People Behind the Certs – Naman Munot – saasguru

SG: Let’s get started. Why don’t we start from the beginning? Please tell us about your education/ career before entering the Salesforce ecosystem.

NM: I am a graduate from BITS Pilani, the best college of engineering & entrepreneurship in India. I met the CEO & other co-founders of my company through the BITS network. Vishesh, who is the CEO, has been a Salesforce champion since our college days. Before joining Vishesh on the idea of CloudFiles, I have been into core marketing. I launched digital marketing campaigns for socio-political causes before starting my Salesforce career.

SG: That’s awesome. Now we would love to know what was the tipping point when you said, “I want to make this change,” and what was the trigger for that?

NM: In college days, Vishesh launched an app for files that got viral on app exchange. I knew it then. We were both living parallel lives. When I was busy venturing into my marketing initiatives, Vishesh was busy working in founding teams for various Salesforce startups. When he decided to launch his own startup, I was intrigued. He explained how a CRM team in any enterprise typically uses 5-6 document tools for Document Generation, Document Storage, Document Discovery, Document Sharing & E-signatures. Problems with using so many different tools are that these tools don’t talk to each other & add a lot of friction to the sales process. 

Moreover, Sensitive files & customer data are scattered across these platforms, so he came up with the idea of CloudFiles, a Full stack document automation, and sharing platform. This idea really convinced me & I decided on his offer to join the founding team.

SG: You achieved many certs along the way. Can you share three things with us?

1. Why do you value certificates?

2. What are the challenges associated with the process?

3. What are your top tips for being successful in cert exams?

NM: During my prep, I invented some games and techniques to clear the exam in a fun and funky way. 

Tip No.1: 

Play these two games while solving the questions: If you find the preparation boring, these will help you.

1. Alladin & Genie: Imagine the org is Alladin, and the admin (you) are a Genie. Every time the Alladin (org) has a wish, he expresses it to you. All you need to do is to figure out how?
2. Sherlock Holmes: Imagine you are Sherlock and the org is often goofing up and giving you the task of thinking about how to clean the mess it has created. In such questions, you, as the Sherlock admin, have to think about how?

Tip No. 2:

Don’t keep delaying the exam in pursuit of perfection.

It is challenging to complete the theory 100%. It’s so vast. I made the mistake of delaying the exam until I completed the theory 100%. Just give the exam asap after practicing enough questions. Don’t fear failure. Face it.

Tip No. 3:

Practicing Questions makes the exam predictable; else, you’ll always feel lost.

Practice as many questions as you can. It will give you an idea about the kind of questions in the exam. In the first 50 questions, everything will feel difficult. After solving, say, 250 questions, things will become predictable. I personally solved 700+ questions for the exam, and it worked.

Tip No. 4:

Solve the questions backward if you don’t know the answer.

Try the elimination method. Most of the questions in the exam will be new to you, but in 90% of cases, the options will give you a hint. You will be easily able to eliminate 2 wrong options and smart guess from the 2 right ones.

If you follow these tips, you’ll surely crack the exam soon.

SG: What do you enjoy most about your work as a certified Salesforce professional?

NM: The Empathetic Community with a culture of giving & sharing. Salesforce has given me a new identity altogether & I really love being here, talking to extremely skilled people & learning from them. My major role is marketing & it has been a year for me studying the traits of the community. Exploring something new about the community & interacting with trailblazers helping them with their File Storage, Security & Automation issues is something that is a routine to me now & I love being a part of this wonderful community.

SG: Time for gratitude!! Finally, is there anyone (individual or company) that you would like to take this opportunity to thank for their role in helping you along your journey? If Yes, what was their role in your success?

NM: Yes, first of all, I would like to thank the Salesforce Community for accepting me as who I am. Second is our CEO Vishesh Singhal who has been a part of Salesforce for a decade & I want to thank him on behalf of the complete trailblazers community for building CloudFiles which has helped hundreds of Salesforce Architects & Professionals. I also want to thank him & CloudFiles for sponsoring my Salesforce Education & Certification. I then want to thank Sid, Ankit & complete CloudFiles team for introducing me to the fantastic world of Salesforce & walking hands-in-hands every day on this challenging yet exciting startup journey.