Meet Manali

We recently connected with Manali and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Manali, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

I’ve always been a big advocate of being your own biggest fan, when people see how you treat yourself, they treat you accordingly.

Confidence and self-esteem is something that develops over time, so it took me years of telling myself I could for me to then start doing it and reflecting that in other areas of my life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m the founder of Small Table Studio, where I work with early-stage startups to build growth engines that actually move the needle, from GTM to onboarding and activation to monetization and retention. I’ve spent my career helping brands find the levers that drive sustainable product growth and I finally get to do it working for myself. I specifically thrive in creating high retaining paid, referral and affiliate channels.

Right now, I’m also building Kairo, an intelligent referral platform that takes the guesswork out of creating and scaling referral channels. Kairo changes these channels to go from “why the f*ck aren’t our customer referring and sharing” to “wait, our referral channel is bringing in HOW MUCH in such a short time?!” instead of “guess referrals don’t work for our business womp”.

What really drives me, though, is supporting people in building their own passions, especially underestimated founders who don’t always get the same access or spotlight. There’s nothing better than helping someone unlock the next stage of their vision and watching them achieve goals they once thought were out of reach!

The through line in everything I do is educating, funding and building.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the three things that shaped my journey the most weren’t things I learned in a textbook, honestly they came from being in the trenches.

First, I’ve always been able to see patterns and connect dots. Whether it’s in how users behave, what a market is ready for, or where a product is getting stuck, I’ve learned to step back, zoom out, and find the levers that actually move the needle. This means taking my ego out of it (as hard as it seems). The quicker you can get the ability to pull out and see the story, the faster things happen.

Second, storytelling has been my superpower. Growth isn’t just about metrics, it’s about getting people to care enough to act and my psychology background has most definitely helped here! Whether I’m helping a founder pitch their vision or launching a new product, it’s all about framing the story so the right people lean in.

Lastly, I’m a doer and that’s carried my much further than I ever thought it would. My career has been a whole bunch of micro experiments that have gone right (and wrong). That scrappiness has been an asset at every stage. It’s not about waiting for permission, it’s just taking incentive and doing it.

For folks early in their journey, my advice is simple!

1. Pay attention to the patterns around you and ask why they work.

2. Share your work and your ideas often, you’ll get better at telling your story by telling it. I know it’s hard and it’s cringe, but if you don’t share, they don’t know.

3. Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Work with what you have and always move forward. There’s never a perfect time!

And above all, especially if you’re an underestimated founder, don’t let the lack of access or spotlight make you play smaller. Some of the best ideas and boldest visions I’ve seen have come from people who were told “no” too many times.

Tell us what your ideal client would be like?

For Small Table Studio, I want to partner with startups that aren’t just chasing top-of-funnel growth, but are equally committed to keeping their product metrics strong. The ideal client is looking for a GTM partner who can help them scale their owned channels and protect activation, retention, and monetization, not turn their product into an acquisition factory with no staying power.

For Kairo, looking to bring on pilot companies that either have a referral program that isn’t delivering, don’t have the bandwidth to keep one running, or want to launch one from scratch. The sweet spot is a business with product-market fit signal that’s ready to turn referrals into a real growth channel, but needs the strategy, testing, and optimization handled for them.

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