"I aggressively applied to hundreds of different startups" #2021Noonies Nominee

Hey Hackers! I'm Lomit Patel, and I'm the Senior Vice President of Growth @ Together Labs.

First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award!

I've been nominated in the following categories. Please do check out these award pages and vote:

1. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - lean-startup: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-lean-startup
2. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year - motivation: https://noonies.tech/award/2021-hackernoon-contributor-of-the-year-motivation

In the gaming industry, the most exciting players are working to build the “metaverse,” and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be in the center of that universe with Together Labs.

A fully realized metaverse would dramatically affect life, work, and play with new behaviors and consumer expectations. You can learn more about my thoughts and opinions on the metaverse, and my journey in the tech industry, via the interview below.

1. What do you do, and why do you do it? (tell us your story)

Once they find a strong product/market fit, I love to help entrepreneurs figure out how to scale up their user and revenue growth better, faster, and smarter.

That’s one of the critical challenges for any early-stage startup, and it’s something all companies need to solve before they get to a successful exit -- being acquired or going public in an IPO.

Currently, I'm the Senior Vice President of Growth at Together Labs (formerly IMVU). I’m responsible for user acquisition, retention, and monetization. Before Together Labs, I managed growth at early-stage startups, including Roku (IPO), TrustedID (acquired by Equifax), Texture (acquired by Apple), and EarthLink.

I'm also a bestselling author of Lean AI, which is part of Eric Ries' "The Lean Startup" series published by O'Reilly.

The book provides practical advice on how startups can scale up growth significantly faster when combining a lean team with artificial intelligence and judicious automation. With this book, companies can learn how to usher in the new age of autonomous marketing.

2. Tell us more about the things you create/write/manage,/build!

I enjoy sharing my knowledge of leadership, lean startups, growth marketing, managing and motivating teams, mobile marketing, and artificial intelligence. I write on those topics on HackerNoon and LinkedIn.

My joy comes from building and inspiring people to become the best version of themselves, to help them live their life to the fullest potential, both personally and professionally.

3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?

I have always been fascinated by startups and entrepreneurs. I aggressively applied to hundreds of different startups after business school for a marketing role.

I was fortunate to get hired early at several startups that ended up becoming very successful, like Roku (IPO), TrustedID (acquired by Equifax), and Texture (acquired. by Apple).

That enabled me to work with many intelligent people and become obsessed with learning how to become an expert at user acquisition, retention, and monetize the different parts of the customer funnel to grow startups.

I love what I do and help make a positive difference by solving real problems to make life better for people.

4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?

There is a lot to be excited about! Especially, the proliferation of different emerging trends and technologies coming together: artificial intelligence, 5G, quantum computing, blockchains, cryptocurrencies, connected homes, generic predictions, and meatless meat.

However, the most intriguing at the moment is the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence, automation, and remote work being adopted across many business processes and customer experiences.

This has led to new human behaviors and habits where technology plays a crucial role in enabling the world to survive and thrive post the pandemic.

5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?

I'm worried about the growing power held by a handful of big technology companies that control information flows. It presents really interesting issues because all this data we generate in our daily lives get logged in ways that actually improve your daily life, but there are downsides. There are issues around manipulated information, disinformation, and other negative things coming into people's lives. Lots of potentials to compromise individuals' privacy, autonomy, and even independent thinking.

There is too much reliance on these companies' platforms, with screen-centricity for everything: social life, entertainment, work, the arts. Society overemphasizes what tech can do well (convenience) and not what it can't (the level of quality of the interaction or experience).

6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

The 'new normal' is a more divided society than it has ever been in history. Going completely digital is exciting and also dangerous, in my opinion, because it makes people and organizations more vulnerable to attacks.

While there have always been divisions in society, people are now being manipulated artificially. I would invest 10 million dollars (and a lot more) into coming up with better AI ethics and control mechanisms that don't favor the few at the expense of the many.

7. What are you currently learning?

I'm currently learning to stay on top of the new emerging trends around artificial intelligence, data privacy, ad-tech platforms, gaming/metaverses, crypto/blockchain, mental health, and the future of work. All of these are going to have a significant impact on my life, work, and career.

8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?

The first step to choosing the right career is self-awareness.

You need to know who you indeed are, your passion, what you like, and what you're good at. That is critical to finding your gifts. It's also essential for true success in life.

9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Take risks to intentionally seek out opportunities outside of your comfort zone to work with A+ players who can challenge you to think bigger and do more than you think is possible.

There is a reason why I love working in startups is because you have the opportunity to learn and grow faster working with the most brilliant people.

About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.