Looking Back, Looking Forward (2024)

Published December 30, 2024-January 1, 2025

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NeoMarketing

In a tradition I began in 2020, this year-end series serves as a reflection on the past year and a look ahead to the future. [Previous years: 2023, 2022, 2021, and 2020.]

2024 has been a Year of Ideas – a time of deep thinking, prolific writing, and sharpening concepts in marketing. The more I explored through essays and discussions, the more refined and transformative these ideas became. As the year comes to a close, I’m convinced that some of these breakthroughs have the potential to reshape the future of marketing. Many of these essays have already been published, with more to come in early 2025.

The most significant of these ideas revolves around a bold shift: bringing martech closer to adtech in its business model. Digital advertising, despite being one of the largest global industries, suffers from rampant AdWaste—inefficiencies that squander resources and inflate costs. What if we could create innovative, ad-funded solutions that prioritise retention, making wasteful acquisition and endless reacquisition obsolete? This approach could address the trifecta of marketing challenges: achieving higher LTV, lowering CAC, and unlocking the potential of “free money” for brands.

This is where concepts like NeoMails and AI Twins (MyTwin variant) come into play. These innovations promise to revolutionise customer engagement by:

  • Establishing direct, always-on hotlines with end customers.
  • Capturing zero-party data to enable N=1 hyper-personalisation.
  • Providing a platform for PII-powered ads that respect privacy while delivering precision.

Here are the 70+ marketing essays I wrote in 2024 (in reverse chronological order):

Only Once: A Radical New Theory of Marketing
NeoMail, NeoESP, NeoMartech, and NeoProfits
NeoMail: Solving the Trifecta of Marketing
NeoSaaS: From India First to Global Leader in Big Martech
The NeoMail Blueprint: A NeoESP’s Guide to Email Transformation
NeoMail: Transforming Email into the Anti-Acquisition Powerhouse
NeoMartech: The Land-Expand-Deepen-Defend Playbook
NeoMartech: Shaping the Big Martech Era
Creating Big Martech
NeoMail: Transforming Email into a $175 Billion Growth Engine
Engineering a New Email Ecosystem
How BEAM and BEAN can Fashion a New Email Era
Inbox to Income: BEAN for Revenue and Reactivation
The Coming Age of Anti-Acquisition
The Coming Fight for Marketing’s Soul: Incumbent Acquis vs Challenger Antis
The 10 Tenets for Re-engineering Retention
Building The House Of Anti-Acquisition For Sustainable Profit Growth (Forbes)
Profitless to Profipoly: A CEO-CMO Dialogue on Marketing’s New Direction
A Premiumisation Playbook for ESPs: Commodity to Profipoly
WePredict: A Play Money Prediction Market for India
The Retention Revolution: A Nayi Disha for Marketing
Mu: The Currency of Email Engagement
AI Twins: The Future of Marketing Intelligence
Digital Twins in Marketing: Magical Minions
Email Envelope: Eight Elements to Energise Engagement
Epps Footers: New Frontiers in Email Marketing
New Intelligent Interaction Interfaces: Websites and Apps to Agents and Epps
AI Twins: Digital Customer Representations That Will Transform Marketing (Forbes)
Upgrading Email Marketing: Epps, ActionAds, and More
Retention Re-engineering: Random to Recurring Revenues
The Crossing: When Digital Twins and Email Apps Meet
Commerce Metaverse: Shaping Marketing’s Future with Agentic AI and Digital Twins
AI-Powered Digital Twins: Marketing’s Marvel
SaaS Futures: Exploring New Revenues Streams
Email’s New Triad: AMPs, Epps, Ads
Marketing’s AI Triad: Large Customer Model, Digital Twins, Co-Marketer
Consumer Epps for Inbox Attention
Large Customer Model: Foundation for AI-first Martech
Email’s Epps Era: Transforming Customer and Employee Engagement
Martech’s 10+1 Foundations in the AI Age
Epps: The Next Evolution in Email Engagement
Email, CPaaS, and Martech: New Profit Pools
CEO Memo: How Agentic AI can Power the Profipoly Quest
Generative Journeys: Digital Marketing’s New Core
How Agentic AI will Transform Digital Marketing
Vector Search: Made for AI
Synthetic Businesses: Can Gen AI Mirror Worlds Accelerate Sales?
WINdia: Multiplying India’s Email Market Opportunity
The 7 Levers for Email’s Exponential Expansion
Co-Marketer: Martech meets AI
New SaaS: Services, AI Agents, Sharing
Ads in Emails: Some New Ideas
Why CMOs Don’t Become CEOs – and How They Can
Bundled Kaizen Services: An Advantage for Indian SaaS
FAB: A New Model for Enterprise Software
Martech 3: Can the Price be Zero?
Emagining E3 Ecosystem: Every Email Engaged
The 7½ Futures of Martech Companies
Email 2.0: Martech’s Answer to Adtech’s Search and Social
Email 2.0: The Magic Bullet for the Profipoly Quest
The Profipoly Quest: Maya’s Story
Wanted: A Constellation Software for Martech
Nucore: A Thought Experiment
The Profipoly Quest
An Email 2.0 Newsletter for All
Solving the Email Open Problem
ELF: eCommerce Lifecycle Franchisee
Solving Marketing’s Three Zeros Problems via Progency
Profishare: A New Business Model for Enterprise Software
How to Boost eComm Profit Margins by 1000 Basis Points
Email 2.0 Progency: eCommerce’s Profit Powerhouse

Each essay built upon the foundation of my earlier writings, adding fresh perspectives and insights. Sometimes, I wonder if I could have arrived at my current thinking more quickly. But I realise that this journey was essential. The essays are like individual dots, each contributing to a larger picture that could only come into focus step by step, as connections emerged and the vision became clearer. I look forward to carrying this spirit of curiosity and discovery into 2025, eager to uncover new ideas and insights.

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Miscellany

Here is a list of some interesting things that happened in 2024 (in random order):

For Netcore, 2024 has been a year of steady progress, laying the groundwork for the future. As we look ahead, I am optimistic about accelerating this momentum in 2025. This year, we welcomed Siddharth Gopalkrishnan as our COO, whose leadership has already started shaping our path forward. We also earned significant recognition in multiple Forrester and Gartner reports, underscoring the value we bring to the martech landscape.

However, the journey is far from over. The martech industry is increasingly crowded with fierce competition—red oceans abound. To truly stand out, we must focus on identifying and creating blue oceans: untapped opportunities where innovation and differentiation can redefine the game. The road ahead is challenging, but with the right strategies, I believe Netcore can lead this transformation and carve a unique space in the industry.

For me, this year has brought two remarkable new companions: Claude and ChatGPT. Both have been invaluable in helping me think more clearly and write more effectively, shaping and refining my ideas in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I often reflect on a line from Ethan Mollick’s book Co-Intelligence: Think of AI not as a machine, but as a person.’ This perspective has been transformative, turning these tools into collaborative partners in my creative and intellectual journey.

The one routine I cherish most—and which has deepened significantly this year—is my weekend writing ritual. Every Saturday and Sunday, starting at 5 am, I dedicate those tranquil early hours to crafting essays for my blog. On average, it takes me about three hours to complete an essay, but during that time, I enter a state of absolute focus and creativity—what many describe as “the zone” or “flow.” I usually begin with a title and a rough outline, which gradually evolves as the ideas take shape. Words flow into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into cohesive sections until, finally, the essay emerges. By the time I finish, not only do I have a completed piece, but I often uncover a couple more ideas or topics to explore next. This harmonious cycle of creation and discovery has become the rhythm of my weekends, energising my passion for writing and keeping the well of ideas perpetually replenished.

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Next

If 2024 was the Year of Ideas, then 2025 must (finally) become the Year of Execution. It feels like embarking on a startup journey all over again, armed with bold ideas to transform martech and disrupt adtech. The excitement is palpable, and I often find myself reflecting on the early years of IndiaWorld—venturing into uncharted territory with little certainty but immense hope of creating something innovative and impactful.

These ideas have been years in the making, and their emergence has been anything but linear. It feels like climbing a series of peaks, only to discover more “mountains beyond mountains.” With each idea that is thought through, the next horizon comes into view. What began as concepts like Martech 2.0 and Email 2.0 has evolved and expanded into an interconnected vision of NeoAdtech, NeoMartech, NeoESP, NeoMails, and NeoSaaS. (Somewhere along the way, I must admit, I’ve developed a fondness for the word ‘neo’!)

But ideas alone aren’t enough—they need to be brought to life. Converting this vision into products, revenues, and real-world impact is my defining challenge for 2025. It’s a daunting task, but also an exhilarating one. Just as those early days with IndiaWorld required grit, creativity, and perseverance, this next chapter demands the same. And with these ideas as my compass, I’m ready to take on the climb.

As I look ahead, there are a few aspirations, reflections, and challenges I’d like to take on:

  • Building Netcore into an enduring, great company: I believe we’ve made great strides, but we still have a way to go. I keep asking myself, What does AI-first marketing truly look like? What defines an AI-first B2C or D2C business? And, most importantly, Can we enable brands to create profipolies—profitable monopolies built on retention and sustainable growth? These questions will shape much of what I focus on in the coming year.
  • Writing my next book: The idea of starting another book has been on my mind. It feels like the right time to distil and share my thoughts, weaving together the themes of innovation, entrepreneurship, and marketing for a new era.
  • Spending more time with friends: I’ve come to realise that I spend far too much time in my own company. While introspection has its place, I should also focus on nurturing relationships with friends. I often think of the closing line from the poem I love: “I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.” While I find solace in my own company, perhaps it’s time to strike a better balance.
  • Learning something unexpected: I’d like to challenge myself to learn something completely outside my comfort zone—something I’d never have imagined pursuing.
  • Travelling more: It’s been too long since Bhavana, Abhishek, and I have taken a real vacation together. I’d like to make time for meaningful travel that allows us to explore, reconnect, and create lasting memories.
  • Exploring high-quality fiction: While I do a lot of reading, it’s largely focused on business and thrillers. I’ve realised I’m missing out on the depth and richness that great fiction can offer. Expanding my reading horizons could bring fresh perspectives.
  • Listening to podcasts—and perhaps starting one: Podcasts are such a powerful medium for storytelling and knowledge-sharing. I’d like to make time to listen to some great ones, and perhaps even consider starting my own.
  • Giving back in a systematic way: I feel it’s time to think about how I can contribute meaningfully to society. Giving back has always been important to me, but I want to make it a more deliberate and structured part of my life.
  • Reviving the ideas of Nayi Disha and Dhan Vapasi: Sometimes, I wonder if I could bring these ideas to life, creating a pathway toward a truly free and prosperous India. They remain close to my heart, and I feel there’s potential for them to inspire real change.

These thoughts form the essence of what I want to explore in the coming year—balancing professional goals with personal growth, relationships, and impact. It’s an exciting, slightly daunting, but ultimately fulfilling set of challenges that I’m eager to take on.

As always, lots to look forward to. Wish you all a Very Happy 2025.