Strengthening the Core: Sarang Fegde Joins Podean as CTO and Board Member

Some hires change the headcount. This one changed the platform.

When Sarang Fegde joined Podean as Chief Technology Officer and Board Member, he brought two platforms with him. Not concepts. Not roadmap items. Actual, working technology that was already solving real problems for brands in marketplace commerce.

Sarang was a serial tech entrepreneur and former Amazon executive who spent years inside the machine, leading initiatives across Amazon Advertising, Retail, and Prime Video. He understood how the world's most powerful commerce ecosystem worked from the inside. After Amazon, he founded DemandHelm, a retail media automation and measurement platform that was acquired by a venture-backed CPG company, where he went on to serve as CTO. He had been building ever since.

His two most recent ventures, HypeLinks and OptimizeAds.AI, became part of Podean.

HypeLinks was built to close a gap that brands had been struggling with for years. Social content drove awareness. It sparked interest. But what happened between the scroll and the sale had always been murky. HypeLinks bridged that gap, connecting social engagement directly to marketplace conversion. Not impressions. Not reach. Actual commerce outcomes. Because content was never separate from retail. It had always been part of the funnel. HypeLinks just made that visible.

OptimizeAds.AI tackled a different but equally stubborn problem. Brands running on Amazon were often managing Amazon Ads, DSP, and AMC as separate conversations. Different dashboards, different data, different conclusions. OptimizeAds.AI brought them together into a single retail view, so every bid was informed by what was actually happening on the shelf, not just what was happening on the screen. It was the difference between optimizing a campaign and understanding a business.

Both platforms joined Podean's technology ecosystem alongside Purvey.ai, Streamline, Amerge View, and Amerge Engine. This was what strengthening the core looked like. Sarang's engineering team joined Podean as part of APEX, our AI, Product and Engineering Excellence Team. With 26 expert team members now united under APEX, the focus was clear: build the industry's leading platform for brand growth.

Sarang took the lead on Podean's technology strategy, platform architecture, and AI roadmap. His immediate priority was integration, bringing Podean's growing suite of proprietary tools into a unified operating system for global ecommerce growth. The vision was a single platform that handled full-funnel retail media, end-to-end marketplace operations, and advanced social commerce measurement, all in one place.

This was not a hire made to fill a seat. It was a hire made to accelerate a direction Podean had been moving in deliberately, acquisition by acquisition, tool by tool, market by market.

Podean is on a mission to be the world's strongest growth partner for brands. Every decision, every investment, every addition to the team is measured against that standard. Sarang Fegde and the technology he brought with him cleared it easily.

Welcome to the team, Sarang.