Anchor List: Gokul Rajaram, Caviar Lead at Doordash
The Anchor List recognizes extraordinary operators in the startup ecosystem. Learn more at anchorlist.com
In our highlight reel of top startup operators, Gokul Rajaram deserves special mention for leading product at a cadre of impressive companies, most recently the food ordering and delivery service Caviar (formerly at Square, now at Doordash).
“Frictionless self-serve products win.”
After receiving his MBA from MIT, Gokul served as the first Product Manager for Google AdSense, then as Product Director of Ads at Facebook, and finally Caviar Lead at both Square and Doordash (which acquired Caviar from Square in 2019). Throughout these companies, Gokul’s success highlights the value of having a bias toward action.
In 2003, despite already possessing a full-time PM role at Google, Gokul volunteered to be the PM in charge of developing Google AdSense. Under Gokul’s leadership, AdSense would launch only 6 months later as one of the fastest-growing products of all time, hitting $100M in annualized revenue in under half a year. In advising other PMs, Gokul is quick to recommend this go-getter strategy as a method for building a creative career path, advising “Don’t let your day job deter you from raising your hands for interesting projects.” Despite its long nights and intense work, Gokul reflects fondly on this experience, including a 2 AM launch night with Google founder Sergey Brin.
In his products themselves, this bias toward action shines through. To use AdSense, a customer simply had to sign up and add some simple code to their site. They did not, for instance, have to undergo a review process with Google before serving ads and receiving money. This minimized-friction approach formed the foundation for AdSense’s record-setting growth, particularly with its international audience. As Gokul puts it: “Frictionless self-serve products win.”
Of course, no product manager is completely without mistakes. At Facebook, Gokul would make his biggest product misstep: despite launching with great fanfare, Facebook’s first page amplification feature—a monthly subscription—performed terribly with small business customers. Gokul and his team had underestimated the importance that small business owners place on control. When his team turned the subscription requirement, this same product (now known as “sponsored page posts”) would become a smashing success, foundational to Facebook advertising. When advising up-and-coming PMs, Gokul is quick to point out the key lesson from this journey: “Failure can lead to success if you treat it as a learning moment and take time to analyze the root cause.”
In featuring Gokul on the Anchor List, we’re particularly proud of his action-oriented attitude and continual drive to move forward. At four top startups, Gokul has rapidly developed new products and iterated quickly to satisfy customers and accelerate growth.