Varadharajan Ragunathan
Head - Monetization & customer engagement at Big Basket | Bridging gaps at the intersection of technology and psychology
📲
UI/UX💻
Product Development💡
Business Strategy💲
Investor💡
Branding Strategy
Bangalore, India
Passionate about innovation at the intersection of behavioral psychology and technology. Experienced marketer with a background in product management, UX, and cognitive psychology. Worked with companies like BigBasket, Amazon, and Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. #MarketingInnovation
Head- Monetization & Customer engagement, bigbasket.com
August 2021 - Present
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Run BigBasket's monetization/customer engagement. Building an ads engine for ads (BigBasket/Tata Digital) for of today (search, display and video) and tommorow (gaming, quizzing, engagement) that allows me to have fun all day long at the intersection of two of my passion's - cognitive psychology and technology - "Magic truly happens at the intersection of technology and psychology."
Senior Manager, Amazon
July 2017 - August 2021
Bengaluru Area, India
- Design and implement GTM for both new and existing products and their variants; Develop tools for work flow automation to drive sales efficiencies; Conceptualize and roll out strategies to upskill the sales team;
General Manager, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group)
May 2014 - June 2017
Chennai Area, India
Explored M&As / private treaty opportunities for Times Group in Southern India. Worked on strategic alliances & equity partnerships including with :
www.indiafilings.com (India’s largest compliance/filings services provider for companies)
www.ticketnow.com (leading aggregator for theatres in Tier II/III towns)
and leading brands like Basics (men's apparel), Wood pecker (furniture retailer).
www.indiafilings.com (India’s largest compliance/filings services provider for companies)
www.ticketnow.com (leading aggregator for theatres in Tier II/III towns)
and leading brands like Basics (men's apparel), Wood pecker (furniture retailer).
Self Employed, Freelancer
January 2013 - May 2014
- Worked as an independent corporate finance advisor on the following transaction: - Facilitated closure of a cross border M & A transaction in the digital marketing space - $ 15 MM - Private capital raise for one of India's leading PaaS providers - $ 6 MM
Vice President, Equirus Capital Private Limited
August 2010 - December 2012
Bangalore
- Led & closed a sale of a $ 10 MM Digital Marketing Services company; Involved in a $ 30 MM Buy-out of one of India's leading manpower solutions provide by a Fortune 500 MNC; Facilitated a $ 15 MM healthcare JV between two of India's leading specialty healthcare services providers; Built a strong rolodex of more than 75 CXO contacts in the technology/consumer services space in Southern India
Senior Associate, Peepul Capital Advisors
October 2006 - May 2010
Chennai
Investing
- Led small teams of 1-2 Associates to drive “top-down” research in sectors of interest
- Ideated, identified & originated proprietary deals and took them through to completion
- Groomed and nurtured relationships with over 80 boutique investment bankers and 10 Network Partners
- Was on the board of a portfolio company and helped grow its revenues from $ 5 Mn to $ 20 Mn in two years, maintaining profitability
- Conceived, planned and executed a CEO Workshop & Outbound Program to facilitate self-cognition and exchange of ideas amongst the Senior Management of the fund's portfolio companies
- Led small teams of 1-2 Associates to drive “top-down” research in sectors of interest
- Ideated, identified & originated proprietary deals and took them through to completion
- Groomed and nurtured relationships with over 80 boutique investment bankers and 10 Network Partners
- Was on the board of a portfolio company and helped grow its revenues from $ 5 Mn to $ 20 Mn in two years, maintaining profitability
- Conceived, planned and executed a CEO Workshop & Outbound Program to facilitate self-cognition and exchange of ideas amongst the Senior Management of the fund's portfolio companies
Consultant, KPMG
February 2005 - September 2006
- Worked as a management consultant across varied assignments in corporate strategy, valuation, corporate finance, cost reduction & productivity improvement with Fortune 500 and SMEs.
- Due diligence experience working on private equity/M & A deals cumulatively worth $ 75 Mn
- Rated amongst the top 5 % at KPMG
- Led process re-engineering projects for implementation of a shared services unit that helped save $ 20 Mn in costs for one of India's leading Financial Services conglomerates
- Led two projects on drafting an India entry strategy for leading Fortune 500 financial services giants that resulted in a cumulative investment of over $ 100 Mn FDI
- Due diligence experience working on private equity/M & A deals cumulatively worth $ 75 Mn
- Rated amongst the top 5 % at KPMG
- Led process re-engineering projects for implementation of a shared services unit that helped save $ 20 Mn in costs for one of India's leading Financial Services conglomerates
- Led two projects on drafting an India entry strategy for leading Fortune 500 financial services giants that resulted in a cumulative investment of over $ 100 Mn FDI
Product Manager - Ready Credit, Citigroup (India)
June 2002 - January 2005
Chennai
- Managed a personal overdraft product linked to one's savings account with dynamic pricing, credit limits built on real time data analytics
- Grew the asset book from $ 10 Mn to $ 23 Mn in 2 years
- Won the "Shooting Star of the Quarter - Q4, 2003' for my outstanding sales performance
- Rated amongst the "Best Performing Management Associate" 2 years in a row
- Grew the asset book from $ 10 Mn to $ 23 Mn in 2 years
- Won the "Shooting Star of the Quarter - Q4, 2003' for my outstanding sales performance
- Rated amongst the "Best Performing Management Associate" 2 years in a row
Summer Intern, Procter & Gamble
April 2001 - June 2001
- Identified and implemented a strategy for roll-out of remote learning technologies and training programs for P&G, Asia;
- Resulted in a savings of USD 30,000 in 3 months
- Resulted in a savings of USD 30,000 in 3 months
Software Engineer, AdventNet
July 1999 - May 2000
- In charge of development of a new network monitoring software product in a fast paced, high-growth start-up
- Grew the product to annual revenues of $ 900,000 in less than a year and saw through the dot com melt down
- Grew the product to annual revenues of $ 900,000 in less than a year and saw through the dot com melt down
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Education
PGDM, Finance, Behavioural Economics & Strategy
2000 - 2002
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
B.Tech, Civil Engineering
1995 - 1999
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
