Communities, where it started.
~200K → 500K+MLI members while I was Community Manager
0 → 10KZubi's community, built from scratch
0 → 20KMLI's newsletter, from scratch
Situation
Between 2020 and 2022 I worked across five communities — an ed-tech internship first, then India's largest AI community, then a string of web3 ones. All of it while I was still in college.
Zubi (2020)
Community development intern at an ed-tech startup teaching blockchain, AI and IoT. The community team took it from zero to 10,000 people and ran 50+ virtual events; I helped organize LETCON 2020 — India's largest virtual emerging-tech conference that year, with 6,000+ learners and 20+ speakers over three days.
Machine Learning India (2020–21)
I joined at around 200,000 members as Community Manager. By the time I left, it had crossed 500,000. Along the way I helped build a community platform from scratch to 3,000+ members and a newsletter to 20,000+, grew the team from 2 to 6, ran 25+ events, and revenue doubled.
The web3 turn (2022)
Volunteer and community roles at The Product House, The Product Folks and Obvious — where the WhatsApp community I ran went 50 → 1,000+ and the Web3Wednesdays newsletter went zero to 1,000. That autumn I was selected for KERNEL Block 7, an invite-only web3 program.
What it taught me
Distribution is a people problem before it's a channel problem. I learned to run communities like products — measured, programmed, staffed — long before anyone called that a growth role. Everything I've done in BD since is the same job with contracts attached.
What I'd do differently
Write things down as they happen. Most of what I learned in those two years lived in DMs and my own head — documented, it would have compounded.
Zero to six-figure MRR.
6-figMRR from zero — 7-figure YTD revenue
100 → 4.5KDiscord community growth in six months
100+interns and full-timers placed, 120+ startups
Situation
A web3 HR-tech startup with no product, no pipeline and no brand, in a hiring market where neither side trusted the other.
My role
Founding member, responsible for Growth & Operations. Built the MVP and the go-to-market, with one bet shaping both: the community was the funnel.
Decisions that mattered
The Discord went from 100 to 4,500 in six months, and it wasn't a side project — it was the acquisition channel and the feedback loop in one place. We placed 100+ interns and full-timers into 120+ startups straight out of that community.
Results
Zero to six-figure MRR — seven figures for the year — with 120+ startups served. The playbook stuck with me: build the room before you build the funnel.
What I'd do differently
Charge sooner. The community was ready to pay months before we felt the product was "finished".
Two growth jobs, run in parallel.
0 → 100KExa newsletter, built and run end to end
20K · 30%+For Web3 newsletter and its open rate
150K+testnet signups from the $XAP airdrop GTM
Situation
In August 2022 I took on two roles at one company: Marketing & Growth Lead at Exa Protocol, a DePIN network building storage and compute on a mobile-native Layer-1 — and Head of Growth & Content at For Web3, Exa's independent media arm, which I built from ideation. They ran in parallel for close to two years.
For Web3
Built and launched the platform to 10,000+ weekly active users. Hired and managed the team — writers, designers, interns — and owned content, community and growth strategy. 100+ published articles, 1,500+ web3 events listed, a newsletter from zero to 20,000 at 30%+ opens, a 30,000-member distribution network through partnered communities, and 50+ partnerships with ETHGlobal, ETHCC, Token2049 and India Blockchain Week.
Exa Protocol
Built and ran the newsletter end to end, zero to 100K+ subscribers. Ran GTM for the $XAP airdrop — 150K+ testnet signups — plus a pan-India campaign and meetup series, the Exa Node operator program, BD conversations across the ecosystem, and inbound press.
Decisions that mattered
The same bet, made twice: don't compete for feeds — go where the audience already gathers. Partner channels over paid: event partnerships for For Web3, partnered communities and owned media for Exa. And the newsletter, not the site, as the asset — the list compounds, traffic doesn't.
For Web3 is no longer live. Archived copies available on request.
What I'd do differently
Monetize the lists earlier, and keep the archive online. Letting the For Web3 domain lapse taught me that proof needs a permanent home — it's one reason this site exists.
Partnerships are a data-quality problem.
~100onboarding calls run end to end
2flagship partnerships closed & renewed (supported) — Tether, Starknet
Solanaecosystem coverage owned
Situation
The Grid sells verified data about web3 organisations — the metadata wallets, explorers and analytics platforms use instead of piecing it together themselves. That only works if teams participate, and if the data stays right. Both are partnership problems.
My role
I led the data team and set the standards it worked to, and ran BD end to end for the teams I owned — sourcing, pitching, onboarding. I designed the framework that turned those calls into a qualified sales pipeline, built the lifecycle emails that re-engaged signups who stalled before onboarding, and worked directly with the founders on sales and roadmap.
I also reviewed and corrected AI-generated data — then rewrote the standards the AI worked from, so quality improved at the source instead of in review.
Decisions that mattered
Treat the pitch as an onboarding, not a close. Teams that understood the data model in call one didn't churn in month three. Keep the quality review inside the BD loop, not after it — a partner's first experience of us should be us catching our own mistakes first. And on renewals: the unglamorous cadence of coverage checks and follow-through is what actually keeps a partnership alive.
Results
Close to 100 onboarding calls with blockchain teams. Supported the closing and renewal of Tether and Starknet — the two partnerships the company leads with. Kept coverage and relationship health across Solana and other major ecosystems. Drove data-quality process improvements that raised measurable accuracy.
The public proof
Tether runs usdt.directory — a directory of exchanges, wallets, ramps and merchants that accept USDT — and credits The Grid as the data provider. The verified dataset behind it is what I worked on every day: intake, verification, classification, ongoing coverage. Click through and check the output yourself.
Deal values and internal pipeline details are under NDA. Happy to go deeper on the process in a call.
What I'd do differently
Track the funnel from day one. I can tell you the call count — I should also be able to tell you calls → verified partners without going back to reconstruct it.