Career chapter · 2013–2015
Building India's pioneering food-delivery brand — and migrating it onto a global platform.
Two years as Head of Content Marketing & Management at India's pioneering food-delivery startup. Built the brand that was subsequently acquired by Europe's largest food-tech group (the Berlin-headquartered global food-delivery operator). Led the platform migration onto the acquirer's CMS and CRM, coordinated with the acquirer's global IT teams, and produced training material for the merged operation.
Challenge
The starting point
Two distinct challenges: building a defensible food-delivery brand in an Indian market that didn't yet have the infrastructure for it, and then — post-acquisition — migrating the entire operation onto the acquirer's global platform without losing the local market fit.
Approach
What I did
Content team build-out
Administered a team of content writers, backend operations and menu teams. Shaped the brand's face by formulating and applying content strategies including lookalike menus and festival blogs.
Editorial and QA
Supported content publication and editing, including QA for restaurant-page content, ideation, approval and review of material — content, images, editorial — handling rollouts of brand chains and launches.
Corporate comms
Directed official corporate external and internal communications including mailers, presentations and documentation.
Training material for the global acquirer
Managed creation of web-based tutorials and training material for the global acquirer's German team, including documentation and presentations.
Viral and digital campaigns
Conceptualised viral digital marketing campaigns including landing pages for restaurants, Facebook Ads, Google Ads.
SEO and SEM
Curated, created and edited content and ads. Strategy and analytics for AdWords, SEO and social media. Managed SEM and social-media campaigns.
CMS / CRM development
Crucial member in backend CMS and CRM features improvement, A/B testing for restaurant-page design, cart feature development, documentation and training (including POS technical documentation for an iconic American pizza chain).
Real-world UX features
Defined features such as menu filters that mirror the way a person scans a menu in real life. Identified bugs and issues to make the CMS strong enough to attract international buyers.
Salesforce + Asana implementation
Coordinated Salesforce and Asana CRM implementation with the global acquirer's German team. Defined project timelines, gathered requirements, planned and analysed.
Migration
Directed the migration of restaurants from the Indian platform onto the global acquirer's platform — ramping the team up in a short period. Produced content, fine-tuned processes, coordinated with the acquirer's global IT team to create a stable product suitable for the Indian market.
Lessons
What this chapter taught
Brand work and product work are inseparable in marketplace platforms. The team that doesn't think about both ships neither.
Acquisition migrations are marketing operating-system challenges as much as IT challenges. The brand has to survive the migration intact or the acquisition fails.
International acquirer buying decisions hinge on platform stability, not just unit economics. Content and CMS quality are due-diligence variables.
Real-world UX (a menu filter that scans like a human's eyes do) outperforms theoretically optimal UX every time.
Recognise the pattern?
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