Selected work in startup and venture marketing.

Positioning, brand, editorial and communications work, with my role and supporting material.

Champ AI

Role: Fractional VP Marketing

Positioned Champ around operational outcomes.

Context

An AI operations company explaining what customers could buy, which work it replaced and how the outcome would be evaluated.

My contribution

Developed positioning around buying operational outcomes without building the infrastructure, with legacy outsourcing as a key alternative. Led launch communications for Champ’s emergence from stealth.

Launch coverage — Business Insider

My role covered launch communications. This is third-party reporting about the company.

Zenskar

Role: Head of Content and Brand

January–November 2024

Built the brand, content and inbound function.

Context

A billing product serving complex B2B pricing models.

My contribution

Led brand and inbound. Built and led a nine-person team across brand, founder marketing, editorial, search, design and distribution. Developed positioning and website messaging, and led publication of more than 60 search-led articles in approximately 90 days. Built the newsletter alongside the search and editorial programme.

Accel’s SeedToScale

Role: Marketing Consultant — Brand and Content

September 2020–June 2022

Turning founder knowledge into useful public resources.

Context

SeedToScale turns knowledge from founders, operators and investors into resources for the wider startup community.

My contribution

Helped build SeedToScale’s editorial and publishing foundations, then contributed writing and production across founder resources, frameworks and podcasts. The work translated knowledge held by experienced founders, operators and investors into material the wider startup community could understand and use.

Kunal Shah’s Delta 4 Theory of Successful Startups

Editorial contribution. The underlying theory is Kunal Shah’s.

Web3Auth

Role: Head of Content and Brand Marketing

February–December 2023

Led brand and communications across partner launches and sensitive issues.

Context

Wallet infrastructure requiring clear explanations for developers, partners and prospective customers.

My contribution

Built the content and brand foundations: CMS, style guidance, search content and brand voice. Owned PR for partner launches including Fox.com, Trust Wallet, SK Planet and Google Firebase. Wrote customer stories documenting how teams used the product, alongside public statements addressing sensitive issues.

Pop Social — customer story

Customer-story writing by Sampath.

The Pop Social story reports the customer’s results after integrating Web3Auth.

Masai School

Role: Content Marketing Manager

December 2020–February 2022

Built brand and communications around company milestones.

Context

An education company explaining its model and communicating funding and acquisition announcements.

My contribution

Built the content and brand foundations, including guidelines, website material and social presence. Led PR for company announcements, working directly with the founders, including communications around the 2021 Series A and Prepleaf acquisition.

Communications work around the announcements; the linked articles are third-party reporting.

YourStory

Role: Technology Journalist

December 2016–November 2020

Learned to find the real idea beneath a founder’s first answer.

Context

Reporting on technology, founders and company building.

My contribution

Spent approximately four years reporting on founders, technology and company building, including interviews with Dharmesh Shah and other technical founders and operators. Work included Techie Tuesdays, The Turning Point and The Product Roadmap.

Dharmesh Shah profile — Techie Tuesdays

Reporting and writing by Sampath.

Postman — The Product Roadmap

Reporting and writing by Sampath.

Discuss the work you need.

Tell me what the company or fund needs to change, and where you need help.