Student startups
Hackathons, makethons, workshops and visits to the incubator. I covered the media and branding.
Case study · Deshpande Startups · 2015–2021
Six years as the voice of a startup incubator.
Every post, creative, newsletter and campaign on Deshpande Startups' pages from 2015 to 2021 was mine. The goal behind all of it: make sure the right startups heard about us, signed up and showed up. I joined when the incubator was a team of 4 in a 5,000 sq ft co-working space. When I left, it was a team of 30+ and a 1 lakh sq ft incubation centre.
- Role
- Program Executive → Assistant Manager, Media & Communications
- When & where
- Oct 2015 – Aug 2021 · Hubballi, Karnataka
- Channels
- Email (Mailchimp), Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, offline
- Audience
- Startups and founders, mentors, investors, students
01 · The brief
An incubator is only as good as the startups that walk through its door.
Deshpande Startups wanted innovative startups to incubate with it. To find them, it ran pitch-your-idea competitions, workshops, knowledge sessions and events, and every one of them needed quality registrations.
That was my job. I started on social media posts, and from 2016 took on graphic design and email marketing too. Over six years the role grew to cover the incubator's marketing and media, online and offline, before, during and after every event.
“My work was the starting point of everything.”
02 · The brand
Every page, every post: the incubator's whole online presence.
I ran Deshpande Startups' Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube: regular posts, regular campaigns, and the newsletters behind them.
A look for every program
One incubator, many brands
Every event had its own name and every program its own visual theme. I marketed and coordinated with all of them.
- EDGE
- ESDM Cluster
- Yuva Entrepreneurship Program
- Accelerator Program
- Startup Dialogue
At least once a month
Stories, not just announcements
Startup stories, videos and newsletters about the incubator's startups and programs, on top of the regular posts and campaigns.
Made by hand
Designed and shot in-house
From 2016 I designed the creatives for our social media and events, and did the event photography, coordinating with the media team for video.
03 · The lead engine
Six steps, repeated for every event.
Our leads were mostly startups, so this was B2B marketing: mostly organic, hands-on, and run again for every event.
-
1
The application form
Every competition, workshop and event started with a registration form.
-
2
The creative
From 2016, I designed the creatives for our social media and events.
-
3
Social media
Published across the incubator's Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
-
4
Newsletters & email
I learned Mailchimp and built the content, newsletters and mass emails. Email was our most effective lead channel.
-
5
The database
Grown through networking and outreach, one event at a time.
-
6
Register, show up, follow up
Quality leads registered and came. After the event, follow-ups kept those new connections engaged for the next one.
Then back to step 1, for close to 100 events over six years.
04 · The flagship
Startup Dialogue: before, during and after.
The incubator's annual flagship event, with 400+ entrepreneurs, 50+ mentors and hundreds of visitors from across the state and country. I did the full marketing role for around 4 editions.
Before
Fill the registrations
- Coordinated with web developers on the event website
- SEO for the event pages
- Marketing materials and social media campaigns
- Mass emails to our database
- Offline marketing with banners
During
Brand the room, cover it live
- All event branding: welcome banners, ID cards, stage and digital banners, signage
- Live social media coverage of the day
- Photography, with interns I hired and managed
- Coordinated the media team for photos, videos and video bytes from guests, speakers, mentors, investors and startups
After
Keep the conversation going
- Post-event social media campaigns
- Emails and communications to visitors and guests
- Follow-ups to keep every new connection engaged
05 · Beyond the flagship
The everyday work between the big days.
Knowledge sessions
Sessions, workshops and pitch competitions, each with its own campaign, creative and coverage.
Inside the incubator
Our young startups were part of the team. I worked closely with hundreds of them, helping with their marketing, design and media.
Development Dialogue
With Deshpande Foundation, I also supported communications for Development Dialogue, an event that connected 300+ nonprofit organisations.
06 · The numbers
Six years, rounded honestly.
I didn't keep exact counts, so these are careful estimates, not inflated ones.
The incubator, from the year I joined to the year I left
4 → 30+
people on the team
5K → 1 lakh
sq ft, co-working space to incubation centre
07 · What it built
Skills I picked up because the job needed them.
- Social media marketing
- Program brand themes
- Startup stories & video
- Email marketing · Mailchimp
- Newsletters
- Graphic design
- Lead generation
- SEO
- Event branding
- Photography
- Media coordination
- Managing interns
- Offline marketing
- Startup engagement
08 · In the room
Events featuring people worth listening to.
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande · N. R. Narayana Murthy · Sudha Murty · T. V. Mohandas Pai · Amitabh Kant · Phanindra Sama
I got the chance to meet them and talk briefly. Small conversations, big rooms.
Meanwhile, on the side
To feel what our startups felt, I started my own business with zero investment.
DNA – Dance Nation Academy, my dance class in Hubballi, ran alongside my job from around 2016 to 2020. It did quite well, and taught me a lot about the real struggle of building something from nothing.