Any service-based company founder I meet, invariably at least once mention that they want to build a product or they want to make a transition from service-based to product-based business! 😀
While many entrepreneurs are pursuing it, very few succeed.
To learn the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in this pursuit, "Transitioning from IT Services to SaaS Products" was organized by eChai Ventures at IIMA Ventures.
Yash Shah shared his experiences of a successful transition for Service based to SaaS product company and we had some insightful interactions on various points.
Some of the learning nudgets from the meetup:
👉 Start promoting product as soon as you start building product not after it is ready to launch. Most of the founders wait till MVP is ready and then start looking for initial customers to get their feedback. Instead of that, it was suggested that it is preferred to start searching for clients as soon as the development of the product starts.
👉 The challenges we face in service based company would be more or less same ( client not paying on time, employees churn rate, etc.) even when the company is scaled. While in SaaS company, as the product scales, the problems would be different at each stage of 100 customers, 10000 customers or a million customers. So, as a founder, you have to be prepared for managing new challenges and finding solution for it.
👉 Customers can come up with N number of requests or features in your product. It is not advisable to go for building each feature that is requested. Customization can be done up to some level but you have to put some line to it. If customer is ready for paying customization, that then can be prioritized.
👉 Having a product based company requires a completely different mindset than having a service based company. So, if you are trying both then keep both the teams separate and do not mix them up.
Overall, it was a great learning experience and interacting.
Kudos to Jatin Chaudhary for his efforts to bring all the people together. Looking forward to attending more knowledge sharing sessions.
If you are fundraising in 2024, then you should read this post.
Recently attended a startup event "Fundraising for Startups" as a panelist. As the only startup founder among the VC panelists, it was interesting to hear their perspectives and provide my own. The event was organized by HSBC in collaboration with eChai Ventures.
1. Dry powder money is still there and startups with clear vision and execution are getting funded. 2. The time for due diligence has increased and therefore, having enough runway is important before fundraising. 3. AI as a use case is certainly a favorite area but not the only one attracting funding. 4. College degrees are not that pertinent anymore as long as you have a solid business understanding and team (Lots of non-IIT and non-IIM founders are emerging) - alumni network may open doors but won’t convert only on basis of college.
Money flows where the innovation is and India now has the 3rd largest startup ecosystem in the world. In Q1 2024, Indian startups raised a total of $2 billion fund and added three unicorns to its fleet in 2024 so far - fintech SaaS Perfios, Bhavish Aggarwal's AI venture Krutrim and Logistics startup Porter. While overall investor sentiment has been cautious, the funding winter scenario is a bit milder than expected as the growth of the Indian economy encourages investment in new ventures.
Overall, lots of new learnings with old and familiar faces. Thanks to Jatin for bringing us all together to share our learnings and network with fellow founders, investors, and industry leaders. Looking forward to more such events in the future.
I had an amazing time speaking at the recent D2C Day event organized by eChai Ventures It was an honor to be part of such a dynamic and inspiring gathering.
The energy in the room was electric, and the level of talent and curiosity in the audience made me optimistic about where India's digital ecosystem is heading.
Sharing my journey with Minicult.in, from starting in my nephew's room to a Brand, was truly exciting for me. We also had a fantastic Q&A session, answering many insightful questions from the audience.
A huge shoutout to Jatin Chaudhary for organizing such a fantastic event and to eChai Ventures for being the perfect event partner and Nanda Kumar for hosting the panel and keeping the conversation dynamic and engaging!
It was wonderful to share the panel with Inderjeet Kaur Indy ↗️. Your insights were invaluable!
Met some awesome folks during my trip to Singapore where I also hosted the eChai Singapore meetup – Anupama Singal and Vikram Bharati 🌟 Doing seriously cool stuff in their worlds. 😎
Anu comes from such rich experience of being one of the key leaders who shaped Levi Strauss & Co. especially in Asia. She has then moved to build bigger things with her three own startup’s. At SLICeR. she has cracked visualising data for non-data folks!
Vikram is the most chill “bartender” who is the brain behind Draper Startup House and now is building this visionary community called “Draper Nation” - a Bitcoin native nation
Feeling pumped and ready for more meetings like these!
A discussion all about selling as an early-stage startup, building marketplace businesses, the maturing SaaS landscape in Asia, breaking silos and more with:
Oizom, a leader in the Environmental Monitoring domain, is hiring a Hardware Lead to join our innovative team in Ahmedabad! If you're passionate about embedded systems, IoT, and making a real impact on the environment, this could be the perfect role for you.
📍 Location: Ahmedabad, India (In-Office)
Don't miss this chance to be part of a team that's driving change through technology!
Couple of months back, we had the graduation for SGx5 cohort in Goa. SGx is a 16 week pay-it-forward program by SaaSBoomi where founders of early stage
#saas companies go through growth acceleration with mentors and wingmates who have been through the curve.
About a year ago, Anupama and I had the good fortune of being part of the SGx4 cohort for Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup). Our learnings were crisp, clear and actionable.
They helped us with improving our account activations, getting a handle on our ICP and focusing on the right metrics. I also witnessed them helping my batchmates with their US GTM, going about category creation and setting up sales processes.
If you are a SaaS company doing $500K to $1.5M in ARR, link to apply to SGx6 is in the first comment.
Here's what you can expect if you are selected: - Goal setting and weekly check-ins for your GTM - Sat morning calls to hold you accountable every week - Play-books on things you think you already know but you don't - like SEO, outbound, PPC etc - 2 founders who will work with you and get their hands dirty, and most valuable of all - Genuine community that also happens to be the world's largest pay-it-forward community for SaaS.
With over 20 years of experience in the food and grocery retail business, I’ve realized that the industry can become more viable and popular by focusing on a few key areas. Now is the time to share these insights and offer guidance to a broader audience, particularly by connecting with small retailers beyond our franchise network.
In this series of videos/reels, I’ve discussed these topics in detail, including retail consumer insights, essential dos and don’ts in the food and grocery sector, and the emerging trends and role of technology in making food and grocery retail more effective.
There’s something truly special about hosting eChai Ventures Social meetups on the AllEvents terrace. With a stunning view and a relaxed, welcoming vibe, it’s the perfect setting to unwind and connect with fellow entrepreneurs.
These gatherings are agenda-free, allowing ideas to flow naturally. Conversations range from the latest AI trends and innovative marketing strategies to the challenges of running a business. The insights shared are always refreshing, and the atmosphere on the terrace adds an extra layer of inspiration.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome our eChai friends to AllEvents. The combination of great company, stimulating discussions, and that unbeatable terrace vibe makes each meetup memorable. Looking forward to many more inspiring evenings ahead.
I'm thrilled to share that I recently attended the eChai Ventures Meet-up at DevX Vadodara. It was an incredible opportunity to delve into the world of creating a D2C brand.
During the session, we had an insightful session with Swati Vakharia. She shared her journey candidly, offering many valuable takeaways for fellow entrepreneurs.
Key highlights included:
- Her Shark Tank Journey - Strategies to prevent third-party suppliers from selling her formulations. - Balancing work and family life while being an Mother. - Importance of Creating an amazing work culture within her company. - Effective marketing on Instagram and Meta for her target group. - Leveraging the Amazon marketplace alongside Myntra, Nykaa, and Tira.
A special thanks to our host Deeti Dave and Jatin Chaudhary for their efforts in making this session possible. I'm looking forward to attending more such events.
Meet Vaishvi Bansal , a former founder of StarYup Ventures, turned investor and now serving as a Portfolio Manager at Marwari Catalysts
Marwari Catalysts is an accelerator program that invests in early-stage startups. They first provide mentorship for 3 months and then invest in the startups, offering guidance across all segments of the business.
🌟 Favorite Startup: Cloud Kitchen Prasadam 🌟 She shared that one of her favourite startups is a cloud kitchen that prepares Prasad and sends it directly to customers' homes.
📌 Tips for Aspiring Founders:
1. Do Your Research: Vaishvi advises founders to thoroughly research and approach venture capitalists who specifically invest in their sector. Understanding the investor’s focus area can significantly increase your chances of securing funding
2. Tailor Your Pitch: When preparing to pitch, it’s crucial to tailor your presentation to the specific requirements of the investor. A personalized pitch demonstrates that you’ve done your homework and are serious about your venture.
📚 Vaishvi's Recommendations: • Atomic Habits by James Clear: Vaishvi highly recommends this book, which has been instrumental in her journey. It teaches how small, consistent actions can lead to significant impact over time—valuable advice for any founder
• Inc42 Media Newsletter: Stay updated on the latest startup trends, news, and insights by subscribing to this newsletter.
Upon being asked what she enjoys most, Vaishvi shares that she enjoyed her time as a founder more than as an investor. Why? Because as a founder, you get to build everything from scratch—a process she finds incredibly exciting.
Reach out to Vaishvi Bansal if you are looking for investment for Startups.
Key Takeaways from Vaishvi Bansal: ✅ Enjoy the startup journey and embrace the challenges of building from scratch. ✅ Research and approach investors who align with your sector. ✅ Customize your pitch to match the investor's specific interests and requirements. ✅ Consistency is key—small habits can create big impacts.
I would like to thanks Vaishvi Bansal and other panelist Aditi Sinha and Ashna Agarwal for sharing their insights and tips for the investment.
P.S. Feel free to reach out to me, Bhavik Gupta and follow Startups Manch, if you’re interested in startups, funding, finding innovative ideas, or exploring new opportunities.
Amazing sharing an open conversation on "Basics Of Startup Fundraising" with Samson, Angad, Nivin, and all the incredible folks who joined us at Draper Startup House.
💗Founders, Techies, Creators and Marketers - all under one roof one evening!! What an amazing turnout it was... 💯at Draper Startup House organised by eChai Ventures!!
After all, who doesn't want it?? And doesn't get excited about it??
Right from #SteveJobs to an Aman Gupta!! And that's exactly what Penchala Tharun 🚀, the dynamic host made us do - think, ask, grill, imagine, visualize, find answers and have some serious fun.
As an experienced #BrandMarketer, it was always on my list to:
1. Quash doubts about Marketing for Startups - especially in Tech domain. 2. Clear misconceptions around Budgeting for Marketing 3. Guide them on how to go about GTM. 4. How to crack the Sales/Investor Pitch or Presentation. 5. And last but most important, the DON'Ts! 💗 I did try my best to address these in the short span of time that we had. If you still have any queries, please feel free to DM or write to: [email protected]
At Momentum91, we've been hard at work understanding AI and their use-cases for mid-market and large firms. Late last week, I had the opportunity to share everything we've learnt so far with eChai Ventures at GVFL Limited.
Here are some notes:
👉 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 Other people also have AI. A lot of folks are building on top of AI and so there is increased competition in almost every vertical. Every niche software has like 3 bootstrapped competitors who are going to market via SEO. Also, product differentiators are difficult to communicate in the age of low attention spans. If you are starting distribution today, it needs a thorough re-imagination.
👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰/𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐀𝐈 Instead of building systems that are kind of smarter at doing a lot of things, you might want to consider building multiple and separate systems that are very smart at doing a few things extremely well. Enterprises/companies will separately pay for solving specific problem areas and addressing their use-cases. The game is depth, not breadth.
👉 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Companies like ClickUp and Notion have done an amazing job at bringing AI within their products. But they are still not AI native. They were conceptualised when AI was not around. They have fit AI retrospectively. There is a large opportunity for building Native AI experiences. Platforms and products that are conceptualised from ground-up in the age of AI. An example of this is a project management system where I can assign tasks to both humans and agents. It will demand a lot of capital and ingenuity but it can be done. Here's a good question to ask: What other 'systems of records' exist that can be made AI native?
👉 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 AI will solve for analysis, predictions, pattern recognition etc. Most firms do not have accurate data. If you can figure out a way for a business to collect accurate data about their prospects, customers, employees, products, sales, etc - using AI, you can do anything and everything. Figure out a way as to how you will solve for collection, storage and organisation of accurate data.
There were a few other things that we discussed.
👉 Co-pilot and Autopilots 👉 AI wrappers 👉 AI & Funding 👉 Verticalising LLMs 👉 AI Safety 👉 Real-life implementations of AI by companies we have not heard about
This conversation was meant to be a starting point for folks thinking about building in the AI space. It was by no means exhaustive - but sort of a summary of all the research Harsh, Jay, Koushikram and I have been doing for the past few months.
If you want the deck, let me know in the comments and I'll send it over 😇
Our resident entrepreneurs got to pitch their hearts out, and the feedback they received was pure gold. The energy was unreal!
But it wasn’t just about funding. What made this week extra special were the amazing backstories these VCs shared—from an Airforce veteran turned VC, to a DJ turned VC, to a super young college grad already making waves in the venture world. These stories were pure inspiration, especially for anyone thinking about starting their journey in VC.
We also hosted two panel events with these incredible VCs, attracting nearly 200+ attendees! It was a blast and a huge success for our community.
Innovative D2C Strategies Unveiled at 🛍 D2C Bangalore Mixer!
Our recent meetup at Netcore's Bangalore office with D2C pioneers from SOQO, Iyurved, #JohnJacobs (Lenskart.com) lit the way for mastering the digital-first brand journey. ✨
Key takeaways from the panelists: 🌱 Janvi Tiwari - showcased strategies for niche product success through strong community engagement, setting a blueprint for brands that truly connect.
💡 Vandita Tewari - explored the rising ROAS challenge, offering insights on smart customer acquisition and distribution efficiency.
📈 Shivam Tiwari - mastered the art of scaling campaigns within large brands. It's about balancing reach and relevance to cut through the noise.
These leaders prove that strategic growth, community engagement, and smart decisions drive D2C success. 🎯
Amidst the festivities, a lady found herself in a tricky spot—without access to period products at such a high-profile event. Don’t be surprised this is a stark reality at ALL PLACES not just here but also 5 star hotels, schools, museum or any public place for that matter.
In her moment of need, SOQO stepped in with our leakproof undies literally meant to save the day for unexpected leaks including sogginess from pee, periods, discharge or sweat proving that we’re here to make a difference in real-life situations. 🌟 so glad this picture also made it to peoplessamachar 🥰✨
I attended several meet-ups organized by eChai Ventures, and it was such a cool experience. As a teenager who's just starting out in the world of startups and AI, getting the chance to meet new people and hear their stories was eye-opening.
Every conversation helped me see things from different angles and broadened my perspective. Networking isn’t just for seasoned professionals it's for anyone who's eager to learn, share ideas, and grow.
I'm grateful for these opportunities to connect with others who are as passionate as I am about innovation and creativity. Thank you eChai Ventures & Jatin Chaudhary for creating such a welcoming space for young minds to explore and engage!
eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner, helping them expand market reach, drive revenue growth, amplify brand visibility, and strengthen hiring efforts.
eChai Ventures is a global startup network connecting entrepreneurs through local meetups in 20+ cities worldwide, enabling cross-border collaborations via startup panels, demo days, cricket, and pickleball leagues.
