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First principles approach to marketing, content, and founder branding.

Harshith Varma

2 months ago, I walked into Stanford University Graduate School of Business with a rough idea of what to expect. 

Last week, I walked out with a clearer sense of how much I'd been leaving on the table.

My background has been in marketing, specifically for B2B SaaS and service businesses. That's where most of my thinking has lived. 

So when I first came across the curriculum, subjects like finance, regulatory frameworks, design thinking, and strategy felt like electives. Sure, they sounded interesting but I assumed they were not really relevant.

That assumption didn't survive the first few weeks.

We typically develop fluency in one or two functions and quietly treat everything else as someone else's problem. It works until the cracks show. 

These functions bleed into each other constantly, and operating with command of only one of them means making half-informed decisions everywhere else without realizing it.

What the program gave was enough of a foundation across each domain to recognize when a decision has dimensions you're underweighting. The way you think about a problem changes when you have more than one lens to look at it through.

Then came the venture project with Senmiao "Samuel" Sun, Lauren Koepke, Suvinai Jiraboonsri, and Galaktion S.. It was in biotech, a space I had zero prior experience in. 

When you're building something credible in a vertical you have no history in, you're forced to rely entirely on frameworks and first principles. It turned out to be one of the more valuable parts of the whole experience.

There's something about being on the Stanford campus that's difficult to articulate without sounding like you're overselling it. I'll be back for sure.

What made it all special was the quality of the professors teaching it. They brought in decades of deep experience in their field. Learning from people at that level is a genuine privilege that you don't fully appreciate until you're sitting in the room.
 
Huge thanks to Professor Yossi Feinberg, Kelsey Carlson and Jiaying Feng for this experience!
 
Grateful for this one.
 
For now, back to building.

Founder - H2H Copy | $2M+ in revenue generated through organic LinkedIn

The Mr. Beast-ification of B2B content is finally happening!

For Wispr Flow's Android launch, Tanay Kothari offered 5 people a Porsche 911 GT3 RS if they could get their AI voice dictation app to make a mistake. Each challenger pushed harder than the last. The product held up every time. 

And this isn't a one-off stunt. 

WisprFlow also has a UGC program, reportedly built by a 19-year-old, that has generated over 500M views in 60 days. (Separate post on that later) 

It's entertaining, it compounds, and it's product-led. That's a hard combination to pull off in B2B.

We've already seen the early wave though. 

Tycho Luijten, Sam Dunning, Todd Clouser, and Tim Davidson proved that B2B content doesn't have to be boring. 

But Tanay just raised the bar quite a bit.

The obvious caveat: this playbook works when you have a product with a bold, falsifiable claim at its core. Not every startup does. But if yours does, a feature launch doesn't have to be a boring announcement. 

Well done, Wispr Flow and Tanay!

I *genuinely* believe I have one of the best jobs in the world.

Every week, I get to talk to founders 1:1 to understand how they built their businesses and how they grow their clients' businesses.

Their clients include some of the LARGEST retailers, hypergrowth start-ups, mid-market and enterprise tech companies on the planet. And I get to understand how they think about solving problems at that scale.

And over time, I've built a fairly good understanding of

...What it actually takes to build a successful product-led company

...The marketing foundations that need to be in place long before you worry about tactics

...How enterprise sales actually work from the inside

And I'm pretty sure all of this is gonna come super handy in the future.

This is the kind of knowledge that takes most people years of trial and error to accumulate. I'm getting it directly from the people who've already figured it out.
You genuinely cannot learn this stuff from a course or a book.

On top of that, I know exactly who to reach out to when I need help in a specific area. I've spent enough time on this platform to know who the best people are in any given domain. 

And getting paid to do all this??

That's kinda insane when I stop to think about it.

I also get to work with extremely talented folks like Jeff Odarve and Navya Shree, and do all of this while traveling wherever I want.

Is it hard? Yes. Absolutely.

As you scale, things break. I'm scrappy by nature, and scrappy has limits.

But when I zoom out and look at the full picture, the people I get to learn from, the teammates I get to build with, the freedom to do it all on my own terms, I feel nothing but grateful.

I don't know how many people get to say their job genuinely makes them smarter every single week.

I get to say that. And I don't take it lightly.

(Well, we *finally* tried skiing for the first time this weekend at Tahoe! Only regret is not having tried it sooner)

LinkedIn is perpetually 14 business days behind Twitter.

Emergent just hit $100M ARR eight months after launch. One of the fastest companies to ever do it. And nobody on LinkedIn is talking about it.

But yeah, let's all *still* talk about PayPal CEO hiring a ghostwriter for $200k because it's not quite self-serving and is super insightful.

Meanwhile, the algorithm is out here surfacing posts from 2 weeks ago and destroying whatever little organic reach creators are left with.

It's a weird dynamic. The platform keeps shooting itself in the foot by disincentivizing creators.

Anyway. If you want to know what's actually happening in tech, go spend 30 minutes on Twitter.

And if you're active on Twitter, let's connect!
https://lnkd.in/gCFBfaAr

I'm SO done with Bay Area startup events man.

Every single time I explain what I do, I get the same blank stare. 

And I'm not talking about one awkward conversation - this has been a pattern. At this point I've tried every possible angle and framing. Doesn't matter.

I've tried explaining it as distribution strategy - how if nobody knows you exist, your product doesn't matter. I've tried the top-of-mind angle - how your prospects need to think of you the moment they have the problem you solve.

I've even broken it down into pure revenue terms with actual client numbers.
Still nothing.

I used to think it was the curse of knowledge - that I was too deep in this world to explain it simply. But that's not entirely true.

And look, this isn't me saying I know everything or that I'm too good for these rooms. It's just basic market fit. Matthew Hunt posted about it yesterday:

"Stop trying to convince people who don't care about the problems you solve.

Preach to the choir.

Sell to people who already know they have a problem. 
People who are actively looking for a solution.
People who want to change."

The frustrating part is that good events DO exist. I had a great time at Sculpt last year! (Bruno Estrella/ Clay - bring it back faster please?)

But they're almost never the ones you find scrolling through Luma. The ones worth attending are private, invite-only, and nobody tells you about them until you already know someone inside.

Request: If you're in the Bay Area and you actually know of events worth attending, please drop them below or send me a message. I'm genuinely done wasting evenings making small talk with people who've never heard of founder branding.

There has to be a better room somewhere.

I just finished reading Paul Graham's 4,288-word essay on taste. It was published back in 2002, and I think it's more relevant today than it's ever been.
 
Taste is the word everyone is using right now. It's also the word nobody can quite explain.
 
I've been thinking about it for a while now — long before I read that essay. Writing 2,000+ posts for founders will do that to you. You start noticing things you can't un-notice.
 
Once you accumulate enough reps, your eye develops an intolerance for what's off.
 
And the more you feed it with great content — really great content — the sharper it gets. Your standards keep getting higher because you now know what great looks like. Once you've seen it enough times, anything less becomes harder to ignore.
 
Graham puts it well: "As a practical matter, I think it's easier to see ugliness than to imagine beauty. Most of the people who've made beautiful things seem to have done it by fixing something that they thought ugly. Great work usually seems to happen because someone sees something and thinks, I could do better than that."
 
Even Ashley Lewin recently wrote a great post about it. She defines taste as pattern recognition built through fundamentals and repetition, specific enough to name what's off and why.

That said, knowing what taste is and actually developing it are two very different things.
 
Jeff Odarve and I have started blocking time each week just for this. We look at what's working in this space, understand the mechanics behind it, and ask how we can take it further.
 
We want to be the absolute best in our space.
 
And we'll do whatever it takes to get there.

Vocab Artist

This is where I leaned into what I enjoy doing - Writing. Everything else, fell by the wayside! After Infosys, I embarked on a roller coaster of a freelance writing career which included bad clients, horrible bosses, and some good writing.

Here's what I wrote:

•	Rewrote the website to improve content before launch and to attract more downloads. 
•	Worked with an ed-tech startup in Pune on their content for marketing graphics, and their outbound cold call scripts
•	Created email marketing content for an ed-tech startup in Pune
•	Wrote and optimized blogs, content pages, and customer profile content, and handled social media using social media marketing tools for a small business services exchange in Pune

Here's a breakdown of my skills:

Content Writing:

•	Research and understand audience pain points, to produce and deliver content ideas in both long and short form.
•	Identify meaningful trends, define and develop data-driven content strategy across multiple channels for B2B clients.
•	Create sales and marketing collateral; emails, newsletters, website and social media content to align with client strategy.
•	Write engaging stories, compelling titles, and CTAs to drive conversions, convert visitors into customers. 
•	Optimize and update SEO content, blog and web copy, headlines and keywords to boost opportunities in search engines. 

Copywriting:

•	Research and understand audience pain points, to produce and deliver content ideas in both long and short form.
•	Identify meaningful trends, define and develop data-driven content strategy across multiple channels for B2B clients.
•	Create sales and marketing collateral; emails, newsletters, website and social media content to align with client strategy.
•	Write engaging stories, compelling titles, and CTAs to drive conversions, convert visitors into customers. 
•	Optimize and update SEO content, blog and web copy, headlines and keywords to boost opportunities in search engines.

B2B Content Strategist and Copywriter

What excites me the most about LinkedIn profile optimization? It lies at the unique intersection of career skills and personal branding. 

I love how LinkedIn lets you resurrect your career and gives a positive professional community to thrive in.

But there are still 1 million+ people on LinkedIn. I'm not even counting active content creators! 

How do you stand out?

How do you ensure you become your target customers' top choice? 

And if you're laid off, a LinkedIn personal brand is the KEY because recruiters, hiring managers, and founders all look at your LinkedIn profile as a channel of verification. 

Ergo, your LinkedIn profile IS your first impression - not the first call with recruiters!

I can help you create that fabulous first impression.

I can write you a profile that achieves your professional goals and stand out in a crowd of industry peers. 

And I'm available to answer all your questions in LinkedIn DMs or on my email TheCreativeMastermind@gmail.com

LinkedIn Profile Copywriter 

Spear Growth

Taking care of clients, delivering banger results, and training the team on setting up processes to do the same. also working on internal marketing initiatives for the agency itself.

Senior SEO Strategist

This is probably the most therapeutic place I ever worked at!

Skills-wise, this is a dream upgrade for a B2B content writer. This is kind of my first proper, formalized job in marketing. 

The people are great, the work is new, and I got paid to learn client handling and project admin skills. How cool!

•	Delivered 296K+ organic search impressions and 3750+ clicks in 6 months across 3 B2B SaaS websites (ongoing.
•	Assisted the GTM efforts of a client in the employee experience domain with SEO strategy for a new AI product in the US market
•	Assisted an enterprise accounts payable giant revitalize their SEO strategy for 2 of their SaaS product websites.
•	Customized and super-charged the SEO strategy for the website of a SaaS tool in the Airbnb space
•	Create brand and SEO content strategy (keywords, backlinks) aligned with existing client strategy and business goals.
•	Research and analyse results on clients' target audience, industry, and competitors to find high-value keywords to capture existing search footprint.
•	Managed content strategy, technical SEO, and backlinking for B2B SaaS clients while greasing the project wheel and keeping it running smoothly using patient listening, strategic analysis, and client management skills.

SEO Strategist and Content Editor 

Cactus Communications

I use my content editing skills to help researchers worldwide to improve the language quality of their research papers. I also used my constructive feedback skills to help new content editors make the best out of their skills.

Removed all kinds of language errors from high-quality research papers and documents, met 95% deadlines with an average performance rating of 3.6+ (Out of 4)

Editors' Editor (Final Reviewer) on Contract

Fame

Converted 100+ episodes of 9 podcasts into blog-length summaries with attention-grabbing headlines and social posts to drive podcast downloads, generating 5K+ streams.

I played a key role in processing podcasts at a successful UK-based podcast marketing agency and a podcasting platform. I got access to wonderful podcasts and I used my Copywriting skills to create catchy titles and helpful "key takeaways" content from them. I was responsible for creating podcast descriptions, key takeaways points, key takeaway mailers, extracting important quotes, and in some cases, adding timestamps too (but never pure transcription!)

Podcast Copywriter

Dipanshu Rawal

In exchange for Dipanshu's coaching, I used my YouTube Copywriting skills to help him manage and grow his YouTube channel as an extension of the Life Coaching business.

YouTube Growth Partner

Hippo Video: Video CX Platform

Lots of happy writing memories with good blogs. I exercised my marketing chops and managed to rank a couple of blogs. Unfortunately, this role ended when they decided to hire someone in-house.

Blog Contributor

EngageBay Inc.

I helped EngageBay create a brand with snackable blog post and guest post content. Each post was made to be readable for machines and humans.

This was my longest and most fruitful content writing engagement. It ended after I outgrew the role and the prcing they wanted to pay me.

Freelance Content Marketing Writer

Prime member of the marketing team, working alongside the CEO to take the product to the next level by implementing innovation in Marketing.

I wrote product comparison pages and some product resource pages and ranked 8 blogs out of 23 blogs I wrote. Some of the blogs I wrote are still ranking and pulling in massive traffic for EngageBay

Product Evangelist

Essentially Sports

I did some of the best, most fulfilling work at ES. This was a short-term assignment where I worked with newbie sports writers and taught them the basics of writing for the web. Writing and teaching combined made this a dream role.

Content Analyst

Arkenea Inc

Something I did when I moved back to Pune. This was not my best decision as I was struggling with my mental health and needed a job to survive in the city. Despite my circumstances, I tried to do my best but my best wasn't enough for them. They wanted a writer without identity but they didn't seem to understand how to manage a creative writer. I left after 4 months after every idea I suggested was shot down twice.

Senior Content Writer

Infosys

I was not enjoying my job as a Technical Trainer (who was later thrown into mobile app development and testing). My mother was not feeling well and I was ready to quit Infy without a plan for what would come next.

That's when I decided to check for internal job postings (IJPs) within Infosys and found something where I could use my writing strengths.
 
In this role, my responsibilities included:

-> Wrote and reframed proposal assets that were created by pre-sales teams and bid managers of $20Mn+ proposals
-> Enhance the user experience by molding the proposal artifacts through content restructuring, text reduction, enhancing visualization of existing graphics, and ideating for new graphics.
-> Ensuring uniform overall formatting
-> Creating executive summaries of large proposals from scratch through the use of the Shipley framework

Content Writer

Your most profitable organic content strategy can come from brand new content (new organic research) or your existing content strategy. 

I can help you get highly qualified leads using any one or both of these approaches (based on your budget).

Brand new content has to be product and customer aligned - we all know that by now. But if it's organic visibility you're after, your content also needs to be aligned to the gaps in your chosen organic channel.

As an SEO Strategist for B2B SaaS at an agency, I learned a very lean method of constructing organic SEO strategy with minimal use of keyword research tools like Semrush or ChatGPT - and achieved major success with it.

My organic SEO strategy helped EngageRocket (an HR analytics SaaS client) gain: 

-> 2X organic SEO leads, 
-> 466%+ jump in targeted ICP traffic from US, 
-> 1.6M+ organic SEO views / 37.5K+ traffic / CTR of 2.2% (Dec 2022 - Jan 2024).

While tools can help brainstorm aspects of a strategy, they cannot and should not dictate the direction of your strategy.    

I've also been writing B2B SaaS Copywriter and Content Writer since 18th March 2018 (my birthday, so I remember!).

In these 6 years, I've written for clients like EngageBay (resource guides, comparison pages, and blogs), HippoVideo (blogs), and Rumble Studio (strategy and writing for blogs). 

-> 20+ of my blogs ranked on page 1 or at no. 1 position for the PRIMARY KEYWORD. 
-> Some of them have stayed on top 3-4 years since writing them (thus surviving multiple algorithm updates)
-> Many of them gained rich snippets as I wrote about subtopics that no other competitor was writing about.

If you have given plenty of recorded third-party interviews, webinars, LinkedIn lives, YouTube videos, and community-focused content, I can help you pore through those to find content ideas and angles that we can use to design a brand new growth-focused organic strategy - that works on SEO and multiple social channels. 

While working with Fame, a UK-based Podcast Marketing Agency, I turned podcast episodes into engaging blogs, socials, soundbite timestamps, & provided catchy titles. 

For ~100 episodes of 9 podcasts. I generated 5K+ streams (guestimate).

If you seek a revision of your blog content based on your existing content, I can help your team by:

-> Finding the most likely pieces to rank by analyzing organic SEO gaps.
-> Finding content gaps in those pieces
-> Guiding your writing team as an Editor to improve those pieces (or write them myself)

Open for DM or email conversation about your content projects.

taplio

The Battle

Harshith Varma

🌶️ Navin Israni

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taplio

The Battle

Harshith Varma

🌶️ Navin Israni

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Harshith Varma's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreHarshith Varma's LinkedIn Performance