At Brandwatch, we are lucky enough to partner with some of the world’s leading tech companies.

These partnerships are truly a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.

One of the companies that we have the great fortune to partner with is social media engagement platform, Spredfast.

Here we talk with Spredfast’s Chief Product Officer, Manish Mehta, on what it’s like to lead a global product team, his background founding Dell.com, and his aspirations to one day direct a major motion picture.

Quick-fire round

1. Top item on your bucket list: Directing a major Hollywood picture.
2. iOS or Android: iOS
3. NYC or San Francisco: NYC
4. What you wish you had invented: The wheel
5. Favorite place you’ve traveled: Costa Rica.

Past, present and future

Hey, Manish. What is your job title at Spredfast, and what do you do?

I’m the Chief Product Officer, and I’m responsible for all of our products, product strategy, engineering and design, globally.

How did you get involved in the tech industry?

I started in ‘95 when I was one of the founders at Dell.com. I worked at Dell for 18 years, on the digital side of e-commerce. Later, I moved into all parts of e-commerce including social.

What projects are you currently working on that you are excited about?

Without getting into specifics, I’m really excited about the power of data to do two things: one – how you can leverage data to make insights incredibly powerful for users, and two – how you can leverage data to automate.

Automation take steps out of the process and simplifies it.

What’s the best part of partnering with a company like Brandwatch?

First, is the joy of seeing joint customers delighted because they’ve chosen technology platforms that partner so well together.

Our customers need best-of-breed solutions. There are things we do incredibly well and things that Brandwatch does incredibly well. It’s the power of seeing customers working with this joint platform.

Second, is the time that we’ve been partnering. The years that we’ve been working together that allow our technology to be more unified.

The final piece is the power to do more. In this case 1+1 can equal five. The power of leveraging Brandwatch’s technology with ours lends to a solution that is a bigger than what we could offer separately.

What developments in tech are you most excited about right now?

I’m sort of a futurist, so I think a lot about virtual reality.

It’s way off, but I have a teenage son, and I’m already starting to see next generation. You can see this will be the next wave of social collaboration, when people will start collaborating in ways that we can’t even imagine. 

What do you see for the future of social media marketing?

I would say two things on a macro level – 1. The maturation – I think it starts to mature, to become embedded across the fabric of the company.

There will be a deepening in the workflow and processes of marketers. Secondly, turning social marketing, which is more of an art form, into a science. Applying a little more science to the art of social. Because I think there’s a lot of social today that’s done by instinct.

Have there been any recent marketing campaigns that have really impressed you?

No specific campaigns, but I’ll just generally say campaigns that are really focused on their audience in a very specific way. 

What about marketing campaigns that made you embarrassed?

Anything where a brand tries to use humor in the wrong way. Or forced authenticity, trying to pretend to be authentic.

What is the best and worst piece of career advice you’ve received?

The best career advice was to take risks and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

No doubt in my career, anytime someone has told me to take a risk and that it’s ok to fail. Every time, that was the right advice

The worst advice would be the converse of that. To stay in your lane, don’t rock the boat, don’t try to paint outside the lines.

And finally, if you could invite three people to a dinner party who would they be and why?

Rather than give names, I’ll give characteristics:

1. Someone who is hysterically funny
2. Someone incredibly inspirational, thinking very big about the world or humanity
3. Someone very creative, who completely thinks outside of the box and sees the world in a different way.

Thanks, Manish. Check back for more Partner Spotlight interviews coming soon.