It was an interesting evening spent with services founders discussing about transitioning from services to SaaS at GVFL Limited. Here are some notes on what we discussed:

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫
In my limited experience, doing both services business and a SaaS business together is extremely difficult. Both of them require more than your full time attention and come with very nuanced problems to be solved. Some founders are able to do it. Most companies that do this achieve a really large scale in one of those two and then start the second one. I wouldn't recommend.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠
As a service business, pricing is simpler. It is cost + margin. In SaaS however, it is difficult to arrive at a cost based pricing. Most folks recommend value based pricing but in early stages, it is unclear - the amount of value your SaaS will build for your customers. I'd recommend competitor benchmarking and then speaking to a lot of customers while running experiments. Pricing, much like user research, is an on-going exercise. It is never complete. Hubspot is $2B in ARR - changes pricing every 6 months.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭
I wrote a post about building trust as a SaaS company a while back. Here's the link --> https://lnkd.in/dTVuX_9F

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤
At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), we tried over 10 GTM experiments. 3 of them worked. The one that worked best was building resources that answered our prospect's most difficult questions (not ebooks, not blogs - but spreadsheets or cheat-sheets). We got about 17K subscribers for these resources. 5K of them became our customers over next 18 months.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
As a services company, we are comfortable with monthly ticket sizes of $4K to $15K. SaaS most likely is 500 times less than that. Building comfort with small ticket recurring payments takes some adjustment. Having customers who you've never spoken to also takes some adjustment.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦
Services business has Clients and these Clients have requirements. SaaS companies have customer cohorts and these cohorts have problems. The mindset required to deal with clients vs customer cohorts is very different. Building that thought process within yourself and the team becomes important. The team will have to go from understanding requirements and giving quotes to listening to problems and identifying insights.

There were a couple more things discussed as well. Do join in the next time if you are around. Thank you Jatin and eChai Ventures for having me in this conversation.

Why do I go to eChai Ventures events?

1) I just love what Jatin Chaudhary does 💙💛

2) I get to listen to the most amazing founders 'up close'! 👍

3) It is like therapy, helps me reflect about myself and Because, so much better! 💬

4) get to meet curious young fellows ⁉️

5) and be able to generate this kind of LinkedIn posts 😁

When I came to the city of Indore, I found it in the languid pace of a city that was doing business at its own pace. It isn't wrong but for me, coming from an almost mega city, I found it slow.

Then comes eChai Ventures and a talk with Jatin Chaudhary and I got the opportunity to put the Indore city on the Startup Map. So far, we have had hundreds of echai events / meets pan India and internationally with thousands of startups associated with us.

Currently, I am a proud member of eChai and have been connecting with startups and businesses ever since my association 9 years back!

(Here's today's article in Dainik Bhaskar about the communities and their role in Indore's Startup ecosystem. My byte about it is here)

This past Saturday, I had breakfast with 4 amazing founders and snagged two leads for my own #MicroSaaS!🤩

In a small, relaxed setting like a cafe, conversations become incredibly focused and insightful.

Here's why I loved it 👇🏻

✅ Deep Dives: Each founder had the chance to delve into their product and their current challenges. It was a true exchange of ideas and experiences.

✅ Candid Connections: Unlike the usual "pitch perfect" environment, the breakfast table fostered open dialogue. Everyone felt comfortable sharing honestly, without fear of judgment.

This "Breakfast Social" format proved to be a fantastic way to:

Learn from Each Other 🙌🏻 We all gained valuable insights from hearing each other's stories and perspectives.

Build Stronger Connections 🥂 The relaxed setting fostered deeper connections than a typical networking event.

Understand the Ecosystem ✨ It provided a valuable glimpse into the current startup landscape.

Who's interested in joining the next Breakfast Social? ‍👀

 Yesterday marked one of my first public appearances as a Co-Founder of AirX Innovations at the eChai Ventures event hosted at GUSEC (Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council).

Sharing my journey as an entrepreneur and introducing AirX Innovations to the audience was an exhilarating experience. We are passionately committed to delivering clean air solutions, and it was incredible to see the spark in the eyes of the audience as we unveiled a pre-trailer of our product at end of the event. Their positive feedback and enthusiasm reaffirmed our mission to disrupt the market in both the D2C and B2B segments.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we gear up to launch our website soon! In the meantime, follow our journey and connect with us on social media:

Together, let’s breathe clean air and innovate for a sustainable future! 

Yesterday, I attended the Ahmedabad Startup Summit hosted by eChai Ventures

It was a privilege to attend the event as various entrepreneurs shared their startup journeys and wisdom.

I want to thank Jatin Chaudhary for organizing this event and hosting the best entrepreneurs in the town.

Additionally, I enjoyed listening to my friend Pratik Patel entrepreneurial journey,

that has always inspired someone like me who respects taking risks and taking huge leaps.

His story is also inspiring for brands and companies struggling to launch public offerings.

Pratik Patel has been planning to launch an IPO for his brand ever since 2016 but has encountered many challenges on the way.

Now, after eight years (2023), he has finally reached the stage.

The challenges and journey he shared are commendable and I wish him all the best for his new adventure.

It takes perseverance, risk-taking ability, and constant work to be an entrepreneur, 

And I greatly respect the entrepreneurial journeys shared at the Ahmedabad Startup Summit.

What are some of the qualities you admire most in entrepreneurs?

Every week, we host two eChai Meetups in Bengaluru: one in Koramangala at Draper Startup House and the other in HSR Layout at Urban Vault.

Today also, we have two engaging meetups happening:

- Product Growth Meetup at Urban Vault, HSR Layout, from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Speakers:

- Prakhar Doshi, Head of Product, GalaxEye Space
- Gunjan Maheshwari, Product - Global Ecommerce, Dell
- Maitri H. Modi, Product, Upraised

- Basics of Fundraising for Startups at Draper Startup House, Koramangala, from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Speakers:

- Rinky Pandey, Founder, Upward ROI
- Nivin Joseph, Head of Community & Partnerships, Draper Startup House
- Samson Mathew, VC, 888vc
- Angad Singh Sodhi, Climate Tech Investments, Capital-A (Manjushree Capital Advisors)

Free registration at https://lnkd.in/dsb9qjFX

Karan Bahadur l Mansi Baheti l Amal Mishra l Devishree A l Simran Chanda

Here are a few things I noticed while joining Bhavesh from Brands.live, Amit from AllEvents and Mahendra from Matrubharti to talk about scaling startups and businesses.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠:
Couple of questions had an interesting undertone. A 'no' from an investor was being taken as a validation on whether or not their startup could work.

I think that an investor could say no for great many reasons. Ultimately, a founder should try to look at their startup as a financial product in an asset class. It will be difficult to do so - but it has to be done while pitching.

This financial product needs to be put in front of atleast 100 investors before we take their responses as a validation. It is a full time activity for 1 founder for 4 months.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬:
Some bits were being asked around 'how to get customers to change their habits/behaviour?'

An arguable opinion of mine about this is that we should not. Changing consumer/customer habits is extremely difficult and an expensive exercise. We must understand that we will have to learn to fall out of love for our idea and build what the market wants.

Atleast in B2B, more often than not, change management is a huge responsibility that no-one on the client side wants to take. As long as you are cheaper, better or faster at enabling them to save time, save money or make more money - that should do the trick.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬:
Couple of interesting hacks were being shared around handling and dealing with negative reviews. These ranged from 'responding to negative reviews quickly' to 'offering the reviewer something for free'.

While these are great for consumer brands, they don't work for B2B. For B2B SaaS, the customer doesn't leave a review. They just churn. At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), Anupama and I had a strict schedule of speaking to 1 churned customer every week and we invested significantly in ways to identify churn related behaviours to detect early signals.

After $100K in MRR, a SaaS company is more of a retention game than an acquisition game.

👉 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬:
Everyone is looking for co-founders for their own business idea. People who have specific skills are also searching for problems to solve.

What I noticed interestingly is no one is saying that 'I am a great AI engineer - I am looking for a business person who has identified a problem, is trying to build a solution and join them as a co-founder.'

It seemed like people felt they should work only on their own ideas and in absence of that, look for ideas. In my opinion, and most other founders, ideas are dime a dozen. Look for people with complimentary skills and relentless persistence.

At Momentum Ventures, I am proud of the structure and working relationship Jay, Harsh Koushikram and I have created as co-founders.

Lastly, thank you Jatin and eChai Ventures for the opportunity and i-Hub Gujarat for the venue.

Looking forward to the next one!

I am absolutely thrilled to share about my enriching experience today at a founders' meet! I had the privilege of connecting with an extraordinary entrepreneur Stuti Ashok Gupta who not only made it onto Shark Tank (Season 2) but also shared profound insights into the world of business.

During our conversation, I learned so much, but two key takeaways stood out for me:
Focus on Customer Needs: The Shark Tank star emphasised the importance of deeply understanding customer needs and tailoring your product or service to meet those needs effectively. This customer-centric approach resonated deeply with me as I believe it's the cornerstone of sustainable business growth.

Persistence and Resilience: Hearing about the challenges faced and overcome on the journey to success was incredibly inspiring. It reinforced the vital role of persistence and resilience in entrepreneurship. The ability to persevere through setbacks and keep moving forward is truly what sets successful entrepreneurs apart. Wishing Amrutam Ayurveda good luck! Thanks to eChai Ventures and Netcore Cloud for conducting a wonderful event, it was really insightful and looking forward to more such events.

Feeling incredibly motivated and energised after today's discussion! Who else here is passionate about their journey and building something impactful from the ground up? Let's connect and inspire each other! Subhajit Mukherjee Yash Kashyap

Amazing catchup with some Amazing *Sharktank* D2C founders in Bengaluru !

Mayank B Nagori ( Good Gum) & Sumit Rastogi (Artinci)

eChai Ventures 🙌

Here's eChai's Startup Social Stories...

From the last meetup at GVFL Limited's swanky premise in Ahmedabad. A room full of energetic, curious and inspirational entrepreneurs...

This social happened to be one of the most interesting event I've been part of.

It was awesome meeting Kushagra Pandya, who is building vidyo.ai - an impressive AI based video editor & currently boasting of 2mn+ users. Deep insights & candid conversations.

It's heartening to see some interesting work happening in the area of AI, Web 3.0, Content & Marketing space from Ahmedabad.

Mitesh Shethwala's Currently is a promising real time social media startup making waves.

Swayam Raval is building AI driven influencer MarTech tool Admyre.Club.

Shreyans Panchal's YOMO is another promising tool to drive AI powered users insights.

Met Rohan Patel, who is building Ariso - an AI driven personal nutrition platform.

Bhavesh Patel has already revolutionized how social media marketing happens! His Brands.live is a global venture now.

Ekta Shah is building Biziverse - an enterprise ERP loved by thousands of organizations.

Meeting entrepreneurs from similar businesses always stirs interesting conversations. Met Viraj Rajani and Dipti Parmar - who are doing some really good stuff in area of digital marketing.

Always a pleasure meeting you, Chirag Panchal, Pankaj Bhimani and Amit Panchal.

Very fascinating to know about Tridhya Tech Limited by Gaurav Barot, doing some exceptional stuff in area of #Drone #Surveillance.

Loved chatting, Heet Sheth!

A big shoutout to Jatin Chaudhary for putting together this lineup of speakers. Thoroughly enjoyed!

I could not interact with some of the fellas.. but I'd love to catch up again. Rushabh Shah, Harsha Bhurani, Koumal Kalantry, Kush P. and ABHISHEK JAIN.

Thrilled to host Pratyush Rai Co-Founder of Merlin AI by Foyer, at eChai Ventures AI Meetup in Bengaluru today evening ! 

Join us for an engaging discussion. See you at Urban Vault HSR Layout 1515 from 6 pm to 8 pm! 

In the next 5-7 years, traditional video editing may become less common, transitioning instead towards SaaS-based solutions!!!

I gained this insight from Kushagra Pandya of vidyo.ai at eChai Ventures social this week.

As much vague as it looks, the deliberations on this and various other topics validated the statement. 

Interacting with founders from various sectors always makes you learn so much. This is the power of networking.

Now back to the video editing topic, here are some interesting insights:

- Video content creation is rapidly growing, currently comprising 65-70% The video format of content creation is inevitably growing at a rapid scale. As far as I can see, around 65-70% of the content being created today is video-format.

- Short form content is the way ahead for the marketers. The ever-decreasing attention span of the audience has been the case for success of TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube shorts and many others.

- At the same time, Podcasts has been an interesting marketing funnel for dissemination of information. These podcasts are generally long form in nature with a minimum of 30 minutes till 3-4 hours.

- Video editing of these podcasts to capture the viral elements and put it across in the form of reels and shorts has been the core. And companies like vidyo.ai have scaled it to the next level.

As we see the next change in technology, more and more of such business models will thrive and scale better.

eChai Ventures Jatin Chaudhary GVFL Limited Kushagra Pandya Tanmay Shanishchara Viraj Rajani Pankaj Bhimani Dr Mayank Patel, CFA Nishtha Gurnani Harsha Bhurani  Gaurav Barot Amit Panchal Bhavesh Patel Mitesh Shethwala Ekta Shah Koumal Kalantry ABHISHEK JAIN 

Meet the Founders who made it to Shark Tank! 💼 🌊

An initiative by Netcore for Startups to enable budding founders to get a sneak peek at how they transformed their pitches into success while navigating the entrepreneurial landscape

🎙 Featured Speakers:
🔹 Stuti Ashok Gupta, the visionary behind Amrutam
🔹 Mayank B Nagori, championing sustainability with Gud Gum | Plastic-free chewing gum
🔹 Sumit Rastogi, the creative genius driving Artinci’s journey

📅 Save the date: 19th April, Friday
🕧 Time: 6:30 PM IST
📍 Venue: Netcore Cloud, Bengaluru

This event, co-hosted by Netcore Cloud, eChai Ventures, and Headstart Network Foundation, promises an evening of genuine connections, actionable insights, and perhaps a few jaw-dropping untold stories!

Secure your spot now. RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gKW7ctDF

I am in mumbai this week.

Will also be speaking at eChai Mumbai Startup meetup. If anyone around can join here.
 
eChai Ventures Jatin Chaudhary Sharad Bansal Warmup Ventures

Free registration

Imagine gathering a few marketing experts in a room and guess what they do.

Probably an intellectual fight over who is more 'creative'. 😄

Well, that was not the case yesterday when we met at eChai Ventures - social at GVFL Limited office yesterday. A productive session conducted by forever smiling Jatin Chaudhary was more than a chai-biscuit gathering.

Very very helpful to learn insights, marketing hacks, AI driven marketing and business strategies. Truly, a #CoRise moment.

Folks, here's an open shoutout to everyone - happy to meet again in person, to discuss more than just hacks. 😎

Jaydip Parikh, Amit Panchal, 🚀Jignesh Thakkar, Nikita Lalwani, Arpan Shah, Parth Brahmbhatt, Himani Kankaria, Viraj Rajani, Ankit Agrawal, Anil Salvi 🍉, Sahil Shah, Tarjani Shah

Founders contemplate whom to approach for funding, while investors consider where to allocate their investments. When one should seek funding or refrain from it is an individual choice. There are no definitive answers to any questions; it's always subjective and often seasonal.

It was an enriching meetup eChai Ventures on very apt topic #funding - learning about this from the best Milapsinh Jadeja sir ,Umesh Uttamchandani sor @mihir joshi sir GVFL Limited , Dheeraj Bhojwani sir !!

Many congratulations to Jatin Chaudhary for completing 15 years to eChai Ventures journey and hosting the show!

Friends and family are typically the first investors in your vision, and early-stage startups often receive initial investments from them.

• Bootstrapping: Self-funding the startup with personal savings or revenue.

• Seed Funding: Initial capital from friends, family, or angel investors.

• Series A, B, C Funding: Increasing rounds of financing from venture capitalists as the company grows.

• Bridge Funding: Short-term financing to sustain operations between major funding rounds.

Pros of Funding:

• Accelerated growth potential.

• Access to expertise and networks of investors.

• Ability to scale operations rapidly.

Cons of Funding:

• Pressure to meet investor expectations.

• Dilution of equity.

Are you part of startup ecosystem?
And which stage you are into , bootstrapping, seed funding, more round of funds , Bridge funding or other??

I am just truly love the energy of all the founders !!

Pankaj Bhimani Ekta Shah Mitesh Shethwala Himani Kankaria Harshal Trivedi Yash Mehta Amit Panchal Nikita A Macquinn Harsha Bhurani Satya Mehta Novin Jaiswal Viraj Rajani Niraj Harlalka Bhavik Makwana Shreyans Panchal 

Wow, what an incredible time we had at the eChai Ventures Tallinn Startup Meetup! 🚀💡 We dove headfirst into the exciting world of startups, asking that age-old question: Do we need investors, or do they need us? It sparked some seriously thought-provoking discussions!

Sebastien Toupy and 🧙‍♂️ Erik Bhullar stole the show with their awesome insights, challenging our traditional views on early-stage startups. They showed us the magic of customer money and how it fuels sustainable growth. 💸💡

Navigating early-stage startups can feel like wandering through a maze, but fear not! Our speakers acted as trusty guides, leading us through the twists and turns of investment decisions. Every moment was packed with nuggets of wisdom! 🔍✨

Big shoutout to Kirke Leinatamm for steering the ship as our fantastic moderator, keeping the energy high and the conversations flowing. And huge thanks to all our amazing guests for bringing their brilliance to the table! 🙌🎉

Get ready for more excitement at Draper Startup House Tallinn! Innovation knows no bounds, and we're just getting started. Come join us as we shape the future of entrepreneurship together!

What a fabulous journey of @eChaiVentures from a local to a global brand based out of #Ahmedabad and connecting people & startups ! Echai has forged new relationships #echaicorise. 

Congrats @jatin10, Kunal &  echai team for nurturing the startup ecosystem when it was not a buzzword!