Hema Padhu is a startup leader, marketer, and storyteller.

She had worked with 25+ startups to create defensible positioning, a compelling brand, and a repeatable GTM engine.

Startups she’s helped include HoneyBook, Maze, DocSend, Userflow, Vouch, Sunfish, MadKudu, Tilt, and more. Check out her Substack First Impressions.

When she is not working with startups, she’s writing fiction. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Common, New Letters, Pinch, Fourteen Hills, and elsewhere.

Her work has been selected as a finalist for the 2024 Narrative Fall Fiction Prize and has received three Pushcart Nominations. She is working on a short novel and a collection of linked stories.