Mahika Singhal

I started my first venture at 21 and sold it in a multi-million-dollar transaction when I was 26. Today, I’m building my second venture, GreyLabs AI, where we’ve raised millions in capital and are scaling fast. Across this journey, here are 10 learnings that have stayed with me: 1. Startups fail on Day 1, not when they run out of money - if the founding team isn’t right. You need shared vision + complementary skills. 2. Sell first, build later. Don’t waste years building what no one wants. Get customer buy-in before writing code. 3. Focus on a small market. At GreyLabs AI, we’re laser-focused on the India BFSI. Shiny distractions exist everywhere, but focus wins. 4. High-impact individual contributors matter. In the AI era, such people can drive more value than larger teams. 5. Hire a strong law firm. Bad contracts (customers, vendors, shareholders, even cofounders) can destroy your business. 6. Customers > Investors. Be frugal, get paying clients, and build proof. Investors follow traction - otherwise, you’ll only get "advice". 7. Control your spending. Many founders start spending mindlessly after raising money. Waste money today, and money will waste you tomorrow. 8. Culture beats perks. My first startup was bootstrapped, with limited benefits. But no toxic managers, genuine care, and empathy earned us a 4.6 rating on Glassdoor (75+ reviews, all organic). 9. Undercommit, overdeliver. Never oversell. Promise only what you can deliver - and then exceed expectations. 10. Stay grateful. To your team, customers, investors, and family. None of this happens alone. Startups are tough, but with the right principles, they’re also the most rewarding journeys one can take. #startups #business #entrepreneurship

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SUBSCRIPTION BRANDS: If you want to fix month 3 churn, don’t start in month 3. Start in month 1. Month 1 is where you: - Build the habit - Teach customers how to get the most from the product - Reinforce “why” they signed up If month 1 is just a tracking number and a “Thanks for your order” email… You’ve already lost the retention game before it began.

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Every founder in B2B dreams of selling a huuuuuuge platform. But this can be a huuuuuuge mistake. The almost magnetic pull towards positioning as a platform makes sense: ✅ higher perceived value ✅ bigger ACV ✅ better customer stickiness ✅ greater investor appeal But not all multi-product companies have the makings of a true platform. Whether you position in the market as a platform or a suite of products starts way earlier in the startup journey — beginning with your product strategy. (Yes, ideally your marketing strategy & product strategy should have collaborated since day 1... but they rarely do). The normal flow goes something like this: 1) a founder creates a product that solves a problem related to a use case 2) customers come with adjacent use cases and say, "can you help us too?" 3) not wanting to turn away revenue, founders will say, "yes!" 4) each different customer segment has different needs 5) the founder starts building for all these different segments 6) suddenly, they're left with a collection of disconnected products At this moment, the founder has two choices... 1️⃣ market & sell these products individually 2️⃣ attempt to combine them into one large platform Because of the positive associations with platforms that I mentioned above, most founders will opt for the latter. And yet... a lot of time, no category really exists that makes sense of all these disparate use cases. No company is shopping for a solution that can help them incorporate their startup in Delaware, AND contribute to carbon removal projects, AND set up identity verification (among many other unrelated use cases, as with a product suite like Stripe). Most founders (who are not the Collison brothers) will embark on a multi-year "category creation" process, attempting to cover an undisciplined product strategy with marketing fluff. And yet, the founder would have been much better off keeping these products separate. If each product is doing sufficiently well (as they were/are with Stripe), the startup should (eventually) be able to fully staff each product line and achieve healthy individual P&Ls. On the flip side, some companies DO begin with the end in mind. Companies like Clari started with a simple use case (like forecasting) but then began to own the connected use cases in order to create a true one-stop shop for revenue teams. Their platform angle ACTUALLY makes sense because their ideal customers likely ARE doing forecasting, prospecting, mutual action plans, etc all at once. And so, they likely would consider Clari as a powerful consolidation tool that could replace a handful of tools to solve one big connected workflow. -------- One caveat: → there's another definition of "platform" that is widely used and refers to software that others can build their own software on top of (i.e., Shopify, Salesforce, etc.) I am referring to the other, more colloquial definition of "platform" used in product packaging.

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Most founders think scaling ads = doubling budgets. But here’s the truth: Scaling too fast usually breaks your system. I’ve seen it happen with brands who raise funding → dump lakhs into ads → and then panic when ROAS crashes. Why? Because scaling exposes every weak link in your funnel: Weak offer → magnified at scale. Poor creative testing → fatigues faster. Broken logistics or out-of-stock products → kill momentum. That’s why I always recommend consistent scaling over aggressive scaling. 👉 Increase budgets 20–30% at a time. 👉 Keep creative testing running in parallel. 👉 Align product + offer strategy before you even think of scaling hard. One of our clients scaled from ₹10K/day to ₹70K/day in 3 months without breaking ROAS. Not because of hacks. But because we scaled patiently, with the right systems in place. Growth is not a sprint. It’s controlled acceleration. 🚀

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App founders have resource allocation completely backwards. They spend hundreds of thousands on development while treating marketing as an afterthought. Then wonder why perfectly-built apps get zero downloads. The uncomfortable truth about optimal resource allocation: > THE PRIORITY Traditional: Build perfect product → hope for demand Smart: Validate demand → build for proven market Building without demand validation is expensive hypothesis testing. You can create amazing products with simple features solving clear problems, then discover zero market demand. Better to validate through content marketing first, then build for proven demand. > THE RESOURCE ALLOCATION My recommendation: 70-80% marketing, 20-30% development in early stages. This changes once you cross revenue thresholds where retention and LTV optimization become higher leverage investments. But initially? Distribution beats perfection every time. > OUR EXAMPLE CASE STUDY One of our early clients went from $40K to $7M annually using this approach. Their strategy: Spend everything on creators and community retention. When competitors offered their top creator $20K monthly to switch, she stayed for $3K because of relationship and satisfaction. Meanwhile, their technical co-founder's only focus: product conversion, quality, bug fixes. Simple value proposition: "Learn faster through condensed knowledge." Multiple delivery methods: Podcasts from YouTube videos, brain rot content from school materials, PDF summaries. > THE BUSINESS MODEL You can absolutely focus only on distribution for short-term cash grabs. But if you want to build a real business, you still need great product focus. The difference: Product development must be adapted to your distribution channel. If you're scaling through TikTok, you need a TikTok-adapted product. > THE EXECUTION BALANCE Distribution gets you customers. Product keeps them. But distribution comes first in resource allocation because you can't retain customers you don't have. Perfect products with zero distribution die. Average products with great distribution thrive initially, then improve with revenue. Technical founders are naturally biased toward product perfection. This is exactly backwards for early-stage success. Validate demand through content. Build for proven markets. Scale through creator armies. Perfection is the enemy of validation.

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3 things to never do as a founder. I’ve been creating content on LinkedIn for over 2 years now. And have generated 50+ lead months with $0 on ad spend for Founders & myself. These are the things that negatively impact the perception of Founders: 1️⃣ Chasing virality instead of impact & business growth: Choose to build an impact first. The money will follow. Businesses that build a strong credibility are the ones that attract opportunities. Build thought leadership around your industry's biggest challenges. Share insights from your own journey. 2️⃣ Focusing on every platform: I've seen founders burn out trying to maintain presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube simultaneously. Result? Mediocre content everywhere, mastery nowhere. Choose one platform. Gain command over it. You will generate 3x more qualified leads than those scattered across multiple platforms. 3️⃣ Repurposing the same content everywhere: Not a wise decision. Rather, understand the platform. Platform-specific content shows you understand your audience. Generic content shows you don't care enough to customize. Your personal brand isn't just about getting likes. It's your business's most valuable asset: B2B buyers are 5x more likely to engage with brands led by credible thought leaders. Growth on LinkedIn as a founder should be about the bigger picture, not chasing short-term goals & growth. Your Personal Brand is your identity online. Build it with the right strategy & impact. Your personal brand is either opening doors or closing them. There's no neutral. If you're a founder tired of blending in while your competitors land high-ticket clients, maybe it's time to stop chasing vanity metrics and start building real influence. What's the biggest Personal Branding mistake you see founders making? #personalbranding

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Welcome to the new era of Lifestyle pictures OUTPERFORMING Carousels on LinkedIn 🤳 Or is that just my personal observation? Chris Donnelly & Will McTighe analysed thoooousands of LinkedIn posts and found that: 1. Carousels - BEST 2. Infographics 3. Quote 4. Image 5. Video 6. Text only - WORST I’m a true data geek and I love that these two are providing us with those data points within their quarterly State of the Algorithm report. Free of charge. (Muchas gracias 😚) HOWEVER ☝🏻 I’ve tried all these different types of media. Maybe I’m just rubbish at creating Carousels, Infographics and Quotes. But personal images always drove my highest engagement AND business (Looms & sign-ups to my The Hype Department 📣 community) 💸 IMO 🤓 Carousels/Infographics: ✅ Longer dwell time (we know the algorithm likes that) ✅ Great to position yourself as an expert as they’re highly educational ❌ High effort / money (if the creation is outsourced) ❌ Builds low trust and loyalty because you’re hiding your face Lifestyle pictures/Selfies: ✅ Quick to add ✅ Builds trust and personal brand awareness (We're humans. People buy from people 🤷🏼‍♀️) ❌ Might look less professional ❌ Might prevent people from reposting BORING CONCLUSION 🥱 💡 It’s probably best to do a mix. (Sorry for this blatantly obvious advice) 💡 If you’re new to posting, start with text only and/or pictures. 💡 The more advanced you get, throw in the odd carousel/infographic but don’t force yourself if you don’t have the time or design skills. 💡 Because poor execution = low engagement (I learnt this the hard way) 💡 Big creators have money and teams that help them create outstanding supporting media. 💡 Don’t try to compare your journey with the stage they’re at. Take baby steps - we don’t want you to throw the LinkedIn towel. CONTROVERSIAL QUESTION 🧐 Big creators rarely hang out on LinkedIn anymore as they’ve got businesses to run. Most of their content is outsourced, pre-scheduled, and detached from their real lives. So if the algorithm reports ranks media types by engagement… isn’t the data skewed? Carousels, etc. might seem to perform best, but maybe that’s just because the big names use them? I might be wrong in how Chris & Will analyse the data so please keep me honest. TL;DR You can provide A TON of value and position yourself as an expert with a decent, high-quality, educational post, alongside a picture of you and your boyfriend at a Beyoncé show.. 👀 BUT To get people to repost your content and push it further, you probably need to move beyond using just images. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I’m open to having a full-blown discussion as I don't want to miss a trick. What are your thoughts - which media is winning the algorithm-fight? 🥊💥

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My 5 biggest struggles as a new founder building a personal brand: 1. Mental overload 2. Explaining my value clearly 3. Getting seen by decision makers 4. Sharing content wtht my own voice 5. Managing brand-building without killing my calendar To the founders who feel invisible online but can’t afford to be, Here’s what actually helped me: 1. Treated LinkedIn like a business asset 2. Rewrote profile to show how I think 3. Posted less, with a sharper voice 4. Prioritized conversations over chasing engagement 5. Built systems I could actually maintain What’s been keeping you quiet? --- P.S. If you’re a serious founder tired of being forgettable online, I’ll help you build presence without pressure.

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If you’re a B2B AGENCY founder trying to figure out how to grow beyond referrals and one-off projects, you should be studying Kavinda Welagedara. Over the last 5 years, he’s built 5 companies across markets, using behavioural science as the glue for real commercial growth. From FUDGE® (agency born out of frustration with big shops) to Cranial, Obviously Works, Playground and Creative Instinct. That’s 1 company a year, all viable. Proof his methods work. And last week, he joined me on my podcast. While the goal was to talk about B2B growth, the conversation turned into a harder question: forces that make or break commercial outcomes. What we cover in the episode: - Why ‘Start With Why’ misguides founders and what to start with instead - Why “easy to buy, easy to remember” model beats complex definitions - How flukes and dissatisfaction can build lasting models - How to bridge B2B and B2C without losing your edge - The system he uses to turn buyer insights into commercial outcomes - Why moving between domains (B2B ↔ B2C) is less impossible than it seems - How buyer-first works in practice and the traps of what it absolutely isn’t - Plus: a raw look at founder mental health, culture and what companies must become moving forward… My personal favourite? His take on why starting with ‘WHY’ pressures founders in unhelpful ways, and how starting where buyers actually are creates traction. The full podcast goes live tomorrow. Thank you.

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