Chaos in the Cockpit: Inside the CEO’s Office | by Gauri Bansal | May, 2025 | Medium

I texted a friend half-jokingly at 2:30 am in June 2021—fried, exhilarated, unsure if I was experiencing a breakthrough or a breakdown. The day began with a 7 am product debrief, rolled into multiple sales reviews and COVID relief activations, before the blow hit: government scrutiny, FIRs, and a media storm around policy issues. The next 11 hours blurred into crisis management—syncing legal, policy, comms, handling safety threats, sending hourly leadership updates, managing internal sentiment, and shaping our response in real time. It felt like living five roles in one day, none of which could wait. In March 2020, I jumped onto the rocketship that was Twitter (now X) to lead the India MD’s office. At age 22, I had front-row seats to one of the world’s biggest tech companies navigating its toughest market. Back then, Founder’s/CEO’s Office roles were rare—usually championed by leaders exposed to global setups who saw value in having function-agnostic operators. Today, they’re everywher

I texted a friend half-jokingly at 2:30 am in June 2021—fried, exhilarated, unsure if I was experiencing a breakthrough or a breakdown. The day began with a 7 am product debrief, rolled into multiple sales reviews and COVID relief activations, before the blow hit: government scrutiny, FIRs, and a media storm around policy issues. The next 11 hours blurred into crisis management—syncing legal, policy, comms, handling safety threats, sending hourly leadership updates, managing internal sentiment, and shaping our response in real time. It felt like living five roles in one day, none of which coul