Playbook for Scaling Private Equity-Backed Tech ft. Srini Basava, Bazaarvoice

Nilesh: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another exciting episode of the Zinnov Podcast. I’m Nilesh Thakkar, President of Zinnov, and I’m thrilled to host today’s episode. In this installment of our Decoding Private Equity series, we’ll dive into the strategies shaping the future of tech-enabled businesses backed by private equity. I’m honored to have Srini Basava with me. Srini is the Managing Director and Center Head of BazaarVoice India, and the Senior Vice President of Product Development. He’s played a key role in transforming Bazaarvoice India into a hub of innovation, including leading the creation of their generative AI team. Srini, welcome to the podcast.

Srini: Great to be here!

Nilesh: Let’s dive right in. Srini, you’ve been at the forefront of innovation at Bazaarvoice India, particularly with the creation of the generative AI team. How did you approach building this team, and what emerging opportunities do you see for generative AI at Bazaarvoice?

Srini: Generative AI came in like a disruptive force. It changed how people thought about operations. For us, it became more of a tool to address specific challenges our customers were facing. We’ve been using AI for a while, but with generative AI, we’ve been able to introduce more creative and impactful solutions. We’ve been very selective in applying it—only using AI to solve specific problems, testing them with customers, and then deploying them quickly.

For example, in our user-generated content (UGC) business, we help consumers leave feedback about products. The challenge is that feedback can be too brief or generic—just a short sentence or a star rating. So, we used AI to prompt users to add more detailed feedback by focusing on specific traits, like the texture of a shirt or fabric type, without influencing whether the feedback is positive or negative. By gamifying this process, we encouraged users to provide much more detailed feedback—three to four times longer reviews. This made reviews more valuable for the next consumer making a purchase decision.

Nilesh: How did you build the team for this? Did you have to upskill your existing engineers or hire new talent?

Srini: Good question. When we’re implementing a new capability like this, everyone wants to get involved, but it’s challenging to decide who to include. We began by seeding the team with existing engineers who had domain knowledge.

Then we hired externally to bring in people who had specialized skills. The existing engineers provided the continuity we needed, while the new hires brought fresh skills and helped accelerate the work. This balance helped us move quickly from experiments to production-ready solutions.

Nilesh: Scaling a team globally from India can be complex. What strategies did you use to collaborate effectively with global teams? Was this product entirely developed in India?

Srini: This is where Zinnov played a key role, even before I joined Bazaarvoice. The Zinnov team worked with RELT to ensure clarity in ownership—consumer experience would be led entirely from India, even before my hire. This clarity allowed us to build a strong leadership team and hire top talent. Once we had this vision, we were able to attract the right product leaders and expand the team. It wasn’t always perfect—hiring is never without challenges—but about 80-90% of our hires worked out well. The focus on accountability and ownership really helped us.

Nilesh: So, you had teams for product management, UI/UX, and other roles based in India as well?

Srini: Yes, we’ve built a full product organization here in India. We have interaction designers, user experience designers, product knowledge specialists, and product managers, all based in India. Our engineering team in India is also well-rounded, with roles across development, quality assurance, and DevOps. We manage everything, including infrastructure and budgets.

Nilesh: With Bazaarvoice India now handling global responsibilities, particularly with the full ownership of consumer experience, how did you manage the transition? Do you have any advice for leaders attempting similar shifts?

Srini: We were transparent and empathetic throughout the process. It’s challenging when a function that has been handled by another team for years is being transferred to a new one. We ensured that everyone understood the reasoning behind the decision. For employees who were potentially impacted, we provided clear timelines and retention incentives to ensure a smooth transition. Once the team in India took ownership, we demonstrated our ability to handle the complexity, and our global teams were very supportive in the process.

Nilesh: How did you ensure that your engineers developed empathy for customers and understood their needs?

Srini: Luckily, we’re in a business that’s relatable—everyone shops online, so our engineers could relate to the customer experience. But we also invested in user research. Our UX designers and product managers interacted directly with global customers, holding focus groups and testing concepts. When the insights from these interactions were shared with our engineers, it deepened their understanding of the customer and built empathy.

Nilesh: How did you navigate the cultural and operational differences of leading a global team from India?

Srini: It’s a team effort. The culture of Bazaarvoice has always been supportive of the challenges we face. Even engineers whose roles were impacted by the transition helped us ensure success. While we had strong support from leadership, we remained sensitive to the people involved and their concerns. It’s about maintaining open communication, being transparent, and ensuring that everyone feels heard. Patience and empathy are crucial for building strong relationships.

Nilesh: How does Bazaarvoice India align with the private equity firm’s goals, and what future roles do you see for India’s GCCs in private equity-backed companies?

Srini: We’ve been fortunate to work with two great private equity firms, Marlin and TH Lee. They’ve provided us with freedom, guidance, and support to grow. Private equity firms usually focus on two things: either transforming a company to become profitable or accelerating growth. At Bazaarvoice, we’ve been able to focus on long-term growth while also adding value for consumers. PE firms have been very supportive in helping us move faster, whether it’s providing funds or assisting with acquisitions. Since I joined, we’ve made several strategic acquisitions, each adding value to the business.

Nilesh: Have these acquisitions been integrated into the India team as well?

Srini: Yes, one of the recent acquisitions, a Singapore-based company, had a significant portion of its team in India. About 30-40% of the acquired company’s staff is based in India, and they’ve seamlessly integrated into our team. We haven’t experienced any attrition, and the integration has been successful. We’re working on an exciting new product with this team that will be announced soon.

Nilesh: Thank you, Srini, for sharing your journey. The work you’ve done in product integration, innovation, and global scaling is truly inspiring.

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