Most advisors come from one discipline. A marketer who has only marketed, or an investor who has only invested, gives advice that reflects that single lens. Mahesh has spent forty years doing both — building and running companies, investing in others, sitting on both sides of the pitch table.
The advisory areas where he adds most value are marketing strategy (what to build, how to position it, how to acquire customers without burning cash), brand architecture (when to build a single brand versus a portfolio, how to build something defensible), and the transition from product-market fit to scale. The last one is where most startups stumble — not because they lack product, but because they have not yet built a brand.
He has seen this pattern many times from the investor side. A company gets traction at seed. Raises a Series A. Increases marketing spend. Discovers that spend is replacing growth rather than generating it. The fix is almost always the same: get clearer on who you are for, and be less available to everyone else.
Mahesh works as an advisor on specific problems, not as a general-purpose board member who attends meetings and nods. He is direct about what he thinks, quick to say when something looks wrong, and genuinely interested in whether the company succeeds. He is not available for companies where he cannot be useful.
He is based in Dubai, travels regularly to India, and works with companies across India, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia.
How the engagement works in practice
Project advisory
A fixed engagement around a specific challenge — repositioning a brand, planning a go-to-market, preparing a fundraising narrative. Usually three to six months. The brief comes first; the scope is agreed before anything else. He does not do open-ended retainers.
Board advisory role
A formal advisory board role, typically a monthly call plus attendance at key decisions. This works best for Series A companies and beyond, where marketing strategy recurs as a governance question rather than a one-time project.
Independent board directorship
A full board seat, available to one or two companies at a time. He takes these where an independent director with marketing and early-stage investment experience is genuinely needed — not as a title. If that fit is unclear, he will say so before either side commits.
Related writing
How to Hire Your First 10 Employees
The first ten people you hire build the culture that the next hundred inherit. Most founders outsource this decision to a recruiter or a job portal and then wonder why the company does not feel right. Here is a different way to think about it.
What’s a Good Startup in These Times: Mahesh Murthy
Seedfund got asked this constantly during the post-2008 funding slowdown. The honest answer had less to do with sector or stage and more to do with three qualities in the founding team that consistently made the difference.
How to sell innovations for a successful start-up
The invisible 'Not Interested' sign is the first thing any innovator runs into — often inside their own organisation, before they even get to customers. Selling a new idea is a different skill from having one. Here is what makes the difference.
Lessons from redBus: Backing India's Biggest Exit
When we backed redBus at Seedfund in 2007, nobody believed online bus ticketing could work in India. Here's the story of how they proved everyone wrong.
Discuss an advisory role
If you have a specific challenge where Mahesh's background in marketing and early-stage investing is relevant, send a short note. No decks needed to start the conversation.