Kaushal Sarda Promoted as The CEO of Kuliza, A Social Technology Company

Kaushal Sarda, has been appointed as the CEO of Kuliza, a Bangalore based Social Technology firm that recently received strategic investment from Blume Ventures.

Kaushal started as Chief Evangelist at Kuliza in 2010, where his role was to start Kuliza's marketing and social media technology practices. He was also responsible for the overall brand, communications, culture, research initiatives, and partner relations.

He was then promoted to the role of Chief Product Officer where he launched Kuliza's suite of offerings and social media and mobile IP. He has now moved to the CEO role where he will be responsible for day to day business and India operations.

Prior to Kuliza, Kaushal managed the Bangalore office of ‘2020 Social’ - a leading social business strategy firm, which was acquired by Publicis.

He was also the founder and CEO of Uhuroo, a venture-backed, SaaS content collaboration platform for SMEs. As the Founder & Chief Executive Officer, he was in charge of the comprehensive business strategy, product vision, and managing the conceptualization, definition and development of Uhuroo, and he managed the launch of the beta version of Uhuroo.

He has also held a consulting position with Capgemini India where he completed a beta pilot with Capgemini and was also advisor to HashCube, a social gaming startup.

Talking to Techcircle.in Kaushal said, one of the main agendas of associating with Blume Ventures is also to get more of the fund’s portfolio companies on board since it has a good mix of technology companies in its portfolio. The founder of Kuliza, Mr. Anand Kuliza, has recently moved to US where the company has opened a new office.

Kuliza gets the majority of their clients from the US, as a result of which it is presently the focus area for them. With the funds raised they also look to expand operations in the US.

Kaushal said that India is also a key market for the company and they are looking to expand their reach here. Kuliza has a few clients in Asian countries, apart from those in India and the US.

As mentioned in an interview with Yourstory, it was Anand Kuliza’s goal to build Kuliza into a billion dollar Technology Company in India over the next decade.

So the appointment of Kaushal is clearly meant to be a fresh start after the funding to accelerate the growth and expansion of the company. He is very deeply networked with the Social Media industry leaders and his career has so far demonstrated a great ability to conceptualize and manage successful projects.

On the other hand, Kaushal has bigger challenges to wrestle. As the Indian social media industry continues to grow, people are still focusing on the number game. The industry is more media driven than technology driven and it is yet trying its hands on technology innovation. Therefore, it is a challenge to get money out of brands' pockets who are yet hesitant to spend on technology.

The funding received by Blume Ventures will enable Kaushal to fuel the success of the company. However, investors (VCs) continue to inject money into this space, so many entrants make the competition cut throat. Thus, the industry is fraught with challenges and it is critical to come up with ground-breaking solutions in this space. I would like to keenly observe how Kuliza differentiates itself in this severe competition.

With a wealth of experience in conceptualizing, positioning product offerings, leadership and entrepreneurial skills, Kaushal will certainly contribute in Kuliza’s progress. Now let us see if the transition period for the new CEO is a smooth process or is it a bumpy ride for Kuliza’s ecosystem