Growth tactics from OpenAI and Stripe’s first marketer | Krithika Shankarraman

Krithika Shankarraman was the first marketing hire at OpenAI and Stripe and led marketing at Retool. At OpenAI, she established marketing foundations for ChatGPT for consumers and enterprises, as well as their developer API platform. While at Stripe, she spent over eight years building and scaling their marketing function from scratch. An engineer turned marketer, Krithika brings a uniquely analytical approach to marketing. She currently serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at Thrive Capital, where she helps portfolio companies on all things marketing.

What you will learn:

1. Why do most marketing playbooks often fail, and what’s a better way?

2. Which marketing lever should I pull first?

3. Why is trying to be better than competitors usually a losing strategy?

4. How do I craft positioning that actually converts?

5. What makes messaging stick with developers, enterprises, and consumers?

6. What pricing experiments actually move revenue?

7. What is working at OpenAI really like?

8. Why does consistency and quality matter more than speed?

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Where to find Krithika Shankarraman:

• X: https://x.com/krithix

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krithix/

• Website: https://krithix.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Krithika

(04:22) Early marketing lessons from OpenAI

(11:17) Diagnosing marketing needs

(15:06) The DATE framework and why being cheaper is a race to the bottom

(17:11) Marketing strategies at Retool

(22:29) Insights from marketing at Stripe

(32:33) The importance of consistent marketing communication

(39:55) Criteria for hiring a marketing expert

(41:43) “Capital M” vs. “lowercase m” marketing

(43:05) ChatGPT vs. Claude: market dominance

(45:31) The future of AI and its societal impact

(47:09) Work-life balance

(48:41) Transitioning to Thrive

(52:35) Career advice for marketers

(55:00) The importance of taste and creativity in the AI era

(01:00:04) AI product pricing

(01:03:21) AI tools in marketing

(01:05:17) Failure corner

(01:08:46) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• OpenAI: https://openai.com/

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/

• Retool: https://retool.com/

• Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/

• Sam Altman talks about his business model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnyjxgFxew

• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan

• Pricing your SaaS product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy

• Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/

• Stripe Connect: https://stripe.com/connect

• John Collison on X: https://x.com/collision

• Patrick Collison on X: https://x.com/patrickc

• Cristina Cordova on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajc