Please evaluate my chances for Promising or Exceptional

Stage 1
1

First of all, thank you for your help in evaluating others’ cases. Could you please review my case and advise me on my chances of applying for Promising or Exceptional? Or do I need to work more on my achievements? I am planning to apply for endorsement in mid-September.

LoR 1: back then VP of Growth at p2p crypto marketplace (knows my work for more than a year), now Start-up mentor at MiT, founder of a consultancy focused on helping seed-to-growth stage startups, ex-Director of International Expansion at PayPal. Education: MiT, Stanford University

LoR 2: back then Director of Engineering (knows my work for more than a year), now Director of Engineering at Wolt (Support)

LoR 3: back then COO of an iGaming company (knows my work for more than a year), now a founder of a consultancy company.

MC1.

Evidence 1 (You led the growth of a product-led digital tech company). Lead the launch of the Rewards Program, LoR 1 highlights my contribution to the new design, contribution to user persona creation and feedback collection from traders > direct impact on product development and enhancing user experience. Proofs: graphs showing the significant growth of the Rewards Program (trading volume)—news clippings, highlighting the trading volume growth and different market booming. LoR 2 emphasizes my contribution to the product enhancement based on customers’ feedback (+ proofs from traders who shared the feedback and how this feedback was implemented in the product improvement)

Evidence 2 (You led the growth of a product-led digital tech company). Retention Manager back then in the VIP department who led the VIP marketing campaigns with 100K-1M+ budgets and resulted in XXX% turnover, XX% profit, and XX% retention rate. On top of that showing the most successful acquisition campaign of all times resulted in acquiring 10 new VIPs, XXX% turnover. LoR 3 confirms the evidence. Additionally, I demonstrate the impact on the product development from VIP customers (‘they asked - we delivered’ examples) + creating a VIP customer base who want to test features and games and share feedback for free.

Evidence 3 (You led the marketing or business development at a product-led digital technology company). Started my career as Community Marketing Manager at crypto p2p marketplace > became Team lead in 3 months managing 2 people. I enabled customer growth of XX% in 2 month period by refining the Referral program and developing regional communities of traders. Additionally, I illustrate the growth in profit and trading volume of referrals by comparing 2020 and 2021. This evidence will be advocated by LoR 1 and an additional referral letter from the Head of Communities back then (my ex-direct manager) + an endorsement letter from one of the VIP traders backing me as a leader and talented Product Growth manager.

Evidence 4. Two-three articles (July-August 2024) in digital tech industry news media (all articles are moderated) about the importance of developing the emotional loyalty of high-value customers in digital tech market, tips on how to advance your career in tech companies.

Evidence 5. Employment contract from my current company (LoR from Head of VIP department back then, now Head of another department justifying why I receive a high salary) + bonuses). Additional proof: according to official statistics of Estonia the average salary is 58% lower in digital tech companies then my salary (can’t compare my job position on Estonian market due to the lack of data on Glassdoor - only 1-2 people from Tallinn submitted their salaries and they are 2 times lower than mine)

OC2. Beyond Work Recognition.

Evidence 6 (OC2.1) Long-term mentorship in Women in Tech (reference letter from WiT, testimonial from mentee shifting her career from engineering to product: achievements, my leadership, advice). Long-term mentorship will end at the beginning of September. Here I would like to focus on mentoring women in tech: My mentoring there contributes to creating a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable digital tech product-led technology industry.

Evidence 7 (OC2.2). Mentorship on ADPlist: short-term and several long-term (stats from May 2024). Dashboard with reviews, countries mentoring, more than 1000 minutes of mentorship, 50 sessions completed, top-rated mentor in different categories. Amplification: letter of endorsement from ADPlist’s CEO, 2 short testimonials from long-term and short-term mentees and their achievements.

OC3. Impact. Contribution.

Evidence 8 (OC3.1). Additional detailed letter of endorsemenent from Head of Web3 team showing my significant contribution in leveraging blockchain technology for the VIP iGaming industry. Proofs are separated by two pillars:1. acquisition: VIP acquisition through the experimental project (data, importance), 2. retention: using blockchain in VIP retaining strategies: metaverse experience, NFT campaigns + Referral letter from Lead Product Manager, Web3 Growth Solutions at Chainalysis (the biggest product-led companies in crypto sphere)

Evidence 9 (OC3.2). Documents detailing my significant contribution towards commercial success. Additional graphs advocating my evidence 2 (M1) with an explanation of how my VIP marketing campaigns influenced revenue and turnover at my current iGaming company.

Evidence 10 (OC3.3). Documents detailing my significant contribution towards commercial success. Additional graphs backing my evidence 3 (M1) with an explanation of how my contribution and development of the Referral Program influenced revenue and turnover back then.

1 Like
2

Hi @grik good set there!

MC

  • possible to get one support letter for MC2 from a VIP customer?
  • the media articles: which channel ? What was the engagement level in terms of views, likes comments etc?

OC2

  • are these structured mentorship programs with a selection of mentees?

OC3

  • largely self-documented. How will you show validation of these? Any external proof and screenshots of the marketing campaigns and reward program?
3

Hi @pahuja ! Thank you so much for reviewing in detail my case.

MC:

  • I can try to get a letter from a VIP; however, only their personal account managers usually have direct contact with them. Will proof from LoR 3 be enough?

  • Media articles: Hackernoon (1k+ views, 50+ likes), possibly additional industry news media portal (N/A now - still in moderation)

OC2

  • In Women in Tech, I matched with a mentee three months ago. According to WiT rules, I should have 5 sessions (two sessions every two weeks, then one session a month). WiT provides an approximate guide on session topics but also recommends flexibility to create my own mentoring plan, which I did.
    In ADPList, there are two types of mentoring programs: short-term (one-time session) and long-term. For long-term sessions, I can adjust the duration, frequency, and topics based on the needs of my mentees. Currently, I have four long-term mentees with various challenges that I help them address. For example, I am assisting with creating a GTM strategy (marketing strategy) for an AI restaurant booking assistant in Spain; starting a career in Web3 as a junior marketing specialist in Nigeria; and exploring new target markets for an AI-focused startup in Portugal. Typically, with long-term mentees, I conduct 6-10 sessions (one session a week).
    Will these mentoring platforms be suitable as evidence? Proofs from founders of these mentor platforms and some testimonials in letters from my mentees. These platforms are free. I am a pro bono mentor.

OC3

OC3.1: A two-page letter of recommendation from a separate department (head of Web3), detailing my role in shaping the Web3 iGaming industry.

OC3.2: I will attempt to locate industry news articles highlighting the increase in profit during my tenure as a Retention Manager at an iGaming company. I have several screenshots of marketing campaigns on our website (but we don’t allow users to comment there)

OC3.3: I have even the prototypes in Figma of the landing page and the landing page on the website still exists which I created with the designers.

Follow-up questions: Should each piece of evidence always include both external and internal proofs, or is it sufficient to provide at least one (either external or internal)?

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4

Tech nation has mentioned in multiple people’s feedback so far that ADP List is not considered a structured mentorship programme that they would consider.

5

Thank you for your answer, Nat! In this case I reckon it will be better to have one evidence of mentorship - Women in Tech and ADPlist (only long-term sessions)

6

Its in your application’s best interest to provide as much and whatever you can. Too many support letters/internal proofs without any external validation does get flagged quite a bit by TN.

7

Thank you so much, Priyanka, for your detailed advice.

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