About Me

My name is Sonali Gupta, and I’m a rising senior at San Jose State University pursuing an undergraduate degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. The Summer of 2024 has been an incredibly rewarding season of my college career, and my time at Klarity as a Marketing Intern is a major reason why.

‍

Company Overview and Achievements

Klarity is a startup specializing in enterprise accounting, offering GenAI software solutions that streamline accounting and finance workflows such as contract review and reconciliation for companies like DoorDash, Colgate, ServiceNow, and Instacart. During my internship, Klarity achieved significant milestones, including a $70 million Series B funding round and the launch of Klarity 3.0. These achievements made my learning experience extensive and enriching.

Through these transformative moments for the company, as well as the regular daily advancements, I had the unique opportunity to witness what it’s like to be part of a GenAI company at the height of industry buzz. The excitement, and emerging narratives, around Klarity created a whirlwind of attention, encouraging our small marketing team to take on the days with even more passion, energy and alignment. With so many simultaneous priorities, I was able to contribute to various aspects of marketing, from creative strategy to event marketing.

‍

‍Enhancing Product Knowledge through Collaboration and Research

Though having grown up in the Bay Area, I never thought I’d find myself working for a GenAI startup, let alone within the accounting space. As I began immersing myself into the team, and taking on new projects, I realized that building a foundational understanding of the product and Klarity’s evolution would enhance the quality of my outputs. To gain deeper insights, I took full advantage of working in-person in our FiDi (I learned that's short for “Financial District”) office in San Francisco. I have never worked in person like this before, so while everyone had something to say about how “busy” or “slow” the streets seemed on that day, I soaked it all in. Being in office, I was able to learn vicariously through cross-functional teams, specifically the Machine Learning Engineers, to better understand the product's capabilities. This collaboration not only deepened my understanding but also allowed me to build professional relationships with those outside my department.

Additionally, I watched recorded content from Klarity’s April Summit—hosted at the San Francisco MoMA for over 350 accounting and operations leaders. One particularly insightful panel, which I created the on demand page for, was "Transforming Order to Cash: A Finance Leader's Journey", featuring Em Daigle, Gordon Lee (CAO of DoorDash), and Matt Dobson (CAO at Zuora). It shed light on how industry leaders are guiding their teams in adopting GenAI into their organizations. 

‍

Mentorship and Project Ownership

Throughout the summer, I reported to Ally Rubin, the Event Marketing Manager at Klarity, and learned a great deal from her. In addition to overseeing event marketing, Ally manages various other marketing functions such as email marketing, social media, community partnerships and works very closely with the sales team. Her extensive experience provided me with a wealth of knowledge. From Ally, I learned the qualities of a good mentor, the importance of a strong work ethic, a strategic approach, and essential organizational skills that I can apply both as a college student and in my future career.

Being a transfer student, finding my footing has been challenging, but my time at Klarity has been extremely reassuring. Ally’s encouragement to learn through hands-on experience, take ownership of my projects, and exposure to everything, significantly contributed to this feeling.

One key project involved creating event workflows in HubSpot and publishing new content for our on-demand library. HubSpot is a CRM used by marketing, sales, and customer service teams to create email marketing campaigns, track analytics, keep customer details organized, and so much more. This project taught me about the extensive behind-the-scenes work involved, as these workflows are tied to our main pages to manage registration, communication (both internal and external), and tracking. On the front end, you’d just see the page—take the upcoming 2024 Fall September Summit for example (join the waitlist!)— but on the back end there is a form for attendees to fill out, an automatic confirmation email that is sent, and a list that generates information about attendees who sign up for the events. I published this workflow, and the panel mentioned above, through Webflow, a design and development platform that allows organizations to host, design, and build their websites without needing to write code.

As a hands-on learner, I grasp concepts quickly through practical experience, and Ally's support in giving me both the freedom and guidance to do so has significantly boosted my confidence.

‍

Observing Sales & Go-To-Market

Along with participating in several internal and external marketing team calls (did I mention we also onboarded a new creative agency?) I also listened to the sales and Go-To-Market, aka GTM, calls. Through this experience, I gained valuable insights into the sales pipeline and observed the approaches Account Executives (AEs) used when engaging with potential and existing clients. I learned the different stages that make up our pipeline and the status of current deals. Sinyoung Lee, an AE who has been with the company for over 3 yearr, showed me how the team uses Salesforce to track opportunities, deal details, and move them through the pipeline. “The key to successful sales,” Sinyoung said, “is not just understanding the pipeline, but also building strong relationships and staying organized every step of the way.”

I watched how Em Daigle, the VP of Strategy, led these calls, and the way she provided feedback. Fostering an environment of growth (and revenue), I saw how effective of a leader she was. 

‍

Key Takeaways

With my summer internship coming to a close, I reflect on the incredible journey of professional and personal growth I’ve experienced. The hands-on projects, mentorship, and collaborative environment have provided me with invaluable skills and insights that will undoubtedly shape my future career. This internship has solidified my passion for marketing and I look forward to applying the knowledge and experiences I've gained as I continue my academic and professional journey. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity and am leaving feeling inspired by this environment of exponential growth! 

‍

Signing off,

Sonali