Shantanu what’s your backstory?

I was born in Delhi, India, and was here for a large part of my life, before eventually moving to Dubai, UAE. My father has been a hard-working professional all his life, and my mother is a homemaker. From a financial standpoint, I wasn't born with a silver spoon, but we had all we needed. As far as I can remember, I have always been a happy-go-lucky person. Some pictures from my childhood might help you see that for yourself.

From a really young age, I have always thought anything is achievable, or put it this way I rarely say 'not possible' — and I think that's the attitude I still carry with me every day, both for myself and for the clients that I work with. After school, I completed my Bachelors in Engineering, Computer Sciences. But that is not how I ended up working with websites, mobile apps, and software every day.

This may be true for most founders though but I think I'm unnaturally curious for most things. Somehow I ended up in the world of product management initially. I worked with a few Europe-based companies, and then some US-based companies before eventually starting freelancing by myself. My curiosity then led me to explore other fields related to product management. Fields such as UX research, product designing, and finally growth marketing.

When I took a deep dive into expanding my skillsets in marketing and did at least 20+ certifications and courses from the top 1% of marketers out there (CXL) — That's when the lightbulb moment hit – most businesses were struggling because they had these disciplines siloed. The designers were talking to marketers but they didn't understand the basics; the developers were speaking to marketing experts, but they never understood how their actions impacted businesses, and nobody was actually talking to customers to generate tangible impacts (usually in the agency world, most agencies prefer growing themselves faster than growing their clients).

So, I built a business that connected those dots. Not because I had some grand vision but because my inability to stick to one's expertise accidentally became my competitive advantage. The rest, as they say, is history – though I'm still writing it, one client success story at a time.

‍‍What does Tenet do and how did you come up with the idea?

Tenet is a 360° digital agency with core expertise in UI/UX design and growth marketing services. We help businesses grow rapidly and efficiently in the digital space by combining strategy, design, technology, and marketing.

The idea behind Tenet came from my experience as a freelancer after working with a few European and American companies, where I primarily served as a product consultant. During my freelancing journey, I decided to go beyond just being a "service-for-hire" provider. Instead, I began focusing on the results I could generate for my clients, rather than just offering specific services. I paired this shift with my happy-go-lucky attitude and genuine interest in my clients' growth. What started as one client quickly turned into two, then four, and so on. I saw a snowball effect in the number of clients reaching out to me for help with their business growth challenges.
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However, as I was limited by the hours in a day, I founded Tenet (originally named KodeGlobe Technologies) and started hiring top talent who not only shared my technical expertise but also my passion for honest and deeply connected client service. What I wanted to build was the Rolls-Royce of digital agencies. We’re not for everyone, but for those we partner with, there’s no looking back.

How did you acquire your first 20 clients and what strategies worked?

After the agency's initial lift-off, we started gaining most of our early clients through word-of-mouth marketing. Our clients were so happy with the results we delivered that they consistently recommended us to others. However, during our expansion phase, we also found great success with omni-channel outreach.

I wanted to grow, so I set out to learn from other successful companies—both agencies like mine and top companies across different industries—to figure out how they generated more revenue.

I delegated all agency responsibilities to Deepna and Alisha, who are also partners in the agency. They really understand what it takes to keep things running smoothly both internally and externally.

I then took a 1.5-month break from the agency’s routine activities to focus fully on the next steps for growth. I spent the next two months diving deep into sales and marketing, essentially becoming an expert in Sales Development Representative (SDR) and Account Executive (AE) roles.

During that time, I read every bit of information I could find on prospecting, copywriting, lead nurturing, email marketing, sales, technical SMTP setups, IP warmup, and more. I even completed two of the world's most famous sales coaching programs for SDRs and AEs. (Trust me, if I gave an interview to any SaaS company or a company using SDRs/AEs, the hiring success would be almost a 100% guarantee.)

I connected with SDRs, AEs, and founders (basically anyone who was kind enough to help with my queries), and people were incredibly generous with their time and advice.

I read over 700 blog articles from platforms like Gong, Salesloft, Apollo, and at least 50 others focused on sales and sales intelligence. I also spoke with countless SDRs and AEs, and even purchased prospecting playbooks from four different experts in the field.

By the end of my deep dive, I knew everything from the best email deliverability strategies to writing the perfect hooks for achieving a nearly 70% open rate on my first emails. In the third month, I purchased access to three platforms to put my learning into practice: Netcore Cloud for bulk email outreach, Salesloft for personalized outreach to tier 1 and tier 2 accounts, and Apollo.io for sales intelligence data.

I created a 17-step sales cadence spread over 26 days. It went something like this:

• Day 1: First email
• Day 3: Second email (multi-threading)
• Day 4: Call (always double dial)
• Day 5: Social proof and case study email
• Day 6: LinkedIn profile visit
• Day 7: Email with GIF
• Day 9: LinkedIn connection request

I also integrated LinkedIn voice notes and video messages via Vidyard into the cadence. In month 1, I targeted around 80 accounts. I was working like a robot—waking up, then prospecting 8-10 accounts per day. For each account, I’d find 4-6 people and personalize emails to them at a deep level so they didn’t feel like generic outreach. By the end of month 1, I had booked sales calls with about 35 accounts.

I repeated this process the following month, created SOPs and training, and then hired talented people to continue the process while optimizing it with their expertise.

How did you ensure your service met the needs of your target customers?

The confirmation that Tenet's services are a good match for the needs of our clients came through automatically. Our clients were loving what we were doing, they were recommending us left, right, and center, and we were growing at a really steady and positive rate. For the first three years of the agency, we never did any marketing. But that growth had some serious problems beneath the surface. We were saying yes to everything - any client, any project, any timeline. This created a business that was running us instead of the other way around. Our breaking point came after taking on too many major clients simultaneously. We were stretching ourselves thin, quality was at risk, and the team was burning out. Something had to change if we wanted to maintain our reputation and standards.

That moment of reckoning forced us to make three strategic pivots:

First, we became selective about client partnerships. We started evaluating potential clients based on whether our expertise aligned with their actual needs. This meant sometimes turning down work—even lucrative opportunities—when we knew we couldn't deliver exceptional results. It was counterintuitive, but focusing on the right-fit clients strengthened our business.

Second, we refined our service portfolio. We evaluated which services created the most client impact and doubled down on those while strategically expanding into complementary areas. We also removed services that we had included just to tell clients that we've done this work as well. Like for example: IOT development services. This wasn't about narrowing—it was about intentional growth. We built deeper expertise in high-impact areas while developing new capabilities that our clients needed.

Third, we implemented a structured (& somewhat brutal) discovery process. Before committing to any project, we were now investing time upfront in understanding the client's business, goals, and challenges. This is where we determined if we could genuinely deliver at least a 3-5x ROI on our fees. This helped both sides determine if we were the right partner and set realistic expectations from day one. If we weren't confident that we could deliver the expected ROI or we didn't find the right fit, we referred them elsewhere.

The immediate impact was concerning—our pipeline temporarily slowed. But within months, something remarkable happened. Our average project value increased significantly. Client retention jumped from 68% to 91%. Our team found a sustainable work rhythm that preserved creativity and quality. Most importantly, we started attracting clients who valued our approach: growth-focused companies that wanted measurable results. They came pre-qualified because our messaging was so specific that it only resonated with the right prospects.

The market constantly tempts agencies to become generalists. The pressure to say "We can do everything" is immense. But our breakthrough came when we embraced being specialists with a clear point of view. By focusing on what we do exceptionally well and partnering with experts in other areas when needed, we've created more value for our clients than ever before. That focus became our competitive advantage. When we're transparent about our strengths and how we can genuinely help, it builds trust—and ironically, leads to more business in our core offerings than a scattered approach ever did.

Which distribution channels have been most effective in reaching your clients?

The following channels have been the most effective for us:

• SEO: SEO has been our silent revenue driver, providing a consistent stream of clients and opportunities every month. One of the reasons we've been able to perform better, manage better, and service better is that we’re confident in the continuous stream of opportunities coming in. While others chase algorithm updates, we focused on creating strategic pages with a set frequency, month after month. There's no quick hack, no backlinking strategy, and no secret process for SEO.

What really works is publishing content with a strategic agenda that helps your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), and no one can stop you from ranking. The key is to create content writing guidelines that direct writers to produce content that real people want to read.

Initially, we adopted a 3-tiered structure for our content:

• BoFu (Bottom of Funnel) articles that drive leads
• ToFu (Top of Funnel) articles for brand awareness and thought leadership
• Linkable assets—content people find so valuable that they share and link to, which generates backlinks for the domain

This combination, along with region-specific service pages and industry-specific service pages, acts like gasoline for SEO growth. Keep at it, don’t expect quick results (I’ve been there — all you’ll get is burnout and frustration), and in 12-24 months, you’ll outrank even the best players. And that’s in an incredibly competitive industry like mine—there’s a UI/UX design or marketing company in almost every city in the world. For less competitive industries, the chances of success are even higher.

• People: Another crucial distribution channel has been our existing clients and network. We service them well and genuinely assist everyone who asks, which has turned into an effective referral strategy. We also implemented a structured referral program where we don’t just ask for referrals; we identify specific connections in our clients' networks who match our ideal customer profile, then request warm introductions. This has generated a lot of pipeline for us.
• Omni-channel outreach/sequencing: Another highly effective strategy is what we call omni-channel sequencing or outreach. This synchronized approach combines LinkedIn, email, calls, and more. We stopped thinking about platforms in isolation when data showed that prospects need at least 8-12 touchpoints across multiple channels before they trust your brand. I mentioned this approach earlier when discussing how we acquired our first 20 clients.

As for missteps, we spent a lot on Google and Facebook ads before realizing a fundamental truth: for high-ticket B2B services like ours, cold traffic rarely converts directly. We were measuring the wrong metrics—clicks and form fills—rather than focusing on qualified sales conversations. Another misstep was treating cold and warm traffic the same. We wasted around $120K on Google Ads by sending first-touch visitors to consultation request pages they weren’t ready for. Once we built audience-specific journeys based on their awareness level, our cost per qualified lead dropped from approximately $800 to $200.

How has Tenet achieved 400% YoY growth and stood out in the competitive digital market?

I can tell you our competitive edge comes from four unconventional approaches.

First, we're relentless about recruiting only the top 1% of talent. We don't compete on price – we compete on impact. This talent-first approach means we sometimes pass on projects when we can't staff them with the right people. Counterintuitively, turning down work has accelerated our growth because the projects we do take consistently deliver exceptional results.

Second, we've implemented a squad-based project management system that's been transformative. Each client gets a dedicated team of 6-8 specialists who stay with them throughout the engagement. This eliminates the broken telephone effect that plagues most agencies, where feedback gets diluted across departments. Our squads build deep institutional knowledge about each client's business, allowing us to move faster and more precisely than competitors.

Third, we've completely abandoned vanity metrics in favor of an outcome-based delivery model. We structure our compensation to include performance incentives tied to actual business results. When a client sees we're willing to put skin in the game, price sensitivity practically disappears. I often hear things from our clients like, "I don't care what you charge if you can guarantee those conversion numbers."

Finally, we've invested heavily in proprietary methodologies that clients can't get elsewhere. Our UX Optimization Framework took 18 months to develop and test, our e-commerce CRO checklist was curated after working with e-commerce clients across 30+ industries and 12 countries – from startups to enterprise multi-continent e-commerce brands.

These frameworks deliver predictable conversion improvements across industries. Clients come to us specifically for this methodology, not just generic "better design."

How did you identify opportunities for Tenet to enter new international markets?

After being in the business for 7 years now, we're clear on our Ideal Client profiles(ICPs). When we rebranded from KodeGlobe(old name) to Tenet UI UX Design Agency - we not only updated our visual identity, but that was only about 30% of why we rebranded. The other 70% was to deep dive with the entire team, external consultants, market strategists, and many more experts to figure out the core of our brand, why we exist, and who we service.

The first step to finding the right opportunities would be to really dive deep into yourself, your business, and your brand to figure out 5 core things: Who are you, why you exist, why you and not others, who benefit from your services the most, and lastly how you want them to see you. Once we figure out all these things, it's comparatively easier to identify opportunities and people that align with our business and its service capabilities.

We then leverage marketing channels such as LinkedIn, Google, and Emails to curate messaging for our ICP, speak the language they speak, and showcase our work with other clients that they see as a success. For serving new international markets, we have been, and continue to create regional partners for on-ground servicing requirements while handling core services from our UAE and India offices. For example, a Saudia Arabia-based retail pharmacy chain recently reached out to us to conduct a CX audit of 100+ stores they have. It involved visiting all those stores individually, auditing the brand's visual experience, store experience, product placement experience, shopping experience(through mystery shopping), and much more. We partnered with a local CX agency, to outsource this specific part of the scope to them and continued to support the client for their other requirements through our other delivery offices.

How do you maintain service quality as your business scales across industries?

I’ve learned that scaling quality isn’t about working harder—it’s about building smarter systems.

Deep Discovery is the Foundation
Discovery is the base of everything we do. Our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) include speaking with not just the marketing teams who reach out to us, but also understanding goals from business teams, executives, delivery teams, founders, and even clients (if possible). We fully immerse ourselves in their world before proposing any solutions.

Too many agencies rush through this phase, treating discovery as a mere box-checking exercise. We’ve had projects where our discovery process revealed that the requested website redesign wouldn’t actually solve the conversion problem; their pricing model was the real issue. Identifying that early saved everyone time and money.

Client-Specific Playbooks Capture Institutional Knowledge
We’ve built client-specific playbooks that document every aspect of working with them. For example, when we onboarded a major healthcare client, we documented every approval pathway, stakeholder preference, compliance requirement, and industry-specific terminology.

These playbooks aren’t static; they evolve with every project. If a designer discovers that a particular client hates dropdown menus or if the marketing director needs metrics presented in a specific format, that gets added to the playbook. Any designer, developer, or strategist can reference this living document, which prevents the dreaded "but that's not how we usually do it in our industry" conversation. These living documents have cut revision cycles by about 50%.

Dual-Review System Ensures Balanced Outcomes
We implemented a dual-review system: one specialist reviews for craft excellence (Is this the best possible design or development solution?), and the other ensures business alignment (Will this actually solve the client's problem?).

This prevents the common agency pitfall of delivering beautiful work that doesn’t perform. I’ve seen too many agencies crash and burn delivering award-winning designs or software development projects that generated zero business results. As an outcome-based agency, every deliverable passes through both lenses before it ever reaches the client.

The Counterintuitive Lesson: Standardization Enables Customization
The most surprising insight? Standardization actually enables customization. By systematizing the routine aspects of our work, we free up cognitive bandwidth for the creative problem-solving each unique client deserves.

When our team doesn’t have to reinvent how we conduct a user testing session or present analytics findings, they can focus their energy on the unique challenges of each client. The "boring" parts get templated so the exciting parts get more attention.

This approach has allowed us to maintain the quality that built our reputation while scaling to serve clients across industries—without becoming a factory.

What’s the key to maintaining 98% client satisfaction and loyalty?

Master the Human Element
This is no secret, but the key is being exceptional at managing relationships. Clients want to be heard, they want their opinions considered, they want to be educated, and most importantly, they want to feel like good work has been done to achieve the results.

It’s all about understanding how people function and focusing on their core desires. In my early business days, I read Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People", and it fundamentally reshaped my approach to client relationships.

Some principles are timeless: remember names, listen more than you speak, make people feel important, and never criticize directly. But in agency life, this means being proactive—sending update emails before clients even ask, explaining the reasoning behind design choices instead of just presenting the final product, and acknowledging their expertise even when they hired you for yours.

When a client suggests something that won’t work, we never say “that’s wrong.” Instead, we say, “That’s interesting—here’s how we could adapt that idea to work within these constraints.” They feel heard, and we still deliver something that performs.

Recognize That All Business is P2P
I firmly believe that "any business, whether B2B or B2C, is essentially person to person (P2P).” Behind every corporate email address is a human being with career aspirations, fears, and pressures that we rarely see. Our client management process is built around this reality. Our project managers track not just project milestones, but also personal details—like their kids' names, vacation plans, and professional goals.

One of our clients was under immense pressure to deliver results to his board. Rather than just doing the work we were contracted for, we prepared a board-ready presentation summarizing our work that he could use directly. He didn’t ask for this, but we understood that his success was measured by how well he could communicate our work to others.

When we recognize that we're not serving faceless corporations, but helping actual people succeed, our approach shifts from transactional to transformational.

Step Into Their World
Understanding their world means going beyond just the service-client relationship. We obsessively study our clients’ industries. We read their competitors' annual reports, sign up for their products, and become users ourselves. For instance, before our first meeting with a fintech client, we signed up for accounts with them and their top three competitors, documented the entire experience, and came to the kickoff meeting with insights they hadn’t even noticed about their own product.

This level of immersion allows us to speak their language, understand their true challenges (not just the symptoms), and become strategic partners rather than just vendors.

Invest in Elite Talent
Having top-tier talent is non-negotiable. We pay above-market rates, hire slowly after rigorous vetting, and focus on hiring both specialists and generalists. But talent alone isn't enough—we’ve structured our team to ensure client exposure to our best people. Unlike agencies that hide their senior talent after the pitch, our most experienced team members remain actively involved throughout projects.

Our clients know they’re getting our A-team—not being handed off to juniors once the contract is signed. This consistency builds trust and ensures the quality of thinking remains high from kickoff to delivery.

Front-load Value
Delivering value before asking for money is another cornerstone of our approach. Whether an individual is a client or not, we want to deliver great value to everyone we come across. Our post-discovery session processes provide prospects with actionable insights they can use, even if they never hire us (provided they’re qualified as a potential lead after discovery). Our proposals include strategic recommendations they can implement, regardless of whether we win the business.

This approach ensures that by the time someone becomes a paying client, they’ve already experienced tangible value from our relationship. They know we're not just in it for the contract—we’re genuinely invested in their success.

Transparency
We’ve built our reputation on telling clients what they need to hear, not just what they want to hear. When a client's idea won’t work, we don’t sugarcoat it or reluctantly execute it knowing it will fail.

This honesty sometimes creates short-term friction, but it builds long-term trust. Clients know we're not yes-people—we’re advocates for their actual success.

What strategies do you use to reduce churn and increase client lifetime value?

1. People first, services second

We don't just sell services-we invest in relationships. This sounds like fluff until you see it in action. When a major client had a launch failure (that had nothing to do with our work), my design director spent her weekend helping them fix issues created by another vendor. No additional billing, and no scope discussion.

Why? Because we don’t want to be merely a service-for-hire because when you genuinely care about people's success, they forgive your occasional missteps and defend your value internally. When budgets get tight, the first relationships cut are the transactional ones.

2. The value ladder

We deliberately use small, high-impact projects as entry points when they're not our most profitable offerings.

For example, for a fintech client, we started with a simple landing page optimization that delivered a 19% conversion lift in two weeks. That quick win brought us credibility to pitch a more comprehensive service package. Three years later, they're our largest account.

Another one of our largest accounts, we started with delivering a high-impact SEO campaign for 6 months, which gradually expanded into website management, then marketing management, and eventually getting us exclusive digital partner status. We didn't just grow the relationship-we systematically built trust through progressive results before asking for bigger commitments.

3. Company-wide integration

We train our teams to build relationships beyond our direct client contacts. Our project managers connect with procurement. Our designers build rapport with the in-house creative team. Our strategists engage with the CMO.

This web of relationships creates organizational immunity against competitor pitches. In 2023, when a client underwent a marketing leadership change, we had three different people at their company advocate for keeping us—none of whom were our primary contact.

4. Standing by during storms

When COVID hit and one of our SaaS clients lost 40% of their customer base overnight, we reduced our retainer by 35% for three months while maintaining the same service level. That short-term revenue hit preserved a relationship that has since tripled in value.

These aren't charitable acts—they're strategic investments in lifetime value. The math is simple: acquiring a new enterprise client costs us 7-10x more than retaining an existing one.

5. Tangible value documentation

We maintain a comprehensive "value ledger" for each client that tracks every win, from hard metrics (conversion rates, revenue impact, etc.) to intangible outcomes (speed to market, competitive advantages, ad-hoc event support, etc). Every quarter, we present this ledger in a simple one-pager that reminds clients of our cumulative impact. This documentation has saved at least four major accounts during budget reviews when our clients used our numbers to defend their investment in us.

The difference between agencies that grow through constant prospecting versus those that build through retention isn't about capabilities-it's about mindset. We don't want transactions; we want clients who call us first when either challenges or opportunities arise. That mindset can't be faked. Your team either genuinely cares about client outcomes or they don't. And clients can tell the difference.

What’s your plan for Tenet's growth?

Currently, we're focused on penetrating the U.S. market. Apart from that, we’re not actively pursuing new markets or locations unless specific project requests come our way.

Our primary focus is on optimizing our current service spectrum and delivering even more value to our existing markets and clients. We’re taking a slow and steady approach to growth. Our goal isn't to build the biggest agency, but to build the most impactful one—one that holds the highest standard for client servicing.

That said, we do have exciting plans for the future. By mid-2026, we’re aiming to create two incredibly powerful and industry-disrupting AI-based SaaS tools.

What tools, software, or resources have been most helpful in growing your business?

I use so many SaaS platforms, I doubt I could list them all. But here are a few that have been particularly helpful:

• Apollo.io & Zoominfo (though Zoominfo is unnecessarily expensive) – Sales intelligence
• Salesloft – For omni-channel sequencing
• Zoho One – All-in-one business management suite (CRM, project management, etc.)
• Google Workspace – Emails & meetings
• Notion – Digital workspace
• Semrush – SEO research
• Claude AI – Content writing
• Figma – UI/UX design tool
• Brandwell – Content review
• Mailshake – Email marketing
• Netcore Cloud – Email marketing
• Vidu.io – Personalized gifs in email (it's funny & cool—check it out)
• Sales Navigator – Sales intelligence and enablement
• CrazyEgg, VWO, and GA4 – Analytics intelligence

Resources for me and my team:

• CXL.com
• Jbarrows Training
• Sellbetter

Who are some top experts or entrepreneurs to follow for business growth advice?

There are a lot of great experts and entrepreneurs out there, but I don’t think one person checks all the boxes. Here are a few people I follow, each for their unique expertise:

• Justin Welsh – Content marketing
• Gary Vaynerchuk – Business simplification and marketing
• David Goggins – Mindset
• Nikhil Kamath – Business podcasts and conversations
• Guy Ligertwood & Farzan – Inspirational stories :)

What advice would you give founders on choosing the right channels to attract clients?

Create a balance between two elements: Organic growth and Paid Acquisition—never rely completely on just one.

SEO works for 90% of businesses, so don’t overlook the importance of investing there. If you're in a niche industry, omnichannel outreach with targeted messaging to your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) can work really well.

Google Ads has something unique: visitor intent. When you place ads on social media platforms like Meta, TikTok, or Instagram, you’re interrupting people while they’re watching mukbang videos, laughing, or seeing something else they enjoy. But on Google, your ads show up when someone is specifically searching for your targeted keywords, which means the intent is much higher. If you're looking to bring in immediate leads or revenue and experiment with different value propositions, Google is a great place to start.

If one channel is working well, focus on maximizing its potential, rather than trying to optimize everything at once. I’ve seen a lot of people with the "let's optimize everything" mindset burn out because they wanted to tackle everything all at once. Try different channels, but don’t reinvent the wheel unless it’s absolutely necessary.

What drives you to do what you do?

I’ve always been someone who thrives on people and momentum. There's a certain energy that comes with being in the middle of things — whether it's winning a new project, delivering an exceptional experience for a client, or welcoming a new team member. The moment I get that notification that a new purchase order has been awarded to us a delivery has been successfully received, or that I’m about to meet someone for a coffee, it's like a jolt of energy.

I live for that constant flow of new challenges and opportunities.  In a service-based business like ours, every week presents a new chance to meet fascinating people, solve complex problems, and create experiences that actually matter to real humans.

It's that blend of people, progress, and purpose that drives me. And I have to say, it never gets old. It’s this momentum — the people, the projects, the impact — that keeps me inspired and never looking back.

Any quotes you live by?

"Everyone knew it was impossible, until a fool who didn't know came along and did it".

Any promotions you would like to add for Founderoo readers?

I'd be delighted to. Flat 50% off on any of our services.

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