Podcast · ~50 min

How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader

Prime Venture Partners · Prime Venture Partners Podcast Free Intermediate India

An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers before the product had proven itself. It is a grounded counterpoint to the landing page: sometimes the fastest way to measure intent in a B2B market is to ask people to commit directly. Useful if your buyers are enterprises who will never fill in a consumer style waitlist form.

  • In B2B, direct outreach can measure intent faster than a public page
  • A first paying customer is the strongest demand signal there is
  • Early traction in India often comes from manual hustle, not viral pages
Open on primevp.in ↗

It answers 39 questions

  1. How do I actually get my first 10 customers when nobody has heard of me?
  2. I'm a technical founder and I hate selling, do I really have to do sales myself?
  3. How do I write a cold email that people actually reply to?
  4. Isn't doing things that don't scale a waste of time, shouldn't I automate from day one?
  5. How many times should I follow up before giving up on a cold prospect?
  6. How long should building an MVP take?
  7. Cold email or cold LinkedIn/DM, what works better for reaching first customers?
  8. When do I know it's time to hire a salesperson instead of doing it myself?
  9. How do I get my first users for the MVP?
  10. What sales process should I follow if I've never sold anything before?
  11. How do I build a targeted list of the right people to cold email?
  12. I only have a landing page and a waitlist, how do I turn signups into paying customers?

And 27 more across the hub.

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  3. A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to win your first 10 B2B customers Lenny Rachitsky
  4. When your first ten will come from cold outreach, this guide gives you the full mechanics: building a target list, qualifying,... Close Article · Multi-chapter guide The Ultimate Startup Guide to Outbound Sales Steli Efti
  5. The authoritative handbook on founder-led sales, written for technical/first-time sellers building B2B SaaS. Readable free... foundingsales.com Book · book (~400 pages) Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook Peter Kazanjy
  6. Jen Abel has coached over 300 early-stage founders through their first sales, so this is grounded in what actually happens when... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 1 hour 16 minutes The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (JJELLYFISH) Lenny Rachitsky with Jen Abel
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