Date
Feb 16, 2017
My Role
Founder & CEO
Team
Venkat Ramanuja: CTO, Mariam Joan: Engineer, Connor Butter: Jr. Engineer
Tools
Java, vue.js., postgres, figma
Running RecurPal was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my career. As both CEO and CDO, I had the opportunity to lead a talented team while building something from scratch, which taught me so much about leadership, product development, and the importance of good design.
We started validating the concept in late 2017, incorporated in Delaware as Gattaka Inc. in 2018, and raised $500K in seed funding. From there, it was a journey of constant learning—figuring out what our customers needed, improving the product, and aligning the team with our vision.
In my role, I:
Handled the product vision and design, making sure we were solving real problems for businesses struggling with SaaS subscription management.
Led user research and interviews with CFOs, which helped me understand how important design is for building something truly useful.
Built our design system and worked closely with engineering to ensure the user experience was seamless.
Through beta testing and iterations, we increased user satisfaction by 25%, and that felt like a big win for the team.
As CEO, I also:
Managed the team, pushed the mission forward, and learned so much about what it takes to grow a startup.
Pitched to investors and raised $500K, which gave us the fuel to move forward and scale.
Helped grow our customer base by 40% and reduced churn by 20%, all by focusing on great onboarding and improving the user journey.
Overall, leading RecurPal taught me the value of building something from the ground up and being deeply involved in both the design and the overall direction of the company. It was a hands-on, fast-paced experience that helped me grow both as a designer and a leader.
