Sanjay Pothen is an experienced finance and operations executive with deep experience in Media, Telecom, Software and Services companies ranging from pre-revenue to $100m.

Today, Sanjay serves as a strategic partner to CEOs, executive teams, and Boards as a fractional or interim CFO, CEO and COO. He specializes in helping to scale early-stage companies profitably. Additional areas of emphasis include strategy, KPI/growth metrics, budgeting/forecasting/cash management, debt & equity financing, as well as establishment and scaling of finance and operational processes.

Sanjay is a two-time entrepreneur as well as an experienced turnaround operator:

• As CEO of Digilant ($100m adtech company) in the U.S., Sanjay formulated and implemented the strategic plan to re-position the company and return it to profitability.
• As CEO of Phonevalley (Publicis Groupe’s mobile unit) in the U.S., Sanjay launched and built the company from the ground up to the country’s largest pure play mobile marketing agency.
• As founding CEO of Pliq (a pioneering mobile video content startup), Sanjay wrote the business plan, raised venture capital funding, and took the company from 0 to 1 with it ultimately becoming the foundation for the McDonald’s Channel.

Earlier in his career, Sanjay spent a decade in management consulting (with firms like Arthur D. Little and IBM Services) advising telecommunications and media companies on strategy, operations, and IT issues. He began his career in audit and tax services at Ernst & Young.

Sanjay is a charter member of TiE, a global nonprofit organization focused on supporting entrepreneurs throughout the startup lifecycle. He also teaches entrepreneurship at Emerson College.

Sanjay received his B.S. at the University of California at Berkeley and his M.B.A. at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.