Meet Sujani Dwarakanath, Group Manager, Growth Marketing at Thumbtack
For the past four years, Sujani Dwarakanath and the Growth Marketing team have driven significant impact through the management and optimization of a diverse channel portfolio at Thumbtack. Sujani has risen through the ranks from an associate supporting Paid Social ad campaigns to leading a team responsible for Thumbtack’s paid media efforts, including the management and optimization of channels such as Connected-TV, Paid Social, Linear TV, Display, Affiliate Marketing, etc.
In this Q&A, she shares her unique journey from script writing for ads in India to heading up paid media acquisition at Thumbtack and how her expertise in consumer insights, storytelling, and data analytics are helping her grow the company through a combination of both performance and brand marketing.
You have an interesting path to marketing. Can you share how this came to be?
Sujani: I actually started my career on the creative side of the ads industry. My undergrad degree was in creative writing, design, and photography; which led me to jobs in ad filmmaking and brand advertising. I worked at an agency for a few years, and that role was very creative and brand-focused — brand messaging, value propositions, and brand storytelling. But I realized that, as a marketer, the one thing I lacked was an analytical skill set. While I was intuitively very analytically driven, I didn’t have the knowledge to back it up. So I made a complete pivot and moved to the U.S. from India to study analytical techniques, integrated marketing, and communications at Northwestern University.
Where did your Thumbtack career journey begin?
Sujani: Thumbtack was my first job in the U.S. and I’ve been with the company for 4 years now. I was fresh out of grad school and joined at an entry-level position supporting paid social ad campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. It was my first stint in growth marketing, and even though I had some experience in brand marketing, I really loved the role and the opportunity to learn the growth side of the business, hence taking the leap into this brand-new space.
Tell us about your current role at Thumbtack.
Sujani: I lead our media team and manage Thumbtack’s entire media portfolio, both on the performance and brand side. This includes both traditional and digital media. For example, we run ads on Hulu and NBC and other linear TV spots, plus paid social, which includes anything on Facebook, TikTok, etc. I also lead any new efforts on up-and-coming media channels as well as our brand media buying efforts. The first half of this is all about performance and driving revenue and margin. But I’m also working on building a performance branding team, which is kind of like rebranding our own team to solve for both performance and brand growth.
Can you talk about the importance of striking the right balance between performance and brand marketing?
Sujani: When you think about the performance and brand marketing spectrum, performance marketers are very direct-response driven. Their objective will always be to drive growth for the company. Things like revenue, growth, and margin are all primary KPIs for performance marketers. A brand marketer’s goal, on the other hand, is to tell a story. Their objective is to increase brand awareness and expand reach with their product. Typically, newer companies focus on performance, and more mature companies — like Airbnb or Uber — focus on brand building. Thumbtack is in a place right now where we’ve achieved a certain scale with revenue and performance, and it’s time to focus more on building brand growth. But marketing leaders today can’t choose between performance and brand functions. One without the other will inevitably fail, and balancing the two is a real challenge. Identifying the right media portfolio is one way to do this well. So that’s what I’m trying to build — a media portfolio that looks beyond one KPI or one function and solves for both performance and brand growth.
What’s your favorite thing about working at Thumbtack?
Sujani: Hands down, it’s the unique company culture. I have a vivid memory of walking into the old Thumbtack office on Market Street for my interview, and coincidentally, the first person I ran into was Marco. He greeted me and asked questions about me. He was the CEO and he was so down to earth. This spoke volumes about the culture here. Thumbtack is a company with a very flat hierarchical structure. Anyone at any level can approach the leadership team with an idea. They don’t care about age, role, level, or whether you’ve had 20 years of experience in a role. If you’re good at what you do and learn quickly, that’s what matters.
How has Thumbtack supported your career growth?
Sujani: Thumbtack leadership truly sets its people up for success, and the company really rewards hard work. From the beginning, I had an amazing manager who was willing to bet on me. He gave me amazing opportunities to take on a project and run with it. You have incredible autonomy over the work you’re doing no matter what level you are. This is so important for growth and fulfillment and it’s something that’s really rare. Managers are also very supportive of personal learning and growth. If there’s a course you want to take or a conference you want to attend, they encourage it. As long as you think it’s valuable to your career growth, industry knowledge, or enhancing your work experience, then there are no questions asked. There’s a lot of recognition, which keeps people motivated, and everyone is so supportive of each other’s successes.
Tell us about your experience transitioning from in-person work to a virtual-first environment.
Sujani: When we initially decided to work from home, I was unsure because I’m such a people person and I’m energized by social settings. But now that we’ve done it for over three years, I’m convinced. Productivity has been the same in the virtual environment. It was just the connective tissue that was missing for me. Our quarterly events, offsites, and the opening of the SF library filled the hole and the need I had to connect with people. Being virtual-first has also opened up so many new opportunities. I went to India, which is where I’m from, for two whole months and worked from there. I have the best of both worlds now. If I want to go to the office, it’s a 10-minute bike ride. But I also have the comfort of working from home.
What’s your favorite Thumbtack perk?
Sujani: I love Thumbtack Bucks. Employees essentially get a $450 Thumbtack credit every quarter to be used towards home care expenses. For example, if I contact a pro through the app for something like house cleaning or a home repair, Thumbtack will reimburse the expense. It’s a really good way for employees to understand the product and how it works firsthand. It also gives us the chance to test new products and see if they’re working correctly.
Why should someone consider a career at Thumbtack?
Sujani: If you’re excited about building things from the ground up, you’re in the right place. You have the support and people who will set you up for success but who will also trust you to do what you think is best. And this is amazing.
Interested in a career at Thumbtack? Learn more at thumbtack.com/careers.
