My 3 Year Journey at MTX So Far - My Favourite Moments & Reflections!

Time flies, especially when you are busy! A few weeks back, I completed three years at MTX — and to say that it’s been a busy and fun journey would be an understatement. I am a compulsive reader, and a passionate writer — definitely in the club of The pen is mightier than the sword. If someone would ask me to speak about my journey at MTX, I would probably not be able to do justice to that. On the contrary, writing about this journey is something that I’ve been looking forward to for the last few months.?

I’ll try and capture my favourite moments from this journey (in chronological order), my reflections, and what’s coming next — so without any further ado, here we go!

1. Day 1 - MTX - December 2018

My memory isn't as sharp as it used to be a few years ago, but day one at MTX is etched in my mind for good. I met most of the MTX team at the Jaipur airport (instead of an office setting) for the first time as we boarded a flight to Hyderabad for the MTX 2018 Annual Awards. I remember sitting next to the shy Farman Sheikh and trying to strike a conversation and, in the process, getting to learn more about MTX. For the record, this was my first ever group picture at MTX — not in a conference room, not in the office building, but at the airport :-}

A testimony to MTX’s strong family culture — most of the folks from that picture are still with us when the software industry is big-time struggling with attrition.

Within a few hours, we touched down in Hyderabad, and I was on stage presenting in front of top government officials from Telangana state. Most people would spend their first day sitting through an induction ceremony or an orientation workshop. I found it difficult to believe that a company would have so much faith in a new employee to ask them to take the stage and talk about their vision of technology for the future.

It was great to share the stage with MTX Founder Das Nobel, Nipa Nobel (Co-founder & then CMO), Saul Morse (then CEO), Nick Whitney, Andrew Smith, Erica Byrd and several other leaders from India and the US.??

Here’s a video of the event, and it was a memorable start to my MTX stint.

2. Day 30 - Jan 2019: An Executive Course at MIT — A Dream Fulfilled!

My first brush with a computer was as a 7-year old — fascinated by the immense potential of what a machine can do. I was fortunate enough to go and study at two of the best universities in India — BITS Pilani and Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology. Still, I dreamt of pursuing higher studies at a top academic institution like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

I was pleasantly surprised when MTX nominated me to attend an executive course at MIT within a fortnight of my joining. All travel arrangements were quickly made, and I was at the MIT campus on day 30 with my colleagues Erica and Kamal — living my dream made possible by MTX.

It was a great course and the MIT teaching methodology is a class apart. It instilled a new energy of continuous learning in me, and I’ll be forever grateful for this opportunity.?

3. Day 50 - March, 2019: New Jaipur Office Opens!

Jaipur has been best known as a tourist destination and for its jewellery industry. However, in the last few years, it has emerged as one of the strongest Tier-2 IT hubs and, as I fondly coined the term — the ‘Salesforce Startup Capital of India.’ It was a dream to help establish a world-class office facility in Jaipur.

Call it coincidence or serendipity, MTX was in the process of establishing a new office around the same time when I joined. It was a great opportunity to be a part of the process and see the new office shape up brick-by-brick with every passing day — a really proud moment for the whole MTX family when we set our first foot in this beautiful facility.

Since then, we’ve run out of space twice and more than tripled our office space to 35,000 square feet in the same campus. I can’t wait for the post-COVID era when we start being in the office more often and meeting new MTX family members whom I’ve never met before in person.

4. MTX is a Gold Salesforce Partner — September 2019

After joining MTX, one of my key focus areas was to help elevate our Salesforce partner status from Silver- to Gold-tier. I found a lot of good support from other teams, and we put together a dedicated group to execute our plan. It remains one of my most favourite memories when we got the news that MTX has been elevated to the Gold-tier as a Salesforce partner in September 2019.

Here’s the official press release and the video of our celebration of MTX achieving Gold-tier status.

5. MTX is a Platinum Salesforce Partner — September 2020

While the elevation from Silver- to Gold-tier was relatively easier, the move from Gold- to Platinum-tier was always going to be a much more daunting task. However, we had a good team in place and a solid understanding of the metrics that we needed to hit — a plan was put in place, followed rigorously for almost a year.

It was extremely satisfying to know that we made the cut to Platinum tier. To move from Silver to Platinum in a span of two years will always be a fond memory personally for me as well as for everyone associated with MTX — a rare feat that has not been achieved often in the Salesforce partner ecosystem.?

6. MTX Leadership Summit — July 2019

While I had already traveled to MTX US offices multiple times by this time, the MTX Leadership Summit in July 2019 was one of my most memorable experiences. A very well-planned and executed event with an emphasis on grooming leaders to the next level.

While I had been a part of small off-sites and team-building events at my previous companies, I had not witnessed anything at this scale — 75+ attendees across different verticals, roles and business units. Lots of great sessions and lots of fun as well.

7. Sharing Stage with the Most Special Person — February 2020

I’ve been working in the IT Industry for almost 22 years, and I can’t remember any occasion where a company invited employees to bring their parents to an event. A family invite always meant bringing in your spouse and your kids — for whatever reasons, parents were never really considered to be on the invite list — at least in my experience.

MTX not only invited my mother to our February 2020 award ceremony but she also got facilitated as being among the ‘Most Impactful Parents.’ Whatever I may have achieved in the past, and no matter what I do in my career in the future, nothing will surpass the joy and pride of sharing that stage with her. Thank you, MTX!

8. CEO of the Week — March 2020

MTX runs this special program called ‘CEO of The Week’ where an individual is picked to play the role of CEO for a week while Das steps away from his day-to-day responsibilities to focus on innovation.?

It was an honour for me to be picked to play this role, and it gave me some really good insights into what goes on behind the scenes in building a growing technology company. I wrote a detailed post about my experience as CEO of the week here.

9. MTX Australia — December 2020

Establishing a business in a new region isn’t easy, and Australia is no exception to that rule. We made a start in 2019 only to realise that there was a lot more work to be done. It gave me a lot of good exposure to understand how to enter a new geography, the associated challenges, and capitalise on the opportunities. We brought in some really strong leaders and eventually launched MTX Australia towards the end of 2020 — it was personally a moment of great joy for me as Australia is a region I admire a lot.

Since then, MTX Australia has grown from one strength to another, and we’ll soon be reaching 100 family members in Australia — a remarkable achievement in a short span of time. I love supporting our Australian leadership, and I am excited about all the amazing things they will do in 2022 and beyond.

10. MTX Salesforce Days — September to November 2021

One of my most special and most recent memories is this campaign in which MTX participated in this phenomenal initiative called ‘Salesforce Days’ along with several other Salesforce partners. We put all our energy and focus on this initiative for almost three months. As a result, it was extremely satisfying to see MTX emerge as the #1 partner in all the categories, well ahead of all other partners, including some of the biggest Salesforce partners.

I’m very proud of the whole MTX family for pulling off this amazing achievement — it was meticulously planned and perfectly executed. We stayed focused and encouraged the MTX family to spend time learning, and the results were absolutely amazing. Here is a video of our MTX Salesforce Days campaign!

11. Growth & Recognition

I had worked in a number of different organizations earlier in the 18 years prior to joining MTX but I had not experienced the kind of hyper growth that I’ve witnessed here in the last three years.?

Three years back, we were a small company with a hundred odd people trying to find our feet. Today, MTX is a powerhouse with nearly 1500 family members across the US, India, Australia and Canada with more offices and geographies in the works. It’s been immensely gratifying to see our good work recognised with several awards and recognition, the most recent being us certified as a ‘Great Place to Work in India’ for the Jan 2022 - Jan 2023 term.

I’ll always remember Year 2021 as the transformative year in the company’s history and it was no surprise that MTX was well recognised throughout the year by multiple agencies.

There are several other wonderful memories, and I could go on writing. Overall, it’s been a very gratifying experience, and none of it would have been possible without the support of the MTX founders, the leadership team and everyone in the MTX family.?

Of course, it’s not been all roses, and like every company, MTX has gone through its challenging phases — the key is to learn from those lessons and build a stronger company. Personally, I’ve had challenging phases, times when I've had my insecurities and doubts grapple my mind - I believe that’s a part of the process when you are building a company experiencing hyper-growth.

Thank you, MTX, for these wonderful three years, and I’m looking forward to the next milestone on this amazing journey!