How I made it into a tech startup as its first marketing hire
Wow, this is a long journey that resulted in successful career transition from a mechanical engineer to a marketing specialist at a tech startup. The crazy part is that I am new to the industry, the role, and the technology!!!
The MBA education mostly taught us the basics of thinking like a manager in a large firm; the case studies, the textbooks, the assignments, etc. almost never will be related what one might actually be doing in their first job. And most importantly, the technology or software tools one must be comfortable with (for example MS Excel) are not taught in school with the same importance. It is up to the individual to prepare themselves for the type of job they want to do later. But I must mention that the career management center of my b-school was very helpful in teaching us and helping build resume, cover letters, networking skills and LinkedIn profile — the most important stuff required to differentiate in the crowded job market.
In my case, I wanted to work for either a tech startup or a venture accelerator or a university incubator after graduation or any organization where entrepreneurship is a big part of the business. After several (probably 15+) interviews with some of these organizations and networking with hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors, executives, recruiters over the span last one year, the founder of a startup I helped at IDEA referred me to his friend who is the founder and CEO of the company I currently work at.
We met in the company’s small office in downtown Boston and discussed a wide variety of topics from Indians (CEOs) all over the world to unicorn startups to marketing tactics. The interview seemed to be for gauging my personality and soft skills. In the end, he asked me to write an executable marketing plan describing what I would do if I joined as the (only) marketing guy in the company. I asked him for two weeks time so that I can learn and write a good plan.
That two weeks were some of my most efficient days; I did a lot of online courses from Lynda.com and Udemy.com. I learned about social media strategy, growth hacking, Google Adwords, SEO, LinkedIn marketing, marketing technologies, etc. All this learning gave me a good idea about what marketing tactics and strategies make sense to the company at this stage of its growth. I wrote a 6-page plan with 3 exhibits in it :-)
The hard work paid off. I was invited for another round of interview and this time it was a cakewalk. The product manager conducted the interview and his questions were mostly related to basic marketing stuff which I answered in such a way that he probably said the words “good” or “excellent” at least 5 times (a little exaggeration here). It was clear that I got the job before the interview ended.
In retrospect, I feel that volunteering to help startups at IDEA as a venture coach, attending entrepreneurship conferences, networking with startup founders and investors, reading good books and choosing elective classes wisely have been some of the best strategies that worked for me.
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