Startup Advising

I’m an operator first.

I was at Twilio for almost 6 years between 2015 and 2020 during a time of rapid growth for the company. They raised their Series E, doubled in size every year, went public and acquired SendGrid and Segment.

I spent most of my time at Twilio in product marketing. Some products I’ve positioned and launched:

  • Programmable Voice: I launched the original public beta of Voice Insights and improved the on-boarding and developer experience for new sign-ups for the Programmable Voice product.
  • Programmable Messaging: I launched Twilio Notify, scaled up sales enablement for the business unit and launched the Twilio WhatsApp API.
  • Autopilot: I took the product from beta to GA by formalizing positioning and sales enablement. I was also the PM for the developer experience where I improved the documentation, launched new dev tools and improved the on-boarding experience.

I also did sales before product marketing. I started in sales development, spending all day on back-to-back calls qualifying leads from around the world. The most important thing I learned was how much more effective inbound lead generation is than outbound, and how rare it is for a company to continuously generate quality inbound leads. Consistent inbound lead generation is an extremely strong lagging indicator of product/market fit.

I moved to sales engineering a year later where I supported account executives throughout the deal cycle — from the initial technical sale, to architecting workflows and troubleshooting after deployment. I learned the value of great developer branding and documentation. I eventually moved to product marketing a year later because I wanted to play a more strategic role in the go-to-market organization.

I left Twilio towards the end of 2020 to lead product marketing at Modern Treasury.

I use my operating experience to add value to early stage companies.

I enjoy working with early stage founders whenever I can provide a valuable perspective. I have a broad interest in enterprise software and fintech and specific expertise in marketing API products and developer tools. I’m hands-on and can help with pricing, positioning and go-to-market.

I write small checks when it makes sense all around. I made my first investment in Nextbillion.ai in 2020 and I’m looking to make more.

I don’t require an allocation to come on as an advisor. If it makes sense and I have the time, I’m happy to just come on board!

I view startup advising and investing mostly as an educational activity. While I’m in the trenches at an early stage company myself, regular conversations with people at similar stages only improve my understanding of the art of company building and help me become a better operator.

Drop me a DM on Twitter @pranaveight if you want to chat more about this!