About.

I'm Harsha Kotthapalli. I've built product marketing functions from zero three times, across fintech, SaaS and marketplaces.

I started as an engineer. Four years at Nexen in Calgary running multi-million-dollar operational portfolios in a heavily regulated environment, where a decision without a written rationale wasn't a decision. That's where the systems habit comes from, and it's why I care more about what survives my departure than what I ship while I'm there.

An MBA at HEC Paris moved me into product marketing. Globcoin first, as founding product marketer for a stablecoin and multi-currency card business across six countries. Then Acting CMO at Linagora in Paris, positioning open-source collaboration software as Europe's alternative to American and Chinese platforms.

Then a global maritime data business: MarineTraffic, and Kpler after the acquisition. I built the function from nothing, led four product marketers across four product lines, and took it through three acquisitions. Technical products, technical buyers: analysts, engineers, operations leads. The kind of product where the differentiation is real but hard to say out loud.

In 2024 I went through Antler in Dubai and co-founded WealthKarma, a retirement platform for GCC expats, with someone I'd met during the MBA. That year is why I take the "can your team run this" question seriously. On the other side of the table, a strategy you can't execute is worse than no strategy. It costs the same three weeks and leaves you with a document instead of a decision.

Since then: a stealth payments startup in the UAE, where I built the marketing function from zero, and FoodVessel, taking a B2B marketplace into Saudi Arabia.

Based between Dubai and Barcelona, working across the EU and GCC.