Zubin Ajmera

There are mainly 6-8 methods today to evaluate tech candidates -- phone screens, tech interviews, coding tests, take-homes, pair-programming, AI-interview tools, etc. -- the obvious ones. Still, engg/recruitment teams at small and mid-sized companies have all sorts of problems - - spend 30% of time on hiring activities - shortlist-to-interview candidate quality is poor - time from job-to-hire is still 4-6 weeks on average - hire people who look good on profile, yet fail on the job - no way to identify how a person thinks and works -- makes judgements, how they use AI, can they explain their choices/trade-offs, ask about constraints, walkthrough examples, etc. So, after reviewing 100+ tools and methods and taking our lived experience from Oracle and Microsoft, we built Utkrusht AI, that introduced a new (and first) “watch-them-work” assessment method where: - candidates solve, debug, and deploy real engg on-the-job Tasks in live production environments, - you also see HOW they actually think, decide, build stuff, solve problems end-to-end, live in action (use AI if they want) -- not just what they claim on resumes This accuracy, depth, and structured thought process of their approach to solve these tasks identifies your Top 5-10 out of 100s of candidates you have. Result: you hire strong candidates in less than 7 days, in 1/10th of your current costs, and spend like 1 hour of your/ team's time -- every single time. Want to see how "Watch-them-Work" Tasks look like? Send me a DM, and I can send you sample.

- Achieved noteworthy results -- 42% increase in Mqls/Sqls, $4M in pipeline generation, and $1.2M in revenue MRR, to shape the company register a ~35% growth, Y-o-Y - Played a pivotal role in executing growth projects, contributing to the company's successful acquisition by Sports Alliance (acquired in May, 2024) - Fully owned demand generation/growth projects to launch and activate multi-channel campaigns -- outbound, email nurturing, ABM, paid ads, educational content, webinars, events, and homepage conversion optimization - Developed compelling value propositions and differentiated messaging from competitors, product marketing, positioning, go-to market launches, and sales funnel conversion rate optimisation - Designed, built, and executed campaigns from scratch, globally across Europe and Middle East with a core focus on hiqh-quality lead generation and pipeline generation

- Covid happened, and everyone’s lives went for a toss. Lots of uncertainties, financial stress, and unpredictability about the future - I didn’t want to leave it to luck. I fundamentally believe in having the discipline of doing the hard work - So, took up the challenge and started Zaminu, a bootstrapped and niche GTM agency for SaaS companies wanting to reach the milestone from 0 to $1M ARR, launched in the middle of Covid, and achieved results like - -- Acquired 15 high-ticket clients (growth stage b2b technology companies) within 18 months, hustled via multiple channels (outreach, partnerships, LinkedIn inbound, content marketing, community building, etc.), only used $0 marketing strategies -- Launched, activated, and executed new lead acquisition channels for these b2b companies who solely relied on 1-2 channels before -- Channels activated included - email newsletters, influencer collaborations, outbound, SEO, referral campaigns, webinars, copywriting, homepage/landing page optimisations -- Developed value propositions, unique selling points about the product, messaging that resonates with target audience, and applied these across multi-channel campaigns and sales collateral to drive new leads, signups/demo meetings, and sales opportunities -- Results varied depending on the nature and stage of the company, but broadly achieved anywhere between a 30-60% leads' growth and ~35-50% ARR growth for clients

Started a weekend side-project (now shut), an initiative to help the "average common middle-class person", earn a side-income besides their 9-5, via freelancing. Took the website to ~1000 readers. Conducted speaker sessions, workshops, roundtables, etc.

- The go-to startup marketing owner to initiate and execute all inbound and outbound projects - Consultative selling, pre-sales, pipeline management, account/client management, lead generation, content marketing, proposals, contract negotiations, sales calls, etc.

- Founded Industrial Inside, the resource hub for industrial engineers, but failed to reach massive success - Scaled it from 0 to ~5000 monthly traffic, 3000 weekly readers, and 110 paying customers in 9 months to sell high-quality information products, but couldn't get more traction - Key failure reasons -- 1) size -- TAM was not big enough to scale 3) wasn't able to dedicate my full available time and resources on it

- Served as a start-up corporate level marketer to a hybrid business model engaging with over 150 clients and Program Suppliers- Grainger (Fortune 500), Applied Industrial Technologies and Fastenal, managing the flow of indirect procurement, running at $230M in MRO and Corrugated spend. - Head of the Preferred Manufacturer Program funneling the revenue through our current 11 preferred manufacturers- GE Lighting, Duracell, Georgia Pacific, Honeywell, Stanley (Black and Decker), Brady, Gojo, Ansell, Rustoleum, Sqwincher and Diversey. (Launched a new program with AIT for 8 new manufacturers.) - Constantly working with suppliers/vendors to educate and nurture on special pricing arrangements to offer maximized cost support and implementing best procurement practices. - Engaging with the Manufacturers to offer value added services like: SKU Consolidation, On-Site Audits and Consultations, Standardization, Rebates, Live Training, Smart Shopping, Deep-Dive Analysis, etc. - Building Automated Systems and Strategic Plannings at each stage to create effective frameworks across all levels. - Actively leading the projects involving operations, cost optimization, purchasing, financial analysis and key performance indicators. - Identifying Root Cause Analysis across multiple segments and employing an efficient system to maximize output. - Actively increasing the network of clients, suppliers and manufacturers to bring an increased compliant spend and cost savings.

>OEE Improvement: - Addressed the top three downtime losses on the GVB lines - Root Cause Analysis, FMEA and Simulation studies to identify various opportunities for improvement - Redesigned the major issues taking into consideration ergonomics, layout and floor plan for 'waiting of bottles' event > EventTrack software installation - Successfully configured a new software for effective process of 'Filler' machine event - Provided On-floor training to all the workers to better understand the software >Changeover process reduction - Performed various time and motion studies for the complete Changeover cleaning and filling process - Created process maps to analyze different tasks carried out by PFs/Mechanics - Categorized different shades into 3 major categories- After glitter, before clear, other >Rework and Deco improvement - Downtime studies at all rework stations and proposed differentiation for less rework rate - Tape test for 8 conditions to create an optimum scenario for deco which further creates opportunity for LED - Implementation of new labels at the bottom of the bottles for symmetric orientation