 |
Zubin Nagarvala / Mediahit / VP of Insurance I currently hold the position of Vice President in the Lead Generation business where I manage our Insurance and List Management businesses. My interactions cover all portions of our business from creating and managing relationships with advertisers and publishers, to driving and developing our platform to meet our partners needs. Prior to joining the team at Mediahit, I’ve spent time working in online marketing up and down the peninsula at, Bigstep, Netflix, and Netblue. Where were you born? Berkeley, California Where were you raised? I took my first steps in Berkeley, CA, hung around for a few years, and then move to New Delhi for primary schooling. My family then moved back to the Albany/Berkeley area where I attended high school and then went on to graduate from the University of California at Berkeley. I consider the East Bay my home, and I currently live in Oakland. Who do you think had the most influence on your life and why? Of course my parents were largely responsible for shaping my moral compass, but it was my uncle and sister that both showed me how to bust my ass. Both of them were thrown in tough situations where, with the absence of any support system, they had to bootstrap it through school and their careers. Time spent towards becoming a chemical engineer during my undergraduate studies probably didn’t play too much of a role in any of the search marketing I did later on. The aforementioned person, is their influence used/applied at NextInternet? Yes, my uncle was the first one to tell me that success comes from 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration. At first it sounded like just another thing that grown-ups would tell kids, but it took me a few years to really recognize the truth in it. In general I look forward to complex issues where creativity and ingenuity are required to solve them, but most of what we face doesn’t require elegant solutions. Most of what we face on a day to day basis simply requires methodical execution and follow through. Hard, but smart, work is truly its own reward and is viewed the same by many here. What do you think about your upbringing or life experiences led you to working at a Start-up? I moved around as a kid and went through different school systems in multiple cities and countries. Having to adjust, establish your reputation, and settle in time and time again is similar to jumping between different companies in this space. I grew up as a curious kid who loved to ask questions and try to figure out how things work. Science was my favorite subject in school and it taught me how to approach situations with a systematic and methodical approach. I might not wear a lab coat, but when I drink coffee in the morning and review the previous day’s numbers, I’m sure I’m suing the scientific method somehow. What do you like about working at a start-up/NextInternet? You hear from people who are passionate about their work that they look at what they do as a career and not simply a job. I think a group of us here have taken it one step further, it’s not a career, it’s a lifestyle. Being competitive in everything you do, having focus and great execution, seeing all the angles and implications three steps out. This type of mentality is shared by many here and allows us to feed off eachother. If you had to describe your day to day in the office in 3 sentences how would you? A day at the office is similar to being a kickoff returner in football. As soon as you get in the door, you just caught the ball. Given the amount of hours in a day, you’ll be hit with new problems to solve, distractions around every corner, and obstacles you simply can’t plan for. Through focus and drive, you have to shake off whatever comes your way and always plough through completing your objectives. I work with a group of high energy performers who consistently challenge all those around them. This type of energy is motivating and keeps everyday interesting. What valuable lessons have learned in working at NextInternet? It’s important find the balance between structure and chaos in your work and to understand the trade offs as you bounce between the two. At the same time fully appreciating the fact that any happy medium you find will be temporary and frequently needs to be recalibrated. If you had to tell a new employee of NextInternet what to expect in their first two weeks what would it be? Prepare to be thrown under the bus, tossed in with the sharks, and shoved into the fire all at once. Okay, it’s not that bad, but coming to work with our group requires that you are hungry, flexible, and have the ability to get things done. In a short period of time you will be need to catch up to the pace that everyone else is following. What types of companies have you worked with before? (small, large, etc.) I’ve worked at mostly internet companies since being out of school and they have ranted from 5 man shops all the way up to 500+. Some of these companies never turned a dime in profit, and some are doing close to $1.0b in annual revenue. I feel best suited in 20-50 person setups where there is enough resources to keep things moving, but small enough to keep it on the less chaotic and more informal.
In your own words: It wasn’t always like this, and some people might never experience this, but I actually look forward to coming to work every day. This might not be the field which I end up working another 30 years in, but this is where I want to be right now– Surrounded by highly motivated and intelligent people who understand the game we are in. Years from now I might be working on some other project in some other part of the world, but I’ll always remember that that at the start of the century we were there building online businesses in the bay area and we gave it all we had.
|