After moving to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue his Master’s degree, Viral Bajaria began his career just ahead of the global financial crisis. Faced with those unprecedented challenges while deciding what to do after graduation, Bajaria says the events of 2008 created a unique – but serendipitous – junction in his life that eventually put him on the unique path that would define his career.
During that time, Bajaria noticed that a series of high-profile startups were still raising capital during an economic recession: those with game-changing, first-to-market products. As his job search – and broader market research – continued, he was drawn to the idea of joining an organization that was still in its earliest stages.
“That was my motivation when I began my job search – but, at the same time, I was still interviewing with large companies like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Amazon, and Netflix,” Bajaria told us, describing the balance he tried to strike between his initial goal and the guarantee of career safety.
After meeting with those larger organizations, Bajaria discovered an intriguing startup in its formative years. It hadn’t launched yet; at that point, it didn’t even have a name. That company would eventually become Hulu, the streaming giant that millions of Americans use today.
“When I saw the prototype,” Bajaria told us, “I was like ‘Wow, this is interesting.’ And the company was in its very early stages, so I thought, ‘Maybe this fits with what I’m looking for.’”
Why did Bajaria want to join such a nascent operation? Because he realized early on that smaller organizations focused on hyper-growth often provide more opportunities for learning and development than established businesses do.
“You don’t go to a startup because you hope it is going to become a big company and make you a lot of money. You join a startup because you want to tap into its growth trajectory. At a big company, it may take you 15 years to see the breadth of experiences and learn the same things you could learn within one year at a startup,” Bajaria told us. As Hulu matured, he supported the company’s ability to scale as millions of new users began subscribing to its streaming services.
While Bajaria faced ups and downs during his time at Hulu, he says that his time there prepared him – as nothing else could – for his future as the founder of his own company, 6sense. “As an early-stage founder, you have to be a little scrappier,” he told us, adding, “You have to be willing to make quick decisions. Those decisions may not represent a great plan for the long-term, but you’re operating in a three-month window versus a three-year window.”
“You want to move a million miles an hour. Things are not going to go perfectly, and you will find that some decisions you’ve made in the past are no longer valid. And the only way to get out of these kinds of situations is to be open and honest, and to always be okay with saying, ‘Yes, we made a mistake,’” Bajaraia told us.
He added that “mistakes are always going to happen; everybody makes them. But the core concern is ‘How do you learn from it?’ And do you correct the issue quickly and with full transparency?”
According to Bajaria, a key part of being a leader – in any organization – is delivering and handling “awkward conversations.”
“I always tell people, if you’re going to have a meeting, include 30 minutes where you are simply open and honest,” he said. “It may be the most awkward and uncomfortable conversation you have with your peers, but you should ensure that everyone comes out of that meeting feeling connected enough to grab a coffee or beer.”
When we asked Bajaria about 6sense – and what facets of the organization he feels proudest of – he told us that his current company strives “to be the best chapter in every team member’s career.” 6sense prides itself on a unique approach to personal and professional development, encouraging employees to stretch and learn and improve in their chosen fields regardless of whether they plan to stay with the company over the long term.
These types of growth opportunities are often challenging to identify, as some organizations focus on developing their employees only as it relates to short-term business use cases. But, as Bajaria told us about 6sense, “If you leave our organization, we want you to start your own company or take a big leap. We want to inspire you. That is the experience we want employees to have.”
The same attitude drives 6sense’s pursuit of technical and business development, combining the company’s industry-leading product with a commitment to professional improvement.
These opportunities create unique chances for employees and team members to enhance their skills in the workplace and via cutting-edge technology, allowing them both to succeed in their current roles and prepare for future ones.
Bajaria believes that this approach, along with his dedication to providing employees with constant professional development opportunities, makes 6sense “an ideal home for top technical talent.”
This approach to development extends to all facets of the company, offering technical professionals the chance to partner with sales/business development and “learn the other side of the house.”
6sense’s primary value proposition is its world-class Artificial Intelligence (AI), designed to help B2B organizations increase revenue by creating, managing, and converting pipeline to revenue. While that AI is a driving force behind massive customer growth, Bajaria tells us that the company’s team members not only serve as drivers of and support for their software and algorithms but also as internal business advisors.
In order to help engineers stay focused on their individual and professional end goals, 6sense places a lot of emphasis on the “why” with the underlying business and customer processes.
“We advise our product teams about the full context of ‘The Why’ they are doing something, and we have instituted a complete culture of decision-makers here. We want everyone on board,” Bajaria told us.
For Bajaria, contributing to employee professional success through learning opportunities is an important advantage 6sense provides. “Many of [my] team members come from companies like Facebook, where they’ve never worked in a B2B context. They don’t understand the nuances of how it’s different from B2C.” To help catch them up “on what we’re trying to achieve as a B2B company, “ Bajaria has created custom learning paths to help every new hire understand more about the industry, our personas, and their roles and responsibilities,” so they can feel confident building a platform that delivers significant value for customers.
That broader perspective is just one in a long list of reasons that 6sense offers a truly one-of-a-kind development opportunity in the current tech landscape.
Today, 6sense is celebrating the benefits and effects of exponential, year-after-year growth – thanks to its unparalleled AI technology, and the team members who build and improve it every day. As a result, hiring targets have only increased.
