1. Tell us about your role in Contentstack?
I am Co-Founder, COO, and CMO at Contentstack. I oversee marketing and product management, as well as operational functions like legal.
2. Can you tell us about your journey into this market?
I’ve been in tech all my career, and I have had the privilege to work alongside and learn from some of the best technology innovators and marketing experts. After learning my trade working at Silicon Valley icons Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and Salesforce, I joined forces with two long-time friends to build a business together. This led us down the path to Contentstack, which has since become a leading enterprise, headless CMS that is shaking up the content management industry.
3. How do you think technology is upgrading marketing?
No good marketing comes to fruition without good technology Whether you’re a natural storyteller or an SEO whizz – the right technology makes you a better and more effective marketer. Today, “marketing technology” comprises thousands of tools and platforms that are constantly improving. This has led to a nonstop upgrade cycle that the tech savvy marketer can – and should – take advantage of.
4. How has content marketing contributed in the growth of marketing sector?
In marketing, content is king. And queen. And everything in between.
That said, content is now delivered across so many channels, devices, and formats that it has become impossible to predict where, when, and how someone will encounter your brand and its messages. Audiences have also grown more sophisticated and demanding, so generic content – rightfully – doesn’t move them anymore. Without a thoughtful approach to content, there can be no effective marketing. Content marketing is the discipline of making sure your brand connects positively with your prospects and your customers. Unsurprisingly, given its strategic importance, content marketing has given rise to a plethora of tools – in addition to a wealth of best practices – to make content more engaging and more effective, leading to tremendous growth in marketing across many industries.
5. Do you agree that personalization is not just a method of marketing but an approach towards potential customers?
As a method of marketing, personalization has been about segmentation and executing marketing with an ever-improving personal touch. True personalization, however, is about more than achieving a granular way of dividing up your target audience and matching them with a unique variant of your messaging. It’s about creating moments and experiences that make potential customers feel that you truly care about them. You do this by connecting with them as individuals, recognizing and addressing their individual needs, and by treating them as true VIPs to your business.
6. How do you explain your API-first CMS?
To me, APIs mean you’re looking beyond a single channel and beyond a single platform for your content. In a world where content was predominantly served to one of two browsers via the Word Wide Web (as was the case in the 90s, when “CMS” first became a mainstream thing), APIs weren’t top of mind.
In today’s world, by contrast, since you don’t know where and how your content will be encountered – maybe it’s on a mobile phone, or on a digital kiosk, perhaps it’s disseminated via an AR platform, or it does end up finding its audience via the web – APIs provide the crucial capability to deliver content without limiting yourself to how it must be displayed. With APIs, content is delivered without the (over)head of prescribed formatting – hence the term “headless CMS”. This is the foundation of omnichannel marketing and the premise of more agile content management.
7. How do you differentiate your content management system?
There are really two types of mainstream CMS systems: 1.) Traditional CMS (think Adobe, Sitecore etc.) and 2.) Headless (or API-first) CMS. There is a lot of history, as well as major technical differences that are more fully explored here. In a nutshell, traditional CMS suites predominantly cater to the content needs of websites. Many were built 10-20 years ago, before mobile, AR, VR and voice channels took off. Headless CMS solutions were developed in the post-mobile era and thrive in the world of omnichannel, dynamic and personalized content. Contentstack is the leading headless CMS for enterprises.
8. What advice would you like to give to the technology Start Ups?
In technology, things move so quickly that, for a tech startup to succeed, you have to be ready to embrace rapid and relentless change. Don’t fight it – instead, use it as your fuel. Accept that there’ll be amazing days as well as challenging days. Find a cause you deeply care about and people you like and can trust – then no matter the ultimate destination, you’ll have a rewarding journey.
9. What is the Digital innovation in sales technology according to you that will mark 2019?
I think Personalization has the potential to grow from buzzword to mega-trend well beyond the end of the year. Technology has been advancing quickly, from basic A/B testing to AI-powered individualization. Imagine, you’re no longer being “pitched at and sold to” using a semi-custom offering and semi-personal content based on certain demographic markers. What if, instead, sales technology can set up virtually guaranteed relevance and satisfaction by addressing a real, imminent and important need a prospect has? We’re not quite there yet, but the innovation we’re seeing is promising.
10. How do you prepare for an AI-Centric world?
AI isn’t something you can prepare for, because it’s never existed like this before. One prediction that seems generally accepted is that AI will permeate every aspect of our lives before long. As individuals, we already encounter (unwittingly) AI dozens of times throughout our day, whether it’s while we’re searching the internet, booking a flight or on hold with our insurance company’s hotline. Learning about AI is becoming as imperative as it was to learn about computers and software. The more you learn, the more value you can both create and derive.
11. What are the major developments you are planning, in recent time?
We’ve got a roadmap chock full of innovation! We have multiple teams dedicated to domains of rapid technological advancements – AI being one such area. The best place to discover our new developments is Twitter or our blog
12. Can you tell us about your team and how it supports you?
Nothing gets done in a vacuum and no individual succeeds in anything meaningful without the support of a great many. Our team truly deserves all the glory for what we have and what we continue to build at Contentstack. Our leadership mantra is to surround ourselves with people who are smarter, better, and/or more experienced. For me, personally, this has resulted in great personal growth, as well as delivering amazing results for the company. What we do continues to blow away customers, partners, analysts, and investors, especially when they get a peek behind the curtain at Contentstack.
13. What movie inspires you the most?
I am obsessed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and can recount superhero stories to my kids all day long.
14. We have heard that you have a very joyful work culture, so can you share with us some of the fun pictures of your workplace?
It’s true, our culture at Contentstack is both unique and precious. We have a “no a**hole policy” and try very, very hard to hire people who treat each other with respect. We are ONE team and act as such. Everyone here has a memorable story about how a colleague (or the company) went above and beyond to support them in a time of need. As a result, people genuinely like each other and we have folks that work remotely and fly in (or drive several hours) just to hang out with their colleagues / friends. Pic(s) attached to this message.
15. Can you give us a glance of the applications you use on your phone?
I confess I use more communication apps than I need to: Slack, Whatsapp, Telegram, WebEx Spark, to name a few and not counting obligatory text messaging and email clients. In addition to business and productivity apps, I also love MyFitnessPal, Spotify and Audible. On a clear night, SkyView is my favorite augmented reality (AR) app to hunt for planets and stars – very soothing and reminds me of my university days.