About

Hello and welcome to my website. I’m just another one of the hundreds of millions of Indians making my life on the internet. In case you’re wondering, ‘Ishtaarth’ means desire in Konkani. Alas, I have a name not many can pronounce which turns out to be a small price to pay for acquiring my username of choice on most websites.

By day I work at Accel on Accel Atoms, building for exceptional early-stage founders. By night, I can be found surfing the web at gigabit ethernet speeds.

Work

I have had the privilege of being a generalist, which often begets shape-shifting roles, most recently building at CRED and Dentsu Webchutney. With work that often goes beyond traditional advertising and marketing, I study the impact of media on the message to devise differentiated communications. It’s led to the good fortune of working on some the most consequential brands in the world, including Google, Google Pay, YouTube, Twitter, Uber, Tinder, and Spotify.

2024

Lead Accel Atoms along with contributions to Accel’s brand and creative strategy, which revolves around building irrational preference for founders.

2022–2023

Contributed on creative strategy and internet distribution with an exceptional team, in the years with feverous product launches. 4× community growth & 2× engagement across LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube.

CRED takes its Instagram Private
CRED Curious with Kunal Shah
IPL 2022: Play It Different (Ravi Shastri)
CRED Obsessions on YouTube (Usha Uthup)
The Long Game on YouTube
CRED Scan & Pay Launch
CRED Garage Launch
CRED: RuPay Credit Cards on UPI
CRED Escapes
IPL 2023: UPI Payments

2021

The Unfiltered History Tour with VICE World News: A culmination of years of work resulted in this 100+ person project, making Dentsu Webchutney the first Indian agency of the year at Cannes.
- Cannes Lions
  - 4x Grand Prix [Radio & Audio + Brand Experience & Activation + Social & Influencer + Titanium]
  - 14x Cannes Lions
- D&AD
  - Yellow Pencil / Direct / Digital / 2022
  - Graphite Pencil / Digital / Use of XR
  - Graphite Pencil / Experiential / Use of AR
  - Graphite Pencil / PR / Events & Stunts
  - Graphite Pencil / Digital Design / Use of XR
  - Wood Pencil / Digital / Mobile
  - Wood Pencil / Digital / Physical & Digital
  - Wood Pencil / Digital / Storytelling
- Spikes Asia
  - 4x Spikes Asia Grands Prix
  - 4x Spikes Asia Gold
  - 5x Spikes Asia Silver
  - 5x Spikes Asia Bronze
The Better Half Recipes with Swiggy Instamart
- 1x Spikes Asia 2021
- 1x Kyoorius Blue Elephant 2021
- 1x Cannes Lions Bronze 2021
Axe Your Ex with Tinder
- 2x Kyoorius Blue Elephants 2021
The Raaja of Music with Spotify India
Dentsu Common Ground
Dentsu Webchutney’s Minisodes
India Takes Charge with ITC Ltd.

2020

Pehle Safety with Google India (1) (2)
Safer for Each Other with Uber
Conversation Starters with Twitter Marketing India
Diwali Easter Egg on Google Search (Sundar’s 2021 Tweet)
The Briefly by Dentsu Webchutney
Interns from Home by Dentsu Webchutney
Wish We’d Done It by Dentsu Webchutney

2019

Leave Your Car Behind with Uber
Seat Faaka Jabena with Uber
On the Safe Side with Google Pay
Stamps Wali Diwali with Google Pay
Google Pay on Social | Twitter & Facebook
Brand Strategy for Eeken by Paragon Footwear
The Ad Fellows by Dentsu Webchutney

2018

Hagglebot with Flipkart
- 2x Cannes Lions 2019
- 6x Spikes Asia 2019 Awards and a Grand Prix in Retail
- 4x EFFIEs India 2019
- 5x Kyoorius Blue Elephants and a Kyoorius Black Elephant
- 7x ABBYs at GoaFest 2019
Lower the Window with Uber
- 4× ABBYs 2019
Jersey Knows No Gender with Uber
- 2× ABBYs 2019
Things by Dentsu Webchutney
Building Dentsu Webchutney’s brand on social.
- 100× on Instagram
- 6.5× on LinkedIn
- 2.7× on YouTube
- 1.9× on Twitter
- 50 original blog posts across the agency

2017

Project Re-Search with Color of Grey Cells
- 1× ABBYs Gold 2018
The Progressive Report Card with KA Edu
Make Snake & 3310’s Launch with Nokia
Diwali’s Perfect Partner with OnePlus

Press & Writing

Dentsu Digital Advertising Report 2021: New E-Commerce: The Rise of Super Apps
IMPACT Magazine: Gaming: The Next Frontier
ET Tech: Signal’s Twitter strikes a chord with Gen Z
ET Tech: Brands Emphasise Strict Guidelines to Avoid Social Media Backlash
ET Tech: The Rise of Thirst Trap Culture among Gen Z Indian Women
ET Tech: #FanArt Gathers Steam in India
Social Samosa: On Twitter Fleets
Medianews4u: Shopping on Instagram Reels
The Economic Times Sunday Magazine: TikTok Finds Favour with India’s Social Media Elite
The Economic Times Sunday Magazine: Tracking India’s ASMR Addiction
The Financial Express: How Brands Are Riding the Meme Wave
Exchange4Media: Game-on: On The Potential for Gaming and Advertisers
The Economic Times Sunday Magazine: Virtual Gifting in India
Business Today: With Bells On
Livemint: Decoding: The Millennial Consumer
AdAge: The Mobile Revolution Will Be Monetized
AdAge India: My First Six Months in Advertising
The New Indian Express: A Journey for Life (Excerpt of Jagriti Yatra)
The Hindu: The Future of Mobile Photography

Site Information

This site is powered by Blot, David Merfield’s excellent static website service.

Words on the site are written using iA Writer. Photos on the site are shot on iPhone and most likely edited on VSCO.

Updated on January 12, 2025