Article · ~12 min read

Entering a New Market as a SaaS Business and Finding First Customers

Ajay Sethi · SeedToScale (Accel India) Free Intermediate India

Zenoti and MindTickle founders on validating at home before expanding, and on finding a handful of customers willing to build with you rather than chasing volume. A direct answer to whether to prove it in India first.

  • You do not need 50 customers in a new market: 5 to 10 prospects, a handful of customers, and one good success story (Mohit Garg, MindTickle).
  • Garg sold the first 50 deals himself rather than scaling outreach.
  • Zenoti deliberately stayed in its own backyard, Hyderabad and Seattle, before expanding.
  • Pick first customers in a new market who will co-create, meaning they have the need and will give feedback.

It answers 2 questions

  1. Should we sell to Indian SMBs, Indian enterprises, or skip India and go straight at US buyers?
  2. We are opening a new market, the US or Southeast Asia or the Gulf. Do we carry the same ICP across or start again?

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