complexity. 🧩 Every company is different and not every Product Ops team will have oversight of all five bullets above. But in general the function serves as a connector of teams and an efficiency optimizer. More thoughts coming on Ops and how we augment teams and ultimately the end product. #productoperations

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There are three types of CMOs, and the best one for your company depends on what your organization needs most. I was chatting with my friend and mentor, Pallavi Vanacharla recently, and we got into a fascinating discussion about the different types of CMOs and how they align with the needs of a business. Her perspective really got me thinking: 1️⃣ Product Marketing CMOs The strategic storytellers who bring products to life in the market. They’re masters of positioning, messaging, and aligning teams to ensure the product resonates. If your company is launching new products or defining its market fit, a CMO with a product marketing background can make all the difference. 2️⃣ Brand CMOs The creatives and architects of perception. They focus on building emotional connections and crafting a memorable brand that customers trust and love. If your company is establishing or refreshing its identity, a brand-oriented CMO is the perfect choice to shape your story. 3️⃣ Demand Gen CMOs The revenue builders and growth drivers. These CMOs are laser-focused on pipeline, lead generation, and scaling revenue. If your company is in a high-growth phase and focused on acquisition, they’re the ones to steer the ship. What Pallavi and I kept coming back to is this: It’s not about which type is “better.” It’s about what your company needs most right now. Before hiring your next CMO, ask yourself: Is our top priority launching a product, building a brand, or scaling growth? And while having experience across all these functions is always awesome, what truly matters is understanding what “great” looks like in areas outside your core expertise. If you’re a product marketing-oriented leader, you don’t need to have done demand gen or brand building yourself—but you do need to know how to hire the best leaders for those roles. This is where leveraging your network becomes invaluable. Ask the right questions, learn from those who’ve built world-class teams, and figure out the key markers of success in those complementary areas. This conversation stuck with me because it’s a reminder that leadership isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s about recognizing the right skills at the right time—and being thoughtful about filling the gaps. What’s your take? How have you approached hiring or working with leaders who bring complementary skills to the table?

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A year and a half ago, it was just me and a dream: to help D2C brands thrive on Amazon. No team, no clients, just the relentless desire to make it work. Fast forward to today: ✅ I’ve worked with 20+ D2C brands ✅ Helped generate 10,000+ reviews across Amazon, Flipkart, and Nykaa ✅ Delivered millions of impressions through UGC content ✅ Watched clients hit sales milestones they thought were impossible Seeing a client’s product go from being buried on page 10 to becoming a bestseller—that’s what fuels me. Knowing that the right strategy, the right reviews, and the right content can make that kind of difference keeps me pushing harder every day. To all D2C founders out there: If you’re struggling to scale on Amazon, know this—it can be done. And sometimes, all it takes is the right partner who believes in your brand as much as you do.

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When I started Pixel Media, it was just me. No office. No team. Just a small desk and a head full of ideas. 1.5 years later, I lead a team of 15 incredibly talented people. Managing a growing team hasn’t been easy: 👉 Learning to trust when you’ve built everything from scratch. 👉 Delegating when your instinct is to do everything yourself. 👉 Balancing being a leader, a mentor, and sometimes, a friend. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve questioned myself. But each challenge has taught me to lead with empathy, transparency, and an open mind. The best part? Seeing my team grow, thrive, and deliver outstanding results for our clients. We’re not just a team; we’re a family that hustles together, learns together, and wins together. To anyone building their dream from scratch: Keep going. One day, you’ll look back and realize you didn’t just build a business—you built a team, a culture, and a purpose.

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Every step makes a difference

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I've been fortunate to work in organizations where customer obsession is key to doing business. Even before my time at Amazon, I was inspired by Jeff Bezos's emphasis on Customer Obsession. Leading Amazon's communications/PR function in India for the past four years has allowed me to live and breathe this principle every day. As Jeff Bezos rightly said, "We start with what the customer needs and we work backwards." This mindset has been deeply ingrained in my team and partners throughout the organization. Our goal is to be the most customer-centric company on earth, focusing obsessively on our customers above all else. While there are various ways to run a business, Jeff believes that an obsessive focus on customers preserves a company's vitality. Recently, after wrapping up the Prime Day 2024 press event, my team gathered around a blue (Prime member) chair at the center stage, symbolizing our unwavering dedication to our customers every day, every time. #CustomerObsession #LeadershipPrinciples #AmazonCulture #PrimeDay2024 #CustomerCentricity

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You’re back—great news! This is the second post in a four-part ridealong series as Storyblocks updates our Vision - sharing resources and learning. 1️⃣ Do You Need to Create a Vision? ✅ 2️⃣ Open with Empathy: Ground Yourself in the Customer 🎯 3️⃣ Anatomy of a Vision: Choose Your Framework 4️⃣ Bring it On Home: Start with the Long Letter The first step is often the hardest. At Storyblocks, we started by immersing ourselves in our customers and distilling what we heard into 3-5 key themes around which we would craft our vision. To tease out those themes, we wrote down a few questions that we wanted to answer: * What do we do better than everyone else? How have we uniquely improved our customers’ lives? * What does “even better” look like for our customers and where do we need to invest to extend our differentiation? * Looking forward, what are the major unmet needs that, if solved, would create even more loyalty? * What customer stories can we share to bring these findings to life? There are countless techniques for conducting customer research and building your intuition, but we found three particularly helpful. We’ll link Resources at the bottom of the post to give more detail about applying each technique to your business. 📊 Product Market Fit (PMF) Surveys: PMF has long been one of the most written topics, but also the most difficult to measure…until Sean Ellis developed a simple survey that offered a strong leading indicator. PMF is often thought of exclusively in the context of early-stage start-ups, but you can use the same technique to tease out what “even better” looks like if you’re a more mature company with established PMF. 🐶 🐱 Dogfooding & Catfooding: Dogfooding is using your product to complete everyday tasks that a customer would pursue. It isn’t testing but actually going through the process from start to finish until you’ve reached your objective. Catfooding is doing the same but with your competitors’ products. 🎙️ Qualitative Customer Interviews: Nothing beats hearing from your customers in their own words. We conducted a series of interviews to help us tease out the key customer themes related to the questions above. 📖 Resources (PMF) How Superhuman used PMF surveys to uncover customer needs. https://lnkd.in/eCZfau_N (PMF) Must read/listen for any subscription business from Lenny Rachitsky's Podcast. https://lnkd.in/ewDxs_cT (UX) Uncovering Compelling Insights by Steve Portigal. https://lnkd.in/e62yrhr9 (UX) Mixed-Methods Podcast: Podcast & blog “for UX researches, by UX researchers.” https://lnkd.in/evQEkg8Q (Dogfooding) If anyone is interested in the template we used for our internal workshops, please DM me. (For Fun) Origins of the term "dogfooding." https://lnkd.in/e7EhwAev

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Kapil Khangaonkar, CEO of Clodura.AI, shares how Google Cloud fueled their growth: 71% less tech debt, 12x faster app delivery, & significant customer growth. 🚀 Ready to transform your startup? The Google for Startups Cloud Program now offers new benefits for AI startups, giving you the technology and resources to build easily. Take advantage of our open AI ecosystem and tap into the best of Google’s infrastructure, AI products, and foundation models.   Sign up today and unlock your startup's potential! #startups #cloud #GoogleCloud #CloduraAI #techstartup #startuplife #AI #buildwithAI #GoogleAI #GoogleforStartups #GoogleCloudforStartups https://goo.gle/GFSCP_CS Clodura.AI Google for Startups

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Honored doesn’t even begin to capture it. Having Rajan Bhalla, founder of BrandsAbility on Marketing Mavericks was like tapping into a vault of brilliance. Rajan is a true maverick who’s shaped iconic brands like Mint, Pepsi, and Whirlpool over decades. In our episode, he shares sharp, often contrarian takes that flip marketing norms on their head—insights that every marketer and advertiser should hear. Rajan’s thoughts are challenging and thought-provoking, reminding us why he’s one of the most respected voices in the industry. Link to the whole podcast in comments! This is one conversation you don’t want to miss. #brands #marketinginsights #podcast #rajanbhalla #business #growth

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Are you struggling to move your GenAI applications from demo to production? Then come this Thursday to Weights & Biases SF office and learn from Shreya Shankar about how to move beyond “vibe checks”

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"Give me the SV" One of my aunts (shout-out Aunt Elaine) has ALWAYS told me "Give me the SV (short version)" before any story. And, while it's sometimes annoying (the long version has the juiciest details!!), it's made me pretty good at condensing emails, docs, and more. So here's the SV of Hubilo's State of Webinars report. I promiseeeeeee you'll like the 60 page LV, too - which you can download for free here: https://lnkd.in/g6EXMWgT

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I am just coming up for air after #techcrunch #disrupt2024 🌟 Highlights from Disrupt 2024 🌟 DAY ONE: Attending Disrupt this year gave me some incredible insights into emerging trends, B2B growth, and even navigating PR and government grants. Here are my top three takeaways: 1. Vinod Khosla on Tech and the Future 🚀. Vinod Khosla Khosla’s insights were a standout—he emphasized that nuclear fusion and energy tech will soon transform our lives. His top priority? Preparing for a future where AI and robotics redefine work, with universal basic income (UBI) potentially becoming a necessity. He also emphasized the need for responsible AI governance, something that’s on my mind as well. Brace yourselves for big changes! 2. DIY PR in the Startup World 📝 Josh Constine Another session covered how to approach your own PR effectively. The advice? Identify the TechCrunch reporters relevant to your sector, follow them on LinkedIn and X, and bring out your “superpower” when pitching, whether it’s funding news or an innovative milestone. Building relationships here is crucial! 3. B2B Growth Takes Time ⏳ Spenser Skates Spenser Skates, CEO of Amplitude, shared a refreshingly real B2B journey. Amplitude struggled for nearly 2.5 years to gain traction before customers started reaching out to them—that’s the reality of B2B cycles! Growth can be instant… or it can take time before people recognize the value. 4. Applying for Government Grants 🏛️ Rebecca Gevalt Rebecca Gevalt walked us through a methodical approach to applying for grants. After two rejections myself, I’m not convinced, but it’s worth exploring this structured approach to crack the code. Disrupt was a reminder that growth, innovation, and persistence go hand-in-hand. If you were there, I’d love to hear what resonated most with you! 💡 #Disrupt2024 #TechTrends #PRTips #B2BGrowth #Startups #GovernmentGrants #ResponsibleAI

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Creators are vital to Amazon.in's success, helping customers discover products through authentic recommendations. Amazon supports creators with initiatives like Creator University (free training), Creator Connect (networking), fee revisions (higher earnings), and Amazon Live (interactive shopping). We’ve just rolled out a new initiative called Creator Central. This innovative platform provides content creators the tools and resources they need to succeed. Creator Central simplifies content creation, streamlines workflows with intuitive tools, helps create personalized storefronts and get data-driven insights to optimize content strategy. By empowering creators with products like Creator Central, we're fostering a thriving digital ecosystem that benefits everyone. Read more: https://bit.ly/3V87Fyu #CreatorCentral #AmazonIndia #ContentCreators #DigitalCreators #DigitalMarketing #SocialMediaMarketing Kishore Thota | Zahid Khan | Mansur Nazimuddin | Nidhi Thakkar | Neha Shah | Shubham Marhatta | Divya Gursahani | Madhavi Kochar | Shashank Rathod

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We're excited to share the key takeaways from our recent Meta Marketing Summit #Ecommerce edition, where we explored how AI, Reels, Creators and Messaging are fuelling growth for ecommerce brands.🚀🎯 Dive into this post to learn more.

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To scale eCommerce growth, maximize revenue, and optimize spends, a strategic mix of analytics efforts needs to be applied across multiple fronts. While Attribution Modeling is key for improving campaign performance and a stronger ROI, Custom Attribution Models also pose the challenge of incomplete data trackability, discounting the negative impacts of channels and biggest of all, investment in expertise. Hence, one might find it better to utilize the in-built attribution models in GA4 and focus on these analyses for delivering greater ROI: 1. User Journey Analysis: Rather than looking at top-down, aggregated data, zoom in on how real customers navigate the site. Analyzing user journeys lets you pinpoint where people get stuck, drop off, or move forward. One can expect to unravel bottlenecks in the journey and even reduce in cancellations and churn. 2. CRO: CRO is an aggregation of ongoing strategies that compound over time by making a series of small, data-backed changes, from landing pages to product pages that cumulatively boost your conversion rate. This will have a huge revenue impact if you already have significant traffic volumes. 3. SEO Performance analysis: SEO performance analysis may feel like a slow burn, but it’s a powerful growth engine for eCommerce businesses. When you start ranking higher for strategic keywords, you’re boosting your organic traffic, and continuously depend less on paid marketing. SEO insights show exactly how customers are finding you which is invaluable for long-term scaling. With limited time and resources, a focus on User Journey Analysis, CRO, and SEO will lead to tangible, actionable steps. So, instead of spending months developing a complex custom attribution model why not test a new keyword strategy that could drive 30% more organic traffic? For most eCommerce brands, the real growth lies in getting closer to the customer experience and making quicker, more impactful changes that directly translate to revenue.

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Staying ahead of the game means constantly innovating. At Meta, we believe in harnessing the power of AI to connect with audiences in more meaningful ways. In our latest podcast episode, me and Jimmie Stone discuss the expansive potential of AI-driven content discovery. Learn how our advanced technologies are opening up new realms of engagement and enabling brands to reach audiences with precision and impact. To explore how Meta’s tools can help your business tap into a universe of possibilities, check the links below for the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gDjSunYZ https://lnkd.in/gxvmUaQ5 #innovation #technology #genz #metaverse #socialmedia #socialmediamarketing

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