Ahana Banerjee from Clear (YC W21): The Founder's Path to 3M+ Views

👉🏼 Description:
Tune in as Ahana unpacks what it takes to reach 3M+ social views, why turning that into a creator course for founders didn’t go as planned, and what she learned along the way.

👉🏼 About the Guest:

Ahana Banerjee is the founder of Clear (YC W21), a free mobile app that lets users track and share their skincare routines and buy products. Banerjee suffered from cystic acne before launching the app, which uses selfie analysis data to offer cosmetic brands insights into their products' efficiency. Valued at $15 million, Clear has partnered with more than 3,000 brands, has 50,000+ users on the app, and has about $1 million in VC funding. 

👉🏼 About the Host:

Shriya Nevatia (50K+ followers on LI and X) has been building community for 12+ years for founders, investors, and builders around the world. She launched the On Deck Catalyst community for elite global young leaders, helped hundreds of women start angel investing at The Council Capital, and founded The Violet Society, a pre-accelerator for female & non-binary startup founders.

 

👉🏼 Timestamps:

• 00:00: Episode Highlight
• 00:25: Intro to Taste & Tactics
• 00:43: Intro to Ahana, Y Combinator founder of Clear
• 03:05: How Ahana's personal skincare journey helped her grow her company
• 04:22: Mastering social media for a consumer startup
• 11:00: Breaking down social media followers by channel
• 12:29: How to balance new experiments with data-driven posting
• 17:50: How Ahana's social media growth led her to spin out a whole new product
• 19:50: Why the same content can't be used across separate platforms
• 22:55: The impact of social media on Ahana's startup
• 28:57: Why creating a course matters
• 30:32: How to tweak your course so it stays relevant
• 34:54: Creating high-retention strategies for your own course
• 40:41: What is the definition of taste?
• 44:50: Learnings and takeaways from the episode
• 46:56: Outro

👉🏼 Where to find Ahana:

• LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/ahana-banerjee
• Twitter:  https://x.com/ahanabanana 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahanabanana/
• Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ahana__banana
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ahanabanerjee
• Clear: https://getclearapp.com
• Clear LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clear-app 
• Clear Twitter: https://x.com/getclearapp  
• Clear Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getclearapp
  
  

👉🏼 Where to find Shriya:

• Twitter: https://x.com/shriyanevatia
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shriyanevatia/
• Taste & Tactics Twitter: https://x.com/tasteandtactics
• Taste & Tactics Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tasteandtactics/
• Taste & Tactics TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tasteandtactics
• Taste & Tactics LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/taste-and-tactics
• Taste & Tactics YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tasteandtactics 
• Taste & Tactics Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72Xgo0svsNOKkCdWQnaggM
  
  

What is Taste & Tactics?

Taste & Tactics breaks down the real playbooks behind iconic products, told by the people who built them.

Each episode goes deep on one bold launch: what sparked the idea, how it reached the right audience, and the moves that made it stick.

Hosted by Shriya Nevatia, the show is made for founders, marketers, and brand builders who are sick of vague advice and want practical frameworks.