Podcast · 60 min

How To Sell Global Tech Products From India (with Sharath Narayana)

Sharath Keshava Narayana · The Neon Show Free Intermediate India

An Indian SaaS founder on how he found and won real customers by identifying a large underserved market and solving its biggest problem, not by leaning on a friendly network. It is a useful India-context reminder that a stranger's paid yes is the signal that matters. Good if you are building from India for global buyers.

  • Real traction came from targeting an underserved market, not warm contacts
  • A paying stranger's commitment is worth far more than a friendly signup
  • Solving the biggest problem for a real segment is how early customers convert
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It answers 14 questions

  1. Cold email or cold LinkedIn/DM, what works better for reaching first customers?
  2. When do I know it's time to hire a salesperson instead of doing it myself?
  3. How do I build a targeted list of the right people to cold email?
  4. Should I worry that my market is already crowded with competitors?
  5. How is founder-led sales different for Indian founders selling to global (US) buyers?
  6. What tools should I use to send and track cold outreach without spamming?
  7. My MVP needs users to log in, pay, and get notifications. Should I build auth, payments, and email myself or glue together no-code and third-party tools?
  8. My first 5 customers were friends who signed up to be nice. How do I know if any of them actually want the product?
  9. What should my very first sales pitch actually say, and how long should it be?
  10. How do I get customers who don't already know me when I have no brand, no audience, and no case studies yet?
  11. My total market looks small, but each customer is worth a lot. Can a low-count, high-value market still work?
  12. How do I set a roadmap when half my revenue comes from one big customer who keeps asking for custom features?

And 2 more across the hub.

Read with it

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · ~50 min How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader Prime Venture Partners
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
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