Keerthikaran Karunakaran

Lead Strategic Change:
Hired to drive Gupshup’s pivot in business direction from a CPaaS model to a broader Customer Experience (CX) focus, with a mandate to reshape Customer Success and close the Go-To-Market (GTM) loop for the company’s evolving products and strategy.

Building Growth Engines:
Took ownership of scaling the new product line by cross-selling the Gupshup platform to 15 existing clients, directly contributing to a 5 Cr increase in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) within six months. Developed and deployed a scalable organizational playbook to operationalize the new business model and accelerate adoption across the client base.

Enabling Teams for Sustainable Scale:
Designed and led the training of GTM teams on the new playbook, enabling them to navigate dynamic pricing structures and shifting business priorities. Continuously improved the GTM blueprint based on frontline feedback, ensuring that the transformation aligned with product evolution and market needs.

Selected for L6 Pathways Program to turn around two underperforming sites (YVR2 & YVR4). Led ops transformation, built leadership depth, and restored profitability.

Rebuilding Operations, Driving Productivity, and Engineering Cost Savings:

• Operations: Led operations for over 700 associates and 9 managers, handling 1M deliveries weekly during Peak and Prime seasons.
• Profitability: Diagnosed and revamped site workflows, leading to $8M in cost savings by turning productivity from -100 hours to +75 hours within five months.
• Systems: Restructured hiring and training processes to ensure the operational scale was sustainable, efficient, and primed for long-term success.

Building Leaders and Sustainable Teams:
Invested deeply in leadership development by mentoring four associates into management and promoting three L4 managers into L6 leaders, directly strengthening the leadership pipeline for Amazon Operations Canada.

Joined at inception stage to launch and scale OYO’s Chennai market. Drove ground-up expansion across supply acquisition, demand generation, and operations.

Scaling Supply, Driving Demand, and Creating Operational Excellence:

• Supply: Expanded hotel partnerships from 10 to 500, contributing an additional 6000+ room nights per day to OYO’s inventory.
• Demand: Established the Offline Enterprise Sales structure from the ground up, forging over 400 corporate partnerships, moving revenue from ₹0 to ₹5 Cr MRR
• Operations: Designed and standardized SOPs for operations managers, enabling the team to effectively handle the growing supply network at scale.

Strategic Innovation and Leadership:
Identified and unlocked new revenue channels by tapping into Medical Tourismand Production Houses, boosting brand visibility and market share. Led a 10-member high-performing sales and operations team, building a culture of execution excellence.