10 resources from The Neon Show we point people to, and the questions each answers.
🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeIntermediate
Why we picked it
Makhija runs a listed Indian SaaS company handling a quarter of India's e-commerce volume and takes apart the myth that Indian customers will not pay for software. The most useful hour anyone deciding between India and the US as a first market can spend.
Why we picked it
Narayana built two enterprise companies past $20M revenue with product teams in India selling to Fortune 500 buyers, so he can speak to the trust question directly. His line that if you cannot tell your story nobody else can is the heart of positioning from India.
Why we picked it
A sitting CIO explains how he actually finds and evaluates startup vendors, including that roughly 80% arrive through outbound. Qualification advice is far more reliable when it comes from the person doing the buying.
Why we picked it
Kapil built one of India's few listed SaaS companies, so when he takes apart the myths (Indians will not pay for software, they demand endless customisation, they want enterprise support at SMB prices) he is arguing from a P&L. Essential if you are deciding whether India is a real market for you.
Why we picked it
Sharath has built two enterprise companies (Observe, Sanas) with engineering in India and buyers in the US, and is direct about founder-led sales being non-negotiable for the first customers. Good on what actually has to move to the US and what does not.
Why we picked it
A rare account of channel evolution in order (outbound, then inbound, then events, then expansion) as Whatfix went from one million to seventy million ARR, plus why they split the CTO to the US and kept the CEO in India.
Why we picked it
The buyer's side of enterprise outbound, from a CIO who says roughly 80 percent of the startups he evaluates were found through outbound research, peers or LinkedIn. He also times each phase of his buying process, which tells you exactly how long your deal will take.
Why we picked it
The best Indian example of building demand before a product exists: a community launched nine months ahead, a podcast for the same buyers, 100 plus customer conversations, then a launch timed with the funding news. Concrete on the demand gen channels that followed too.
Why we picked it
The pre launch part is the useful part: a community called Preflight and over 100 customer conversations before there was a product, then 30 paying customers within two and a half months of launch.
Why we picked it
Discovery from the other side of the table: a CIO explaining how he actually finds startups, the three stages he evaluates them through, and where deals stall in legal and procurement.
