The adtech ecosystem was in for a rude shock when the news of the death of WebChutney CEO Sidharth Rao surfaced on the internet
Sidharth Rao, 43, suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on April 21 at his home in Karjat. Rao is survived by his wife and parents
Sidharth Rao founded India’s one of the most prominent digital agencies, WebChutney in 1999. It was later acquired by Dentsu in 2013
In July 2021, Sidharth Rao was chosen to serve as the global CEO of Dentsu McGarrybowen
Dentsu won awards for ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ for Vice Media at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2022
In September last year, Sidharth Rao also partnered with serial entrepreneur Madhu Sudan to launch a new venture in the marketing technology (MarTech) space called Punt Partners
In an interview, Sidharth Rao, recalled how in 2007, a deal with MakeMyTrip failed to take off and WebChutney was in great financial stress
Apparently, Sidharth Rao at that time told his team, “I will find the money – and until that happens, I won’t change my shirt.” True to his word, he wore the same shirt for 21 days at a stretch before finding an investor to fund him
In a LinkedIn post, Dentsu WebChutney described Rao as the ‘superboss’ who “ensured that we worked hard and partied even harder”