Ashwin Bharathwaj

SaaS, Metalhead, Formula 1 and Badminton || Customer Success @

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Have you even been in a situation where something happens and you have a Vadivelu reference for it but the person you are talking to doesn't know Vadivelu. But the reference is apt so you just laugh alone thinking about it.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

@0xastro98 @peakbengaluru Yes. Please DM

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

1RK Studio apartment is available for rent in Brigade Cornerstone Utopia in Bengaluru. The house is going through interior but I am attaching a model apartment for reference and some more details in the thread.

#rentbangalore #bangaloreroomi @peakbengaluru #BangaloreHousing

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

🛋️ Fully Furnished & Move-In Ready
•⁠ ⁠Washing Machine, Water Heater & Modular Kitchen is done.

DM me if you are interested and RT for karma.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

🌿 Lifestyle & Amenities
•⁠ ⁠Resort-style swimming pool & fitness center
•⁠ ⁠Landscaped gardens for peaceful strolls
•⁠ ⁠24/7 security in a gated community

[Google @Google]

Too many @GoogleChrome tabs open? Try vertical tabs, rolling out now.

Just right-click any Chrome window and select “Show Tabs Vertically” to move your tabs to the side of the browser window, making it easier to read page titles and manage tab groups.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Legend.

[The Olympic Games @Olympics]

Gracias, Carolina! ❤️💛

Looking back at Carolina Marín's most iconic moment at the Olympics, as she announces her retirement in badminton. A true legend of the game. 👏

#Olympics #Badminton

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Taking the week off to just be at home. Last time I did this was during the delta wave in 2021.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Having my morning coffee in SF downtown and I have already seen 50 @Waymo s in 30 mins cross my starbucks.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Any @Tesla fan here who can invite me to robotaxi? In Bay Area next week and would love to try. Invite Ashwinkbharath @ gmail . Com

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Gold

[Sanjeev NC @yenceesanjeev]

10 years ago, I joined Freshworks in a customer support role and since then worked and consulted with few SaaS companies across sales, support, marketing and product. Here are 34 short lessons I’ve inferred from my journey (manually typed, no edits, no AI)

1. Good product with bad marketing is better than bad product with good marketing

2. The problem you’re solving and who you’re solving it for is more important than how you’re solving it

3. You will not be successful in your role, any role, if you don’t understand what your product does

4. A combination of the problem you’re sovling and your target audience defines your strategy

5. It is completely okay to build low cost alternatives to existing SaaS products

6. SaaS playbooks are great to read as a blog post, it will fail for you if you don’t contextualize it to you

7. When you build a product, you’re building it for an individual within a team. Understand how businesses work. Understand how that team works within that business. Only then will you understand how to solve the problem for the individual within that team.

8. Unless you’re solving your own problem, you are not your user. Be humble enough to know that and talk to them.

9. The underlying reason for churn always points to the product not adding enough value. Fix that before UX changes to the cancellation flow.

10. Decisions like product-led vs sales-led, usage based vs per seat pricing or free trial vs free plan can only be made in the context of the problem you’re solving and target audience

11. Positive feedback is not. A meeting is not validation. Verbal committments aren’t validation. Money hitting the bank is validation.

12. Your biggest strength is your understanding of the problem space and your audience, not your product. Detach yourself from the product, attach yourself to the problem.

13. Some decisions cannot be made within a conference room. Accept that, settle for the closest option and ship.

14. Customers always have ‘helpful’ inputs into how you should solve a problem. Remember, their expertise is only in the problem. YOU should be the solution expert.

15. In sales & marketing, being wrong is cheap. In product & dev, being wrong is costly.

16. Where you build your ‘personal brand’ (for social selling) depends on your audience. No point in having a viral LinkedIn post if your audeince don’t hang out there

17. Product strategy depends on the problem and target audience. Marketing strategy depends on the problem and target audience. Pricing depends on the problem and the target audience. Everything depends on the problem and the target audience.

18. Don’t discount having your user persona as a friend, advisor, mentor or a team mate. Have a mix of few folks so you’re not biased by one person.

19. (building in India) Valley strategies, especially on culture and team, may not work here. Even if you’re building for a global audience, undestand the nuance in building from India

20. (for founders & PMs) Leave marketing problems to marketing, design problems to design and sales problem to sales. They know what they’re doing.

21. (for everyone else) Shut off the tendency to complain about the product and company strategy, even if it’s wrong. You’ll never be successful if you don’t trust the core of your company - the product.

22. Every decision, even small ones, need to be made in context with your target audience. A conversation cannot start with “Okay, we need an MCP”

23. It’s annoying but answer to most questions is really “It depends (on the problem and the audience)” so don’t expect people to have direct answers to questions (sales & marketing, I’m looking at you)

24. If you’re in sales, consume every asset marketing creates. If you’re in marketing, listen to every sales call that is being recorded.

25. SEO is not dying, it’s evolving. Some of the SEO first principles will work for the AI search engines too. For now.

26. Don’t overthink content. Write, record a video, create memes, do TikToks but scope it to just your problem and target audience. Throw everything and see what sticks.

27. The website, your demo, sales emails - everything should be in the language that your target audience understand. If you don’t know, then revisit point no 8.

28. Don’t obsess over competitors but don’t ignore them either.

29. Find and binge on content that your target audience consume. If possible, courses too.

30. Your expertise comes talking to many similar people who face the same problem, leverage that. Bonus, it gives you content ideas.

31. Your product could be dying. Identify that, exit or pivot. Watch Blackberry movie for reinforcement.

32. If you can’t articulate why you’re better than alternatives / competitors in less than 240 characters, then there’s work to be done.

33. Problem + Target Audience = Everything (I know, I’m repeating myself)

34. Problem + Target Audience forms the core of your product. Your product forms the core of your company.

I wrote until I couldn’t think of anything else. These are lessons that I’ve internalized and will preach / practice until I learn otherwise.

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Someone I work closely with is hiring a Freshservice Administrator in Chennai!

They’re a fast-growing NA-based company, now building their APAC HQ in Chennai.
If you or someone you know is interested, reach out to me!
#ChennaiJobs #TechCareers #NowHiring #ITJobs #ChennaiTech

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

How can someone play for 5 hours like this. #FrenchOpen

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Sinner’s comeback 🔥🔥

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

1bhk semi furnished flat available for rent from June 1 in Hiranandhani Apartments Bannergetta.

11th floor. DM me if you are interested.

@fmrbangalore @BangaloreRoomi #Bengaluru

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

@_shankarganesh Bun is 100 rupees ?? Woah

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Andre kanithar crazy mohan 😂😂😂😂😂

[Body @TheBodySoda]

Both are same

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Though this looks like a slack message celebrating great work CCing people for visibility, this is literally saving lives from outer space which is a superhero movie plot.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Congratulations to the @SpaceX and @NASA teams for another safe astronaut return!

Thank you to @POTUS for prioritizing this mission!

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Finally the grid is getting competitive rather than Red Bull dominace. If Ferrari is able to use some brain in strategy, this year would be a good season. #formula1

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Oscar overtaking Lewis was hard to watch

[Ashwin Bharathwaj @ash_alien]

Interesting last 15 laps #Formula1