5 minutes

with Shinara Kanwar

Country Head - India

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How long have you been at the company?

A little over 2 years.

What did you study?

I have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and an MBA.

What was your career path before coming to Bright Data?

I have worked with many organizations in a lot of different roles. I started off as a business development consultant at Oracle. Following that, I was at Akamai technologies for close to 8 years in a variety of different roles – I headed their global account development team and also managed the global product marketing team – so a combination of marketing and sales.

After that, I worked at LogMeIn where I was the account director for strategic accounts in India. Then I moved to Unicommerce where I was in charge of international expansion in Middle East and Southeast Asia – and finally, I moved to Bright Data.

Tell us about your time at Bright Data

I first started as a sales director – I was the second employee hired on the India team. Now we have a team of 12 in the region – so I’m basically handing the entire region. 

What's your management style?

I like to give a lot of independence to my team – as long as they achieve our business goals, I am fairly flexible with how they go about it.

What do you look for in a sales manager?

As an organization we are on a very aggressive growth path – to be successful you need to be very committed and persistent when it comes to sales – so you should have a ‘get things done’ mindset. They would also need to be very customer-centric as this is at the core of our value system at Bright Data.  

Advice for someone wanting to get into sales?

There are two key things that matter in sales – staying committed and persistent – and that goes for all organizations.

Tips for getting ahead in your career?

At Bright Data we have a very unique culture and a strong DNA – I believe that because I am strongly aligned to it, that’s part of the reason for my career progression. So I would say, the stronger aligned you are to a company’s culture the more likely you are to grow.

Favorite part of your job?

I think the combination of my role being so challenging and amazing at the same time.

Favorite part of your job

What's kept you at Bright Data for 2 years?

Overall I have felt heard – every time I had an opinion or suggestion, it was valued and changes were made based on that. Also, extreme independence to achieve what I’ve needed to do – there’s always a clear goal but no micro-management which I really appreciate.

Future plans?

I think that there’s ample opportunity to grow at Bright Data – I really want to take India as a team to the next level – so that is my next goal. 

Favorite part of your job