The Silicon Valley Vigor

Growing up half-time in two totally different cultures was amazing, I’d highly recommend it for kids. It fostered in me an understanding and curiosity to explore different ways of life and social, political and professional perspectives. At the same time, I was fortunate to have parents, friends and teachers that encouraged me to pursue passions on my own terms.

That curiosity leads me to focus on the nuances of the why behind people's actions and systemic events. I try to develop a realistic view of the world - staying away from broad generalizations/ideologies, and focus on the events and actual human behavior.

 With all the support I've had to develop my own path and passions, I now view any challenge or situation as one that I can affect ... with the right nuanced understanding and approach.  

Ever since I've been 9 years old, I always knew I wanted to work in software. It stemmed from a deep pleasure in how my mind was challenged when writing software. 

As I grew older, I also realized I enjoyed understanding people and how they are driven and make decisions. I spent a lot of time with Model United Nations, and took up Poli Sci courses in college. The combination of these led me to start with consulting and then get into product management.

[ Consulting to Product Management? 

What made you shift?  ] 

I'd say, looking back, the time I felt most comfortable in my mastery of the job was in enterprise software product management. It's a role where you are at the center of the organization - marketing, sales, engineering, bizdev, support - and is the epitome of balancing organizational process with an acute understanding of technical architecture and customer need.

That said, the moment I started feeling really comfortable, I leapt to start a new company. No desire to be comfortable in my career right now :) 

I would say it's a combination of empathy and patience, that lends to being able to drive goals across teams. This has been really useful in enterprise software, where so much is accomplished through partnerships.

[ Empathy? Huh? What the...why? ] 

I feel that Silicon Valley needs to have much more empathy - in how we deal with co-workers, customers and partners. It's going to lead to a healthier, more open and productive environment. 

It's an exciting time for Prophecy.io! We raised our seed in July 2019, and we've now grown to 13 people across the globe (San Francisco, Gurgaon and Bangalore).

[ What's been your primary focus? ] 

I'm focussed on making our first set of enterprise customers successful with our product. I'm onsite with them, listening, advising, writing code with them, and learning about the market needs.

When not with customers, I'm implementing the company foundations to allow us to scale ... across legal, financial and HR systems.

 Going from enterprise product management to being a founder of a startup, the biggest challenge was - the amount of focus needed to make things happen, while being the sole driver.

[ How was it starting off? Was it 1,000 WTF/ second? ] 

When you are starting off, whether it's fundraising, making your first sale, or convincing people to join your company, each thing takes an extraordinary amount of precision and effort to make happen. And you have to develop the resolve, ability to pull it off on your own.

As someone told me, one learns a lot about themselves when starting a company! 

 On a personal note, I'm learning how to play sales account exec, sales engineer, product manager and customer success all at the same time! Next time I'll tell stories from those experiences :)

[ Can't wait to hear those stories, Rohit! ] 

For the company, we've got a few key Go-To-Market milestones we're lined up to hit! The next few months will be a relentless focus on those. 

 My friends would say that I have always enjoy my work, and take on professional opportunities that challenge me to grow. 

With that being said, I don't think my friends would have predicted that I would go from working for startup founders to founding my own company. I didn't even think I would do it about 2 years ago!

[ What changed the "right market opportunity"? ] 

What changed is really the right market opportunity came along, with the ideal partner, and the right time in my life to take a career and financial risk.