Hi! I'm Karthik Pasupathy 👋🏼

I'm a forever curious soul from Madras.

I love writing, technology, and design. I believe they are the three pillars that shaped humanity - culturally, economically, and socially.

I was a product marketer by profession, and now I'm an entrepreneur trying my hand at various things.

Things I'm actively working on

I’m constantly finding ways to learn about the evolution of humans at the intersection of technology and culture. I talk about those in the form of micro essays on my blog.

On the other side, I dissect and analyze the user experience of popular software products and try to rebuild them from a user’s perspective. I document these case studies in my newsletter, The Rubber Duck Report.

I’ve also published a novellas and a short story collection in my previous lifetime. You can find them on Amazon.

You'll find me ranting and shitposting on X, then professionally sugarcoating the same thoughts on LinkedIn. Different platforms, same person.

Obsessions

• Retro-futurism • 90s action movies • Café playlists • Gadgets • Backpacking Southeast Asia • Coffee • Self-hosting • Short stories • DAPs & earphones • Small-language models •

Obsessions

If you love the 90s, appreciate good coffee, or geek out about any of the above, we're probably meant to be friends. Drop me an email, or book some time on my calendar.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love,
KP

I'm Karthik Pasupathy, a product marketing leader who builds from zero to scale.

I'm the guy who turned "you can never get a job at Zoho" into a decade-long journey of building marketing functions that drive real business growth starting from Zoho.

From technical writer to Head of Marketing, I've learned that the best marketing happens when you truly understand both the product and the people who use it.

What I do best

I build marketing engines from scratch. Whether it's a startup's first marketing hire or a growing company needing structured growth, I create the systems, content, and strategies that turn products into market leaders.

My superpower? I speak both engineer and customer. This lets me translate complex technology into stories that actually matter to people.

My career

Every company I've joined has been at a inflection point. Zoho was launching new products for the Indian market. Freshworks was scaling rapidly. Level AI needed their first marketer. Prudent AI wanted industry recognition.

The pattern? They all needed someone who could build from scratch, think strategically, and execute tactically. Someone who understood both the technology and the humans who would use it.

I guess it is a whole lot of being at the right place at the right time.

August 2025 - Present: Career Break & Exploration

Taking time to refactor my understanding of marketing for an AI-driven future. Currently exploring tool building, diving deeper into AI applications, and going back to first principles to understand how marketing will evolve. This isn't a pause. It's preparation for what's next.

August 2024 - July 2025: Head of Marketing, Fyno

My most recent chapter. Worked alongside Fyno's CBO to position the company for US market expansion. Built a comprehensive sales enablement library to accelerate founder-led sales, and led the complete brand revamp.

2023 - 2024: Head of Marketing, Prudent AI

Built the entire marketing function for the company in the lending tech space. Helped them achieve industry recognition by securing them a spot on HousingWire Tech 100 (2024).

2021-2023: Product marketing manager, Level AI

The solo marketing act. As the company's first and only product marketer, I created the entire marketing foundation while the company focused on building their AI platform.

What I created:- 95% of all sales and product marketing materials
- Feature release framework still used today
- Digital marketing and SEO strategy (until growth team hire)
- Website management and optimization

2020-2021: Lead - Product Marketing, Freshworks

Part of the four-member PMM team that was responsible for taking Freshservice from $25M to $50M. Rose from product marketing specialist to a lead in one year.

What I delivered:- 15% increase in new feature adoption through quarterly webinars
- Launch strategy for flagship features like Workflow Automator
- Two successfully executed Spotify-style “Year in Review” campaigns
- Executed several successful product launches

2017 - 2019: Senior Technical Writer → Product Marketer, Freshworks

Made the jump from writing about products to marketing them. Stepped up when the team needed a product marketer, proving that understanding the product deeply is the foundation of great marketing.

What I managed:- Complete user education function for Freshservice
- Content strategy across user guides, FAQs, and video libraries
- Transition from technical writing to strategic marketing role

2015 - 2017: Technical Writer → Product Evangelist, Zoho

Where it all started. Joined eight weeks before Zoho Expense launched and wrote the entire knowledge base. Grew into managing seven writers across the Finance Suite and became the voice of Zoho Books in India. Was the product evangelist for Zoho Books India edition before my exit.

What I achieved:- Wrote the entire knowledge base in 2 weeks before the launch
- Managed documentation teams for five different Zoho products.
- Traveled across the country to publicize the benefits of cloud-based accounting.
- Led the launch of Zoho Books India edition.
- Wrote copy for newspaper ads and national radio campaigns
- Built custom CRM to manage the launch day madness.

Projects I'd worked on

Quicksense (2024)

Created an AI-powered YouTube summarizer that gained 50+ users in week one. This project taught me prompt engineering and gave me hands-on experience with LLMs - knowledge I now use in my marketing strategies.

NextStop (2019)

Built an online learning platform that helped 200+ people understand SaaS careers. Two students landed their dream jobs through the community I created. Sometimes the best marketing is just helping people succeed.

Building something and need help?

Let's talk. I'm always interested in talking with companies that need someone to build their marketing from the foundation up. Whether you're launching your first product or scaling to new markets, I've probably solved similar challenges before.

Photography

A few photographs from the archives.

Got something you want to discuss?

Send an email ([email protected]), or book a meeting slot.

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