Just wrapped up an incredible 2-day trip to Bengaluru, where I had the pleasure of connecting with some of the most talented engineers, product builders, entrepreneurs, investors, and tech enthusiasts. The energy here is as vibrant and innovative as it is in Silicon Valley!
I had a fantastic session with the engineering team at Nium, where we explored the challenges and opportunities of integrating GenAI features into the FinTech world. The enthusiasm and insightful questions from the audience were truly inspiring. We also delved into how AI is reshaping the software engineering process and how both engineering and product teams can adapt to this ongoing disruption. Thanks to Ramana Satyavarapu, Mahathi Mahabhashyam, Sujoy Das, and the entire Nium team for the opportunity!
Later, I visited Draper Startup House, where we discussed the journey of productionizing GenAI applications and the pitfalls to avoid. A huge thanks to eChai Ventures and Draper Startup House for hosting me. The startup culture in Bengaluru is electric, and it's clear we will be witnessing some amazing AI products emerging from Bengaluru soon! Thanks to Nivin Joseph, Jatin ChaudharyMansi Baheti for organizing this event.
๐ฆ Thank you for joining us in the eChai Ventures FinTech Day meetup at Urban Vault 477, HSR, Bengaluru! ๐
Sharing glimpses from our gathering -
Mohankumar Swaminathan has seen the pivots and the growth at Scripbox in his 8+ years of being with the organisation where he is a product leader in his current role. With only 1,000 certified financial planners in India, their offering is a productised version that makes wealth management easier. So if you are not a Do It Yourself person and would like to let them Do It For You with all the years of domain expertise, then check them out now!
Nishant Prasad from Wint Wealth comes from a legal side and built his understanding of everything that goes into the business by leading with curiosity. That puts him in a position to not just interpret circulars by the regulatory bodies but also speak the language of his colleagues to decode how this affects everything else. Fintech picked up massively during Covid. People had time and money to think about investing! Investor protection Vs Progression is always a conversation to have.
Ravi K. Goyal believes there is no substitute to hard work. He is a seasoned professional in the Fintech space and started his entrepreneurial journey around 3 months ago. He is building rural-focused NBFC in secured lending. When asked about what's a major challenge in his industry, he says it has to be Recovery, among everything else.
Saloni Mehta believes that money is very personal. Everyone wants different things from their money. At Jupiter, she is working towards helping people see everything in one place and manage their money wisely. A framework she loves is - Track, Analyse, Decide, Act' in that order. If you are looking to sharpen your knowledge on finance, she highly recommends the book 'Let's Talk Money: You've Worked Hard for It, Now Make It Work for You' by Monika Halan.
It's a wrap! Do share resources - books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, platforms and communities that are helping you with your journey in becoming a smart investor โจ
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:
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ I wrote a post about building trust as a SaaS company a while back. Here's the link --> https://lnkd.in/dTVuX_9F
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ค๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ฒ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฆ 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.
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!๐คฉ
In a small, relaxed setting like a cafe, conversations become incredibly focused and insightful.
Here's why I loved it ๐๐ป
โ 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.
โ 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 ๐๐ป We all gained valuable insights from hearing each other's stories and perspectives.
Build Stronger Connections ๐ฅ The relaxed setting fostered deeper connections than a typical networking event.
Understand the Ecosystem โจ It provided a valuable glimpse into the current startup landscape.
Who's interested in joining the next Breakfast Social? โ๐
ย 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, letโs breathe clean air and innovate for a sustainable future!ย
Para as autoridades chinesas, os cristรฃos sรฃo considerados um perigo para a naรงรฃo. Chineses protestam contra o “Livro Branco”. (Captura de t...
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ : 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ: 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ: 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.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ-๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ: 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.
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 MukherjeeYash Kashyap
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.
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.
As much vague as it looks, the deliberations on this and various other topics validated the statement.ย
Interacting with foundersย 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.
Meet the Founders who made it to Shark Tank! ๐ผ ๐
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
Imagine gathering a few marketing experts in a room and guess what they do.
Probably an intellectual fight over who is more 'creative'. ๐
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. ๐
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.
Wow, what an incredible time we had at the eChai Ventures Tallinn Startup Meetup! ๐๐ก 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 ๐งโโ๏ธ 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. ๐ธ๐ก
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! ๐โจ
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! ๐๐
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.ย
Congrats @jatin10, Kunal &ย echai team for nurturing the startup ecosystem when it was not a buzzword! ย
We are collaborating with IIMA Ventures to host eChai's Startup Growth Meetup in Ahmedabad today (6th April, Saturday) at IIMA Ventures from 6 pm to 8 pm.
We are collaborating with Draper Startup House to host eChai's Startup Growth Meetup in Bengaluru today (6th April, Saturday) at Draper Startup House Koramangala from 6 pm to 8 pm.
Para as autoridades chinesas, os cristรฃos sรฃo considerados um perigo para a naรงรฃo. Chineses protestam contra o “Livro Branco”. (Captura de t...
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.
