Yazhini Shanmugam has never viewed a startup as a set of isolated departments. For her, Ticket9 is an interconnected system where every decision echoes across teams, products, and customers. In her recent initiative at Ticket9, she demonstrated what this interconnected thinking looks like in practice. By redesigning the company’s internal assessment process, Yazhini Shanmugam not only challenged her team but also revealed a deeper philosophy about how modern startups should operate one rooted in shared understanding, cross-functional clarity, and collective problem-solving.
In many companies, monthly reviews are predictable routines: each department presents updates within its own boundaries. But Yazhini Shanmugam recognized that predictable routines can create invisible walls. When people stay too close to their job descriptions, they risk losing sight of the bigger picture. Startups, however, rarely operate in straight lines; they move in loops, overlaps, pivots, and rapid shifts. Understanding that reality, Yazhini Shanmugam and her co-founders introduced an internal assessment filled with random questions spanning technology, marketing, sales, post-sales, finance, risk, and product scenarios. The twist was simple but impactful team members received questions outside their expertise.
This wasn’t a test of knowledge; it was a test of perspective. And the approach reflects something Yazhini Shanmugam has emphasized since Ticket9’s early days: when individuals think beyond their seat, they strengthen the whole structure. A startup thrives not because everyone stays in their lane, but because people develop an instinct for how each lane connects. By pushing her team members to address unfamiliar scenarios, Yazhini Shanmugam encouraged them to view Ticket9 in its entirety, not just from their corner of it.
During the exercise, team members had to think scenario-wise instead of task-wise. This shift may sound subtle, but it forms the backbone of resilient startup thinking. Tasks can be completed without context, but scenarios require reasoning, awareness, and anticipation. Yazhini Shanmugam understands that when employees learn to see landscapes instead of checklists, they make decisions that benefit the long-term product rather than the short-term task. Such an environment reduces blind spots, sharpens judgement, and builds a workplace where everyone grows at the pace of the company.
One of the most significant outcomes of the exercise was building cross-functional clarity. In many early-stage companies, departments unintentionally create an unspoken mindset “that’s not my area.” But Yazhini Shanmugam has long believed that this mindset limits potential. When a product issue arises, it is never only a “product issue.” A marketing challenge is never only “marketing.” Every decision sends ripples across the entire system, and by helping the team experience these ripples themselves, Yazhini Shanmugam emphasized that ownership in a startup is not departmental it is collective.
Interestingly, this experiment came after years of running monthly meetups with individual teams. The difference the team felt this time highlights an insight Yazhini Shanmugam consistently embraces: learning breakthroughs often come when routine structures are disrupted. By stepping into someone else’s shoes, employees developed empathy for the pressures, priorities, and decision-making frameworks of other functions. That empathy is not just a soft skill; it is a strategic advantage. In a startup environment, empathy sharpens communication, reduces friction, and speeds up alignment. And alignment, as Yazhini Shanmugam repeatedly demonstrates through Ticket9’s culture, is the core of execution speed.
Another notable dimension of this experiment is how it encourages risk-aware thinking. When team members answer questions about product risks or financial scenarios outside their domain, they start to see the web of consequences behind everyday actions. Yazhini Shanmugam aims to build a team that does not fear risk but understands how to anticipate it. This shift transforms people from task-doers to problem-solvers an essential evolution in any growing company.
Moreover, the exercise revealed something about leadership itself. Leadership is not always about giving direction; sometimes it is about designing experiences that shape thinking. Yazhini Shanmugam didn’t lecture about cross-functional alignment she created a situation where alignment became a natural conclusion. She didn’t tell her team what perspective they needed she engineered an environment where perspective emerged organically. This approach respects the intelligence of the team while pushing them to expand it.
Throughout Ticket9’s journey, Yazhini Shanmugam has positioned learning not as a formal process but as a continuous experiment. The phrase she shared “Small experiments. Big insights.” captures her style of navigating growth. In a rapidly evolving industry, it is not always the grand strategies that create breakthroughs. Sometimes it is the willingness to try something small, simple, and unexpected. For Yazhini Shanmugam, these experiments are not deviations from the path; they are the path itself.
What makes this initiative particularly meaningful is that it strengthens not just competency but confidence. When team members successfully handle questions outside their domain, they build trust in their ability to think expansively. That confidence spills into their daily work and strengthens the entire organization. Yazhini Shanmugam knows that confidence rooted in understanding, rather than assumptions, creates teams that collaborate more effectively and innovate more consistently.
The exercise at Ticket9 is a reminder that learning in startups must evolve just as quickly as the startups themselves. It reflects a broader truth that Yazhini Shanmugam continues to champion: growth is not a department, clarity is not a job title, and perspective is not optional. By encouraging her team to look at Ticket9 from every angle, Yazhini Shanmugam is building a culture where people think in systems, act with awareness, and learn with intention. And in that culture, small experiments truly do lead to big insights.
