Article · ~12 min read

Indian SaaS And The Art Of Going From Local To Global

Sandeep Chawda · Inc42 Free Intermediate India

Compares direct sales, channel and marketing-led entry for an Indian company going abroad, and makes the case that the US may not be your best first market. Honest about the cost of a wrong first sales leader hire in a new geography.

  • The US is not the automatic first market: GCC, Southeast Asia, or Japan can be the better first step out of India.
  • Three entry motions compared: feet on street (a hired sales leader, high risk if it stalls within 2 to 3 quarters), resellers, and marketing-led sales.
  • Pay channel partners on revenue share, not retainer, and pick ones who already sell into your target domain.
  • Marketing-led works for SMB and PLG, and breaks down for enterprise deals that need heavy onboarding.
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It answers 6 questions

  1. When do I stop selling myself and hire the first person, and what kind of person should that be?
  2. How do I set quota, comp and ramp for my first sales team in India without copying a US template that does not fit?
  3. We are an Indian company selling to global buyers. How do we position so that being from India reads as an asset rather than a question mark?
  4. We sell in India, the US and the Gulf. How much should the messaging actually change per market?
  5. We are going from two reps to ten. How do I scale outbound without it turning into spam?
  6. We are opening a new market, the US or Southeast Asia or the Gulf. Do we carry the same ICP across or start again?

Read with it

  1. Podcast · 90 min listen 2X SaaS Founder: How To Sell Global Tech Products From India Siddhartha Ahluwalia with Sharath Keshava Narayana
  2. Podcast · ~85 min Building a world-class sales org Jason Lemkin
  3. Names both failure modes of the founder-to-first-hire handoff, holding on too long and letting go too early, with input from... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read This GTM Leader Crowdsources Early Lessons From Stripe, Figma and More Meka Asonye
  4. A concrete checklist for the first closer hire: close 10 to 20 yourself first, hire scrappy over pedigreed, and expect a deal... SaaStr Article · ~6 min read Dear SaaStr: How Do I Make Sure My First 1-2 Sales Reps Are Strong? Jason Lemkin
  5. The longest-running benchmark on SDR quota, ramp, ratios, comp and time to promotion, drawn from hundreds of B2B companies.... The Bridge Group Report · Benchmark report Sales Development (SDR) Metrics and Comp Report The Bridge Group
  6. Five GTM bets from an Indian founder who reached $600M+ ARR, including spending $45k early to find which inbound channel would... SaaStr Article · ~10 min read Building A Global SaaS Empire: 5 Bets That Paid Off with Freshworks Founder CEO Girish Mathrubootham Girish Mathrubootham
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