19 years of building brands.
The last four in the sector that matters most.
The story
I'm Anusha Sethuraman. I've spent nearly two decades in tech marketing — across early-stage startups, hypergrowth companies, and large enterprises — and the last four years applying all of it to climate tech.
I've seen the full arc of a company. I launched New Relic's first mobile product, managed a $2M budget, and grew revenue 120% year-over-year — then stayed through their IPO. I led enterprise product marketing at Xamarin, and when we were acquired by Microsoft, I spent four years inside one of the world's largest tech organizations, learning how a massive machine works from the inside out. That experience taught me something critical: a clear picture of what scales, what doesn't, and what startups should never waste time trying to replicate from big companies.
I then served as VP of Marketing at Fiddler AI, taking them from an unknown seed-stage startup to a recognized category leader in Responsible AI. That work earned Fiddler a spot on Forbes AI 50, the CB Insights AI 100, and the World Economic Forum's Tech Pioneer list.
Then I made a deliberate choice to redirect toward the work I think matters most. I joined the Terra.do climate program in 2021, went in-house as Head of Marketing at Sofar Ocean — where I built a team and led a brand redesign that repositioned them as an enterprise leader in ocean data.
Since 2022, I've been running Once Upon A Clime, working with early-stage climate tech startups, AI companies, and nonprofits as a fractional CMO and strategic advisor. Clients have included CNaught, Fairly AI, Aurora Hydrogen, Health in Harmony, and others.
What I believe about marketing
The founder is the voice
The founder should be the voice of the company. Especially at early stage. Investors back people. Customers trust people. The best stories are built around founders who believed in what they were doing and could talk about it with clarity and conviction. My job is to give them the words and the platform to do that.
Strategy makes execution count
Marketing isn't a content calendar. It's not a social media presence. Those are outputs. Strategy is understanding where you fit in the market, who you're talking to, what they care about, and why you're the right answer. Without that, execution is just noise.
It’s never too early for positioning
Positioning is your story. I hear this a lot: "We're too early for marketing." Usually, what that means is "we're too early for content calendars and demand gen campaigns." That's fair. But positioning? Messaging? You need that on day one. If you can't tell your story, you can't hire, fundraise, or sell. Period.
Benefits over features. Always
The why matters more than the what. You always have to sell the problem, not the product, because nobody buys features. They buy the answer to "why should I care about this, and why now?" Bridging that gap is what I do - from feature-speak to human-speak, from the inside-out to the outside-in.
A bit more
I'm based in the Bay Area. I have two daughters who are growing up watching me try to do work that matters — which is its own kind of motivation. I believe deeply in the transition to a clean economy, not just as a professional focus but as a personal one. I spend time in climate communities, attend the conferences, read the research, and stay close to the ecosystem.
I work with a small number of clients at a time — intentionally. That's how I do my best work.
If you're building something important in climate or AI, I'd love to hear about it.
I'm selective about the clients I take on — I want to be genuinely useful, not just engaged. The best way to find out if we're a fit is to have a conversation.