---
title: "Zubin Sortee - Career transition in Bengaluru | Tal"
description: "Meet Zubin Sortee, General Manager, B2C Growth | $0 to $12M ARR | P&L | Subscription Monetization | Performance Marketing | Consumer Tech & OTT based in Bengaluru. AI stack includes claude code, gemini, and Wispr Flow."
image: "https://tal.club/meet/zubin-sortee/share-image"
---

# Zubin Sortee on Tal

## Headline

General Manager, B2C Growth \| $0 to $12M ARR \| P&L \| Subscription Monetization \| Performance Marketing \| Consumer Tech & OTT

## About

GM with an engineering\-to\-product\-to\-business arc — IIT Jodhpur → XLRI Jamshedpur → software engineer → product leader → P&L owner\. Most recently at Kuku FM, I scaled Kuku TV from zero to $12M ARR as General Manager — full P&L ownership, $12M\+ in performance marketing, cross\-functional team of 8, reporting directly to the CEO\. Before that, four years building the product surfaces underneath the growth numbers: search, discovery, gamification, and subscription monetisation on Kuku FM's audio platform\. Running a high\-spend growth pod taught me something I couldn't have learned any other way: performance marketing is a distribution channel, not a growth engine\. When the spend goes up, the revenue follows\. When it comes down, so does everything else\. I saw it clearly because I owned both sides — the marketing budget and the product users were supposed to stay for\. The gap between them was the real problem\. What I want to build next is a growth system where that gap doesn't exist — where the product earns retention and the marketing amplifies it\. I'm looking for roles where sustainable user engagement is the actual mandate, not a metric that gets reviewed when acquisition slows down\. If you're building a B2C consumer business and the real question is how to make revenue durable — let's talk\.

## Location

Bengaluru

## AI stack

claude code

gemini

Wispr Flow

## Work experience

Career transition at Career Break, Aug 2025 \- Present · 1 yr 1 mo

General Manager \- Business at Kuku FM, Apr 2024 \- Jul 2025 · 1 yr 4 mos, Bangalore Urban, • Scaled Kuku TV from $0 to $12M ARR with full P&L accountability; built and led a cross\-functional growth pod of 8, reporting directly to the CEO\. • Managed uncapped performance marketing budget \(\~$12M\+ annualised\), governed by CAC targets; maintained sustainable CAC\-to\-LTV ratios through hyper\-growth\. • Cut CAC payback from 7 to 3 months via Quarterly Plan; boosted upfront cash collection by 2\.5x and improved subscription LTV\. • Designed and scaled a microtransaction coin economy for Kuku FM's South India region — established free content thresholds via behavioural experimentation, engineered tiered pack pricing to drive AOV escalation, and lifted returning user AOV by 170–180%; reached $120K MRR with 70% ROAS in 60 days\. • Lifted trial opt\-in rate from 12% to 15% through structured A/B tests on paywall design, onboarding flows, and offer sequencing\. • Led GTM for English audio vertical 'Woke'; built product from scratch and reached $100K ARR in 3 months with zero prior brand equity\. • Built an AI\-powered creative generation tool independently; produced 30 ads/hour, saving 25 person\-hours/day in marketing operations\.

Senior Product Manager \- Growth and Engagement at Kuku FM, Jul 2022 \- Mar 2024 · 1 yr 9 mos, Bengaluru, • Integrated BytePlus recommendation engine across home and discovery surfaces; lifted CTR and listen\-time by 25% through ML\-driven content ranking\. • Rebuilt search using Algolia with trope\-based ranking; increased Search\-to\-Play conversion by 20% and improved long\-tail catalogue discoverability\. • Conceptualised and shipped 'Collections' and 'New & Hot' discovery features; increased show impressions per user by 12% with 10% feature adoption at launch\. • Designed 'Daily Challenges' gamification feature; increased active user engagement by 17% within 30 days of launch\.

Product Manager \- Growth and Monetisation at Kuku FM, Jan 2022 \- Jul 2022 · 7 mos, Bengaluru, • Tripled annual subscription renewal rates from 10% to 30% by deploying an automated, age\-segmented discount engine\. • Co\-led implementation of monthly subscription billing; drove a 25% increase in first\-transaction revenue and free\-to\-paid conversion\.

Summer Intern at 3M, Apr 2019 \- May 2019 · 2 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, Designed GTM strategy for 3M's eCommerce entry into Oral Care; forecasted $1M\+ revenue potential via online channel based on primary research with dentists across Bengaluru\.

Software Engineer at Times Internet, Oct 2014 \- May 2018 · 3 yrs 8 mos, Noida, • Led end\-to\-end launch of IAG app on Google Play Store; acquired 100K\+ users within the first month\. • Owned Live Cricket Scores and Live Election Tracker within News Point — 10M\+ clicks/views; among the first apps in India to launch a native live election tracker on Android\. • Built and shipped core engagement features for News Point, a 5M\+ MAU Android platform; worked directly with PMs on feature prioritisation and delivery\.

Engineer at Samsung Research Institute, Jun 2013 \- Sep 2014 · 1 yr 4 mos, Noida, Network stack analysis across 3\+ smartphone launches, ensuring 99\.9% service stability at production scale\.

## Education

Post Graduate Diploma In Management \(MBA Equivalent\), Business Management, XLRI Jamshedpur

Bachelor of Technology \(B\.Tech\.\), Computer Science, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur

[View the original profile](https://tal.club/meet/zubin-sortee)

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