MarTech Interview with Umer Paracha, Head of Marketing at Topsort

Umer, you’ve had a fascinating career path that spans across ecommerce, retail, and D2C brands. Could you walk us through your professional journey so far, and what you’re most passionate about in your work? My career has been an exciting journey through the evolving world of eCommerce, marketing, and digital transformation. I began my career at Rocket Internet GmbH, where I set up Pakistan’s first eCommerce production platform, daraz.pk. We scaled it to over 2 million monthly visitors and made it the country’s #1 marketplace, leading to its acquisition by Alibaba. I then transitioned to Uberflip in Toronto, where I led growth marketing initiatives that generated $5 million in annual recurring revenue. Afterward, at QIAGEN, I implemented a global lead generation strategy that grew MQLs by 800% in just six months and improved lead-to-close rates significantly. Then, during my time at Lansinoh Laboratories, a maternal health brand, I helped scale the eCommerce portfolio and doubled online revenue to over $90 million. Currently, with Topsort, I’m spearheading our global marketing strategy, focusing on democratizing access to AI-powered retail media infrastructure. What I’m most passionate about is helping brands realize the power of retail media in opening a completely new revenue stream, helping their advertisers cut through the noise, and enhancing the shopping experience. At Topsort, I really believe we are making massive strides in edging the industry farther and farther away from the status quo of creepy, annoying advertising.