When do you know that your time’s up in your current position?

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Sometimes we outgrow organizations. Other times, organizations outgrow us. 😔 Often, it’s both. ⚖️ So how to know when to stay and when to leave? Is the fear of the unknown holding you back? ☠️ If your gut is pinging you that your boss is losing faith in you, or that you’re getting bored or complacent, you’re likely not imagining …

Easy hack for how to ghostwrite in your founder or CEO’s voice

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Here’s an easy hack for how to ghostwrite in your founder or CEO’s voice. 👻 Ghostwriting is hard because you have to set aside your own style of writing and instead take on your founder’s voice. But I stumbled on an easy hack from my reporting days. 🎤 Record an interview with the person you are going to write for …

Startups During A Crisis

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Startups have a tough time getting traction and media attention during a crisis like #COVID-19. Here are 3 steps to change that: Take HUNGRY, a private chef service technology platform whose original goal was to connect companies with top local chefs for business and event catering. Great idea 💡 wrong timing 🕰️ When COVID hit, Hungry found itself starved for business. “Our …

A Letter from the CEO

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Many CEOs forget they have a simple but potent weapon in their communications arsenal: ✍️ It’s called a “Letter from the CEO.” Why is it so powerful? Because it’s a direct, unfiltered megaphone to reach your key audience 📣 You can either be proactive or reactive with your Letter from the CEO. You can announce and celebrate good news. Or …

Simple Ways to Build your Startup Communications Strategy

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Here are 5️⃣ simple ways to build your startup communications strategy: These are tips I learned from my first career in journalism at NPR & U.S. News that I now use to advise startup CEOs. 1️⃣ Internal Interview Conduct deep-dive interviews to understand the founder, product, and team stories to generate ideas for the brand story💡 2️⃣ Fun Facts Identify …

Common Mistakes that Startup CEOs Should Avoid Making

Chitra Ragavan Blog

Here are the 🔟 most common mistakes that startup CEOs should avoid making: 1️⃣ Pick a co-founder out of friendship or loyalty, not skills 2️⃣ Have too many co-founders (3 or more = potential analysis paralysis) 3️⃣ Bring in a co-founder with the exact same skills instead of offsetting their weaknesses 4️⃣ Don’t hire a CFO to instill accountability 5️⃣ …

Advice for First-Time Founders

Chitra Ragavan Blog

What’s the Number One piece of advice that I give first-time founders? Building a startup is a 24/7 job. So many CEOs and founders forget one very important habit. 📚Read, Read, Read A disciplined and systematic reading of newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and blogs can both provide competitive intelligence and act as an early warning system. Competitive intelligence: 📗 Client …