Is the honeymoon over?: Why marketing vets & startups often break up early

When Anuja Mishra left a steady corporate career—marked by senior marketing roles at Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Godrej Consumer Products Limited—to join Honasa Consumer as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer in 2022, expectations were high. Less than two years later, she had resigned.

Her departure is not an anomaly.

In 2023, Hemant Bakshi, formerly the Executive Vice President at Unilever Marketplace, made headlines when he was named Chief Executive of Ola Consumer. His tenure lasted just over a year. At Swiggy, Ashwath Swaminathan, who had joined as Chief Growth and Marketing Officer after leading oral care and deodorant marketing at Unilever, stepped down within nine months. Similarly, Sumit Mathur, previously Senior Director of Marketing at Kellogg, exited One97 Communications after 14 months.

Even earlier, in 2015, Idi Srinivas Murthy, who brought years of experience from GSK Consumer Healthcare India and Coca-Cola, left his position as Snapdeal’s Head of Marketing within a year of joining.

Despite their pedigrees and promise, many of these high-profile marketers are walking away from startup roles long before their impact can be fully measured. Why?

“It’s often a search for new challenges,” said Gauri Padmanabhan, a leadership advisor. “After 15 to 20 years in large corporations, senior professionals want to apply their learnings to a high-growth environment. Startups offer the chance to build something from scratch.”

The draw is understandable: a sense of autonomy, the allure of rapid growth, and attractive compensation packages. According to Ashish Sanganeria, Senior Partner at Transearch, an executive search firm, while traditional FMCG marketing heads may earn up to Rs3 crore annually, startups often offer slightly lower cash packages—between Rs2 crore and Rs2.5 crore, but make up for it in equity.

“They’re betting on the upside,” said Sanganeria. “Stock options worth Rs70-80 lakh may appreciate significantly if the company succeeds.”

But reality often diverges from ambition.

These roles, industry insiders say, come with their own set of challenges, many of them structural. “There’s a gap between what is expected of such high-profile hires and what they can actually deliver under the given circumstances,” Padmanabhan explained.

Startups, particularly in the consumer tech space, often move at breakneck speed. Unlike established firms, they may lack robust infrastructure, consistent funding, or the teams needed to support ambitious marketing visions.

“Money and focus - both are required in generous measure to ensure sustainability,” Sanganeria noted. “And both can be in short supply.”

Still, many startups actively seek leaders with blue-chip credentials. Pranesh Urs, who spent six years leading marketing at Samsung Electronics, was hired by Ather Energy in 2022 as Vice President and Head of Marketing. He, too, departed in under two years.

Part of the challenge, experts say, is misalignment - between what seasoned marketers expect to find in startups and what those companies are prepared to offer. Padmanabhan emphasized the importance of clarity during the hiring process, especially around timelines and business goals.

“Startups must be honest about what’s possible - and how long it might take,” she said.

Meanwhile, marketers hoping to bring about bold, lasting change must reckon with the constraints that come with the territory. “Many join to do more than they could in corporate life,” Sanganeria added. “The company needs to enable that ambition.”

The marketing landscape itself is evolving. Padmanabhan noted that success today requires a shift in mindset. “Marketing is becoming more experiential. Marketers will need to adapt to newer tools, leaner budgets, and faster pivots.”

In the startup world, agility is often valued over pedigree. And even the most celebrated resumes can be tested by the unforgiving pace of innovation, leadership temperaments or circumstances like we saw in the case of Paytm.