Marketing Darwinism had the opportunity to meet up with Paras Shah, Managing Director at LAMR Group Inc.

Marketing Darwinism:  Paras, you are an acknowledged expert in Security and Privacy.  Tell us about these areas and please inflect with your experience.

Paras Shah:  Thanks Paul.  I am not sure I am an expert.  I say this not out of false humility but because one can never truly be an expert in these areas, given the pace of technological change, always expanding attack surface and the complexity of risk scenarios  arrayed against any organization.  But, yes, I’ve been in the space for 20 years and am struck by two seemingly contradictory themes.  

The first is that much of what we knew even 10 years ago, particularly around probable targets, has been rubbished by later developments.  Technologies change rapidly and with the democratization of devices and technology-business singularity, threats are literally ubiquitous.  20 years ago, many thought only about large organizations and companies being under threat.  Now, threats are equal opportunity.  So yes, that has materially altered the threat landscape and along with it the solution market place.

The second is how much has stayed the same.  We had a mantra decades ago that security was about technology but also people, process, culture, and other factors.  Well, that’s still the same.  So, any framework you build to deal with Security and Privacy has to have multiple components in its composition and spirit.

Marketing Darwinism:  What roles does LAMR Group play in this space? 

Paras Shah:  We follow what I just covered as a core tenet of our value proposition.  We offer consultation and frameworks but also human capital to large and medium sized companies so that they can think of Security and Privacy holistically.  We also identify best in breed products and managed services in the Security space and either resell them or advise customers on their adoption.  Business has been brisk, which is an indication of just how much work has to be done in the space.

Marketing Darwinism:  Many of our readers are Marketers by profession though all are senior enough to wear multiple hats.  How does marketing play a role in this space?

Paras Shah:  Marketing plays a very large role in Security and Privacy, in some expected ways and in some unexpected ways.  

Given the ubiquity of the “Security” conversation, almost all companies that deal with technology, data, personal information, or anything even remotely “sensitive” have to refer to their security and privacy protocols in marketing literature – communicating good security hygiene has become “table stakes” for a competent marketer. This is good and bad.  It’s good that almost all organizations take these areas seriously but also, as is the wont of marketers, there are many boasts and hyperbolic statements that set organizations up for failure.  Too good to be true is, well, never true.  Technologists and Security professionals have to deal with the fallout of these marketing claims.  I’d ask all Marketers to consult with Security and Privacy people before making claims that cannot be paid off.

Marketing Darwinism:  It’s almost a marketing ethics issue isn’t it?

Paras Shah:  In some ways yes but also, to cut folks some slack, there are some misconceptions about Security and Privacy;  that there are quick fixes or silver bullets or that doing an “audit” then remediation is a one-time deal.  Not at all.  These are constant, continuous, dynamic spaces that require frequent attention –  top of mind always.

Marketing Darwinism:  Parting thoughts? 

Paras Shah:  All people in Security have to be evangelists of some sort.  So, all I can really say is that for all organizations, of any size, Security and Privacy to be a Board-Level issue and a core strategic pillar. Security and privacy cannot be relegated  to a parenthetical discussion.

A guest post by Romi Mahajan, President KKM Group and Dharmesh Godha, President Advaiya

If the only source of information in the world was the business press, one could forgive anyone for believing that only a few, large companies are important. In the world of technology, we read about Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple: We get to know these companies well and through the narratives of the more clever of the journalist breed, even come to understand a few nuances. We hear a bit too about the next layer of companies; still it is fair to say that 90% of articles cover the top 10% of organizations.

What’s lost in this concentrative focus is that SMBs are also worthy of understanding- they are complex and important and can also be very innovative and forward-looking. Some of them are in a growth mode while others’ choose to remain small, nimble, and rewarding to their owners and workers. As in Baseball, not all hits have to be grand-slams- singles can be fine too.

When we take the time to focus on and understand Mid-Sized companies- spread across verticals and industries—we find that they grapple with issues, evaluate opportunities, and look to improve in very much the same way as their larger counterparts do. In some ways, the challenges are more profound: There are less resources in terms of money and people and still the same set of opportunities and technologies to evaluate. The “staying power” of Mid-Sized companies is less (a bad 6 months can lead to bankruptcy) so in fact being agile and responsive to customers is, interestingly, more important than in large enterprises. A few bad hires can ruin a smaller company, so HR and People processes have to be more exacting. It might seem like a Bizarro world- in which everything is inverted—but Mid-Market organizations require, often, a deeper focus.

Given this, the idea of Digital Transformation inevitably creeps in. How can mid-sized manufacturing or distribution companies use the tools of digital modernity to improve all aspects of their businesses? As has been pointed out by Jon Roskill in Information Week, Digital Transformation is not magic, is not “one and done.” It is not a spell the mere incantation of which will create abundance and prosperity. It is a journey that requires both planning and dynamism- planning because we have to know where we are going in order to get there, and dynamism because we know that the “unknowns” will pop up along the way.

Digital Transformation neither starts nor ends with technology. It starts with a commitment to improve and ends with the creation of a lasting culture of open-ness and ability to deal with ambiguity. Along the way, technologies of all sorts play an important role and enable people and processes.

Digital Transformation can be both recognizable and unrecognizable from the outside. In some examples- like mobile-ordering at Starbucks, the effects are visible- new scenarios emerge and change human behavior. Of course, one can only imagine the years of planning and implementation that went into that!

At other times, Digital Transformation simply “melts into the air.” When the integration of Business Applications saves an employee 10 minutes of work per transaction- that is absolutely Digital Transformation but we as consumers don’t really “see it.”

Digital Transformation, thus, can be both sexy and quotidian. Either way, it is important and backed by inspiration and perspiration.

For mid-sized companies, this hard work will not necessarily make the cover of the newspaper or be bandied about in online forums. But when we remember the spirit of the word “transformation,” we realize that indeed SMBs can truly be transformed with the right vision and execution, in real and not just rhetorical terms.

The good news is that many technology platform companies are beginning to understand just how fertile the SMB market is. Reality is loud- The Digital Transformation journey in the Mid-Market is real.

A guest post by Romi Mahajan
CMO Quantarium

In the financial world, a few themes have emerged of late that are worthy of note.  These themes connect strongly to both the risk and the opportunities available in the world of Finance and Fintech.  They should be of interest not only to CFOs and other people whose roles relate directly to Finance but also to anyone looking at the health and well-being of industry in general.

The emerging themes are:

1. Decentralized Finance (Defi)
2. Platformization
3. Data Management
4. Risk and Regulation

We say “emerging” not because all of these ideas are new but because the rate of change in these spaces is high-enough to warrant comment.

A sentence or two on each.

1. Defi:  With the advent of Block chain and Crypto on the one hand and increasingly enabled consumers on the other, Decentralized Finance has emerged not only as a huge market but also as the subject of a culture war between incumbent/infrastructure-like finance stalwarts and a new breed of Cloud-enabled startups.
2. Platformization:  In the world of technology, cycles are common.  We are now in the phase in which connected and interoperable applications built on flexible platforms are the order of the day.  Point solutions are being abandoned in favor of platforms and funding patterns are shifting in that direction as well.
3. Data Management:  With data growing exponentially and AI/ML emerging as mainstays in business, a new truism exists:  Those organizations that frame data as an asset and who make the requisite investments in data infrastructure emerge as winners in a competitive marketplace.
4. Risk and Regulation:  Stories abound of financial mismanagement, large-scale and structurally inherent risk, and massive failure not only because of fraud but also because “asleep at the wheel” is almost a natural state without the infrastructure to deal with data, differential and complex asset classes, and the slew of regulations that govern the world of finance.

Far-sighted organizations will understand these themes not as discrete and disconnected but as part of a holistic view of Finance and its futures.  Customers and investors alike need to think of these four factors as they acid-test vendors and any organizations that purport to offer “solutions” for the various needs and opportunities in FinServ in general.

Those whose charge is to make the right technology purchase decisions in Financial Services, need to understand these trends not simply as “flavors of the month” but, instead, as tectonic shifts in how businesses need to run in a modern economy.  Similarly, investors need to take into account elements of a firm’s technology and business model that provide for medium and long-term growth, not just “flash in the pan” results.

These two audiences need to converge on the four themes.  The Financial Services and Fintech markets are attracting billions of dollars in venture capital and account for hundreds of billions of dollars of tech-spend.

Which companies will become the resonant Finance brands of the future?  To answer that ask yourself how they connect with and engage with these four themes.

A guest post by: Romi Mahajan, CMO Quantarium

Residential real estate – peoples’ homes – is the world’s largest asset class, tipping the scales at almost $200 trillion worldwide.  This number is staggering to many, including those in the housing industry.  Larger even than the sums involved are the emotions – a family’s residence is likely its largest investment and one from which, so many other life-factors radiate:  Who are your neighbors, what schools do your kids attend, are you safe, how close are you to good medical care, and so on.  Insofar as this is true, the housing sector can never be given too much attention by Economists, Sociologists and even Technologists.  Still, in many ways the sector has been given short shrift.

Consider a matter at the heart of the industry – the value of a particular house.  What appears to be a simple question with a simple answer is not.  Sure, one can look at the basics – how big it is, the year built, comparable houses in the neighborhood and so on.  One can even attempt to factor in other variables – school district, crime statistics, proximity to the beach, and a host of other things.  All said and done, all of these factors are “external” and in many ways “non-specific.”

Let’s pause for a moment.  While these factors are indeed external, we have to ask ourselves a basic question – how do I get specific?  How do I assess the value of a particular house, looking beyond these basic factors and in the process taking into account the condition of the house and the nature of its interior landscape?

For most of us this is an obvious question.  After all, if you put in a lot of money to modernize or refurbish a house, you would expect that its value rises, even if your work and effort is not recognized in the external statistics being looked at for valuation.  If you, on the other hand, paid no attention to the house and allowed it to atrophy, you’d likely expect the value to diminish.

This issue is often “solved” by Appraisers, who theoretically take into consideration all of these interior and condition-based factors when assessing the value of a house.

Now, we enter a world fraught with problems.

For the purposes of this short piece, we won’t get into the debates about the objectivity of Appraisers or even about the shortage of talent that is delaying closings in many large markets (in the US for sure.)  These issues are fertile grounds for discussion, elsewhere.

No, the main issues we intend to dissect here are the issues of scale, speed, and customer experience.

In the US, there are over 100 million residential units.  Now imagine you work at a bank or other institution that originates and/or “owns” millions of mortgages and wants to determine the value of your portfolio in toto?  Imagine, further, that you need to do so every month.  After all, you need to keep track of your assets, make decisions about where to keep houses and where to sell houses, and assess your risk in holding these mortgages.  The issues of scale and cost are enormous.  You certainly can’t send an appraiser to each house.

Imagine a different scenario.  A consumer lives in a city with a very fast market and needs to make decisions on the spot whether to buy a house.  Waiting even a few hours, not to mention days, can mean losing a house.  In this cauldron, determining the true “value” of a home has to be done instantaneously.  Here, the issues of speed are paramount.

Finally, imagine you are a real estate agent with a demanding (and rightfully so) customer who wants to buy a house.  You have visited 10 houses to determine fit and have been disappointed by their dilapidated interiors.  You are not paid for your time, only for results.  If only, there were ways to determine condition and value based on condition in a way that was easy for the customer (in this case, you.)

Enter technology, specifically AI and its offshoot, Computer Vision.  Artificial Intelligence yields a potent set of tools for real estate, starting with valuations.  First of all, AI is “better at the basics” than non AI methodologies.  To get even a basic valuation of 100+ million properties every month is not trivial; with AI, the entire US footprint can be run in hours not weeks.  The idea is simple:  Computers can learn from data sets of a critical mass, then keep improving their outputs as more data comes in.  Machine-learning is just that- machines that actually “learn” and thus can offer results and outputs that are neither obvious nor simply the result of brute-force methods.  AI can thus help with the scale and speed components.

Computer Vision comes in here in a delightful way.  If you look at house-listings, they often come with a multitude of pictures.  Computer Vision can analyze and categorize these pictures- with speed and fidelity- thereby assigning “condition” scores to kitchens, bathrooms, and other hotspots in the house.  In this way, they can help offer a “condition-adjusted” value.

Put all of this together and you get a powerful mix.  Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), powered by AI can provide accurate valuations at scale and with enormous breadth.  Add condition-adjustment, powered by Computer Vision, and you start to see technology giving its due to the vexing problems and incredible opportunities in the real estate industry.

Marketing Darwinism had the Opportunity to Meet Up with Jeremy McCarty, Co-Founder and CEO of Valligent Technologies.

Marketing Darwinism: Jeremy, the Real Estate Technology/PropTech space is, simply put, “on fire” as of the last few years.  Can you comment on this and on Valligent’s place in the mix?

Jeremy: Indeed, Real Estate as a sector and RE Tech specifically are buoyant and exciting.  It is important to remember that residential real estate is the largest “industry” in the country. US homes in aggregate are worth upwards of $35 Trillion collectively and this year almost 7 Million houses will be bought and sold.  The application of technology to this space is key to its future and we’re fortunate at Valligent Technologies to be at the heart of this.  While our valuation an appraisal business has been healthy for years, we saw huge potential in virtual appraisals and low-touch valuations and skated to where that puck was going.  We now have the most innovative virtual appraisal offering in the industry and the regulatory environment has made massive scale possible in this space.  All in all, we don’t feel like we have a ring-side seat; instead we feel like we are on the field playing the game!

Marketing Darwinism: Tell us more about the changes you see in the space?

Jeremy: There are so many changes, manifesting daily.  Some of these changes are “disruptive” and others are just natural extensions or evolutions of what existed.  On the former side, take the notion of house appraisals.  House appraisals are very much about the verification of valuation.  In the home buying process- still a lengthy procedure—the valuation of the house is the centerpiece.  From what loan you get all the way to the cost of insurance, the valuation pops up a dozen times at least in the process.  Now imagine being able to get an accurate valuation with technology, in less than an hour.  No long waits for appraisers and white-knuckling the results.  No costly and repetitive services to be subjected to.  Now, imagine further.  Of the circa 7M houses that will sell this year, 40% of so are eligible for waivers on the standard appraisal.  Enter virtual appraisals.  Such speed and scale are a sea-change in what is otherwise a slow moving industry.

Marketing Darwinism: We see a lot of VC, PE, SPAC, and other investment dollars going into this space.  Is there a bubble here?

Jeremy: As in all spaces, this one will have winners and losers.  There is a certain amount of rhetoric and exaggeration in the space, especially with regard to “dressing up” old business models with new “language.”  We see technology buzzwords abounding but when it comes down to it, many companies still rely on analog and traditional methods to transact.  We understood this and have partnered with leading technology players like Quantarium and have developed cutting-edge tech capacity of our own.  So, yes, there are bubble aspects but in reality we are just beginning to see this industry transformed by the combination of technology, regulatory change, innovation in business process, and highly capable and educated consumers.

Marketing Darwinism: Tell us about your Marketing work?  After all, we do care a LOT about Marketing!

Jeremy: Marketing is key to Valligent’s success.  We are big believers in participating in the industry community and in doing our part to promote the industry as a whole. We have been pleased to receive multiple awards in the space and that notoriety has helped create a flywheel of engagement, advocacy, referral, and growth.  Marketing is and will always be core to our company and we feel very strongly that we back up our messaging with a product and solution platform nonpareil.

Marketing Darwinism: Any parting thoughts?

Jeremy: We continue to be excited about Valligent’s growth in the new world of Real Estate and about the space in general.  We believe that top talent will be drawn to RE Tech and that the addition of smart, driven, and innovative people will help the industry mature into a fully tech-enabled and dynamic part of the economy.  It’s already the biggest part of the economy but we want it to be seen as cutting edge.

Marketing Darwinism chatted with Pepper’s CEO Pulak Sinha on progress since last time we spoke.

Marketing Darwinism:  Pulak, how has progress been since connecting six months ago?

Pulak:  I appreciate the question around progress since in fact that is the key determinant of a company’s success.  We’ve made enormous progress on a variety of fronts, most significantly around customers, product, and team.  We’ve expanded and deepened our customer connection; over $5B runs on the Pepper platform today- doubling in 6 months.  Produce-wise we’ve introduced a variety of new modules and connectors and have launched a low-code orchestrator for our customers.  And we’ve expanded our team, with two solid executives joining over the last quarter.  Miles to go still of course but real velocity in the right direction.

Marketing Darwinism: Remind us again about your “raison d’etre” and your core target market

Pulak:  We built Pepper from the ground up to offer simplicity, ease, success, and ROI to Asset Management and Portfolio Management teams.  That Asset Manager with a new fund or one that is seeking optimization of data to improve outcomes in a current fund, the portfolio manager who wants to harness data- across investment and asset classes- to drive customer value, the data-drenched Asset Manager who is looking to at once increase returns while simultaneously complying with the varied regulatory frameworks in the industries and geographies that government his/her investments—these are the people for whom we’ve built Pepper.  We believe we are the leading data platform for ROI optimization in the space.

Marketing Darwinism: As an entrepreneur, how did you land on this space and why does it continue to animate you?

Pulak:  Great question.  The numbers are striking.  Asset Managers have been given $120 trillion to manage on behalf of clients.  Such staggering numbers can overwhelm.  Of this, over $15 trillion is invested in alternatives.  Making sense of all these investments, optimizing current portfolios, and analyzing the benefits of new investments in a data-driven fashion – these are all areas we support.  I got into the space because when I was deep in the industry, I needed a “Pepper.”  Such stories to me are the essence of the journey we are on.  We’ve been successful so far but are humbled by the possibilities ahead.

Marketing Darwinism: Recent articles have emphasized the connections between great Chief Information Officers, Asset Managers, and Chief Investment Officers.  Can you comment on that?

Pulak:  Every time one of the articles comes out, it is great for us.  We’ve built an enterprise-class platform that would align all of these roles- a SaaS platform with low time to value, cloud-native and extensible apps, integrations, and ease of use—we believe that we are a crucial piece in the alignment of Asset Management ROI and technology.

Marketing Darwinism: What is your customer success strategy?

Pulak:  This relates back to our mission. Helping customers harness the power of data is never a one-off, point-in-time “task” but is instead a process.  While our platform is very easy to deploy, we make sure to connect with our customers regularly to ensure that they are prospering and getting what they need.  There’s nothing better than seeing them succeed but also getting their feedback and rolling it into the product.

Marketing Darwinism:  Dharmesh you’ve been on our pages before, welcome back.  Tells us about the progress at Advaiya.

Dharmesh: Thanks Paul.  2020 has been a year of massive amplitudes.  In society, there are many people who are suffering and have lost loves ones and jobs. In the business world, companies of all sizes have been jolted into a new state of being; many have realized that all of the earlier talk about sustainability, disaster recovery, and- frankly- agility was real.  Black swan events happen and will happen and companies need the digital infrastructure and a corresponding culture to manage through them.  We’ve been very fortunate to be able to help a variety of organizations through this process this year.

Marketing Darwinism:  Can you give us more specifics? Can we move away from “Digital Transformation” as a one-size fits all approach?

Dharmesh:  We agree.  The details and nuances are the nub of the matter.  We believe very strongly in a vertical contextuality not just a patina of “understanding” that is really in practice superficial.  I can’t help a Financial Services company create a digital backbone if I don’t understand its customers, its regulatory environment, and the changing landscape in the space.  Similarly, we’ve seen the healthcare system buckle under lack of capacity because earlier consultants thought of them as “any old” industry and convinced them to be “just in time.” In reality, they are a social service that requires a peak load view not a base load view.  These snapshots of vertical insight differentiate us often.

Marketing Darwinism:  In a WFH or now Work-From-Anywhere context, how do organizations need to think about digitization?

Dharmesh:  We have believed in WFA and SFA (Source from Anywhere) for a long time.  We have understood that the best talent for the job can be found anywhere and that our customers themselves are not fixed in time and space.  We believe that in a WFH and WFA context, the “silicon” isn’t the full solution- people and culture are a big part of the equation.  Technology infrastructure and applications need to enable them to uncover new scenarios and act on them.  That is the heart of real innovation and progress.

Marketing Darwinism:  How is Advaiya’s growth orientation?

Dharmesh:  Over the last 5 years, we’ve had a continuous, secular growth trajectory.  Q2 of this year was a hiccup as we all adjusted to the new reality of Covid.  But as companies sought change and wisdom and frankly help in Q3, we’ve seen our growth return.  Right now, we are focused purely on customers and partnerships; growth will persist if we maintain that focus.

Marketing Darwinism:  You work a lot in aiding marketing organizations.  How is that going?

Dharmesh:  In our incarnation as an agency- for content, digital assets, analytics, visualization of data, and so on, we attempt to be an organic part of the teams we support.  Marketing teams have been wonderful to work with- at times we are simply a human-being extension and at times we are developing markets together.  None of our offerings are atomic- they all connect to a larger marketing reality.

Marketing Darwinism:  What’s next?

Dharmesh:  We have a lot planned for 2021. We are continuing our big push with applications and infrastructure but also with our “last mile” customer work.  As we grow in both North America and Asia, we’ve been able to bring on some exceptional talent.  As with everything, they’ll help us define what is next!

Marketing Darwinism: John, tell us about Zact.  We love it when founders tell their stories.

John:  Thanks Paul.  Zact was born of a simple idea- that Expense and Payment Management – core to the success of any organization- should not be an area of constant frustration and deficit.  We built Zact with three things in mind- 1. The Integrity of the process whereby accounting reconciliation is inherent; 2. Driving harmony between the employees and the Accounting and Finance Department; 3. Helping customers spend their time and capital on growth and not on the error-prone minutiae that often hampers them.  When I look at what our small team has accomplished in record time, I’m really very proud.

Marketing Darwinism: So Zact is an Expense Management system?

John: That and much more.  Zact is a true platform for Expense and Payment Management.  Our innovative business-design win is manifested in a product called “The One Employee Card” which allows for Managed Autonomy- spending within guardrails and easy reconciliation.  It is also very much about democratization- all employees are part of the growth story for the organization.  But we didn’t stop there; instead with our App, our backend, and our native Cloud-based reconciliation, we emerge not as a point-solution but as a platform.

Marketing Darwinism: Would you classify yourself as a Fintech company?

John: Absolutely.  Fintech, and the sub-category PaymentTech, is a burgeoning area that we are thrilled to be in and associated with.

Marketing Darwinism: So, as a Marketing professional, I have to ask you about the Expensify CEO’s email to his customers and community asking them to vote for Biden.  What are your thoughts?

John: Each entrepreneur does what he or she sees fit for his or her business. Interestingly, this particular email brought attention to a space – payments and expense reporting – that is often relegated to the arena of “necessary but not sexy”.  I hope this email draws customers’ attention to innovations that are happening in this space to drive financial and operational efficiencies while enhancing reporting integrity – three attributes fundamental to the Zact narrative.

Marketing Darwinism: As a startup CEO, how do you think about Marketing?  Do you plan to invest further in the space?

John: I believe in Marketing.  Ultimately, Zact is all about current and potential customers; we feel, very humbly, that the more we scale, the more we’ll drive real satisfaction to our customers and real value to all elements of the ecosystem.  We also believe that a core driver of that process of scale and speed is marketing.  It is an area that we plan to invest in heavily going forward.

Marketing Darwinism: Any parting thoughts for MD’s readers?

John: Indeed, we hope that our solution(s) are highly relevant and fundamentally useful to all of our customers and ultimately their employees, partners, and customers too.  The journey so far has been exhilarating.  We know that each road has potholes but are determined to keep the faith, to drive hard, and to always focus on our core mission.  Anything less would be an abdication.

Marketing Darwinism: Manish, Advaiya has been going strong for over a decade now.  Tell us about your evolution.

Manish:  Paul, you used the right word here- evolution.  Our company has grown and evolved a great deal since it was just an idea in our minds years ago, to now being able to list in our roster or customers and partners over 100 companies and over 500 individuals as ongoing customers.  We are at once proud and humbled.  Advaiya started as a Microsoft partner, focused on Enterprise Project Management, and has evolved into a full-service Application Developer, Integrator, and Implementer and a full-scale Digital and Content Agency.  Under one roof, we connect to and service some of the world’s largest companies hailing from North America, Asia, and Europe but also innovative startups and what are deemed “traditional” companies in the manufacturing and services spaces.  We are having a blast.

Marketing Darwinism:  Big Tech has grown into the most powerful economic force in the world.  How do you see that as it relates to Advaiya’s growth?

Manish: We are lucky in this regard in two ways.  First, we have very good relationships with companies that constitute “Big Tech” and continue to partner with them actively.  In fact, many of our outbound efforts are conducted jointly with large companies.  We feel very lucky in that regard.  Second, and maybe even more importantly, the notions of Digital Transformation are real and we are able to offer a layer of know-how, IP, and process on top of the amazing platforms these companies build- we offer them to a slew of customers of a variety of sizes and across verticals.  Companies that many deem as “old world” are in fact embracing Digital Transformation with a speed and vigor that would surprise all the naysayers.  So, again, we have a twofold win here- as customers and as value-add partners.

Marketing Darwinism:  Okay so you said it.  Digital Transformation. Unpack that for me.

Manish: We all know of the clichés and we all know about hyperbole.  But what’s lost in all that are real stories of learning, transformation, growth, culture change, and yes mistakes too.  Digital Transformation is not about rhetorical shifts but about profound changes in the actual processes and products/services an organization uses to engage, operate, and execute.  Isn’t that the goal ultimately?  Digital Transformation implies something deeper too- an ongoing, persistent commitment to honing, improving, and creating efficiencies.  We work with amazing companies that are discovering the mind-bending results of say well-implemented CRM solutions, Data visualization and effective dash-boarding, implementing an effective data strategy, building engaging digital artifacts, and so on.  Being even a small part of that is heady.

Marketing Darwinism:  What do you tell prospective customers to get them to want to work with Advaiya?

Manish: We approach these conversations with a clear view that we must put our best foot forward with all customers.  We have to be able to understand context, culture, as well as the business needs in order to truly be effective.  Even when we were a small team, we were working with some of the world’s largest corporations on critical projects.  There was no room for anything but our A+-game.  Though we have expanded our personnel and our footprint, there is no different in our attitude or our execution.  This is in our view attributable to 4 elements:

First, we are very picky about hiring.  About a third of the company has been with us since inception.  Another third has been with us for over 5 years.  We love growth but it has to be done in a way that does not diminish results.

Second, we have incredible customers who understand that long-term partnerships produce the best results. We are not here just to transact.  We are here to build together.

Third, we are a constant-learning organization.  This applies to the latest technologies, the latest processes and certifications, but also a fundamental dedication to listening.  Learning is key.  Our Chief HR Officer is really our Chief Learning Officer.

Fourth, when we falter, we correct quickly.  We cannot be caught up in the ego and pretensions of being right always.  We are not.

If these factors make sense to you, then please work with us.  Else, let’s just be friends!

Marketing Darwinism:  Any parting thoughts?

Manish: The new technologies and applications, powered by AI and ML and built for customer engagement and improvement are worth looking at. We have a breadth of expertise and the curiosity to learn how to quickly apply these technologies to real scenarios.  We love to listen.  And then to go about making real contributions.

We caught up with Samir Saluja, who we’ve covered before when he started DeriveOne about his new venture, Ahrian LLC.

Marketing Darwinism:  Tell us about Ahrian, your new firm.

Samir:  Thanks Paul.  Ahrian is a boutique consulting firm that will take on a limited number of deep customer partnerships this year.  We work on audience development, innovation and innovation processes, channel empowerment, and market development.  Underpinning these concepts is data, research, and technology.  I’m as excited about Ahrian as I have been about anything else professionally.

Marketing Darwinism: Ahrian – great name.  Tell us more.

Samir:  Well, I must admit, Ahrian is the name of my son.  Just as he’s the light of my full life, this company is the light of my work life.

Marketing Darwinism: You were at Microsoft for a long time.  How does your experience there inflect your work at Ahrian?

Samir:  At Microsoft, I was surrounded by really driven, smart people who thought about speed and scale.  When I co-founded DeriveOne, we wanted to combine speed and scale with actionable insights for companies that were seeking outside help to validate hypotheses and understand their customers, and then with our Project Simile joint venture we have been applying recent advances in machine learning to help customers measure metaphor resonance for brand and communication strategies. With Ahrian, I am synthesizing all my past experience- even my experience in International Trade, to bring to bear the entire panoply of services to my customers.

Marketing Darwinism: You openly say that you aren’t seeking any and all customers, just the right ones.  In fact you call these customer partnerships.  Please walk us through that logic.

Samir:  Deep relationships are partnerships and the only way to truly serve customers is my discovering, exploring, and building together.  I do not want to add only a thin-layer of value but to be considered a real team member, just with a different email address.  Without that depth, you miss context and nuance and without complexity and attending to nuance, you cannot create lasting products and solutions.  Ahrian is my ode to that concept.

Marketing Darwinism: Are you focusing on particular verticals?

Samir:  Yes and no.  We do a lot of work with technology companies and with their ecosystem.  We also work with Fintech and other adjacent areas.  We do so from the vantage point of data-driven growth combined with wisdom and experience.  Ahrian is a prescriptive company but never is it implied that we know better, only that we have an alternative point of view that should be considered.  That has resonated very well in these sectors and will hopefully elsewhere as well.

Marketing Darwinism: What are you most excited about?

Samir:  Building a true boutique firm.  A McKinsey of sorts without the baggage and overhead.

Second, I want to be friends with all my customer partners.  It’s not worth doing if you can’t enjoy your time with people.  If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that life is short, and all solutions start with investing time in people that inspire and fulfill you personally and professionally.