Here are a few things I noticed while joining Bhavesh from Brands.live, Amit from AllEvents and Mahendra from Matrubharti to talk about scaling startups and businesses.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ :
Couple of questions had an interesting undertone. A 'no' from an investor was being taken as a validation on whether or not their startup could work.
I think that an investor could say no for great many reasons. Ultimately, a founder should try to look at their startup as a financial product in an asset class. It will be difficult to do so - but it has to be done while pitching.
This financial product needs to be put in front of atleast 100 investors before we take their responses as a validation. It is a full time activity for 1 founder for 4 months.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ:
Some bits were being asked around 'how to get customers to change their habits/behaviour?'
An arguable opinion of mine about this is that we should not. Changing consumer/customer habits is extremely difficult and an expensive exercise. We must understand that we will have to learn to fall out of love for our idea and build what the market wants.
Atleast in B2B, more often than not, change management is a huge responsibility that no-one on the client side wants to take. As long as you are cheaper, better or faster at enabling them to save time, save money or make more money - that should do the trick.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ:
Couple of interesting hacks were being shared around handling and dealing with negative reviews. These ranged from 'responding to negative reviews quickly' to 'offering the reviewer something for free'.
While these are great for consumer brands, they don't work for B2B. For B2B SaaS, the customer doesn't leave a review. They just churn. At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), Anupama and I had a strict schedule of speaking to 1 churned customer every week and we invested significantly in ways to identify churn related behaviours to detect early signals.
After $100K in MRR, a SaaS company is more of a retention game than an acquisition game.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ-๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ:
Everyone is looking for co-founders for their own business idea. People who have specific skills are also searching for problems to solve.
What I noticed interestingly is no one is saying that 'I am a great AI engineer - I am looking for a business person who has identified a problem, is trying to build a solution and join them as a co-founder.'
It seemed like people felt they should work only on their own ideas and in absence of that, look for ideas. In my opinion, and most other founders, ideas are dime a dozen. Look for people with complimentary skills and relentless persistence.
At Momentum Ventures, I am proud of the structure and working relationship Jay, Harsh Koushikram and I have created as co-founders.
Lastly, thank you Jatin and eChai Ventures for the opportunity and i-Hub Gujarat for the venue.
Looking forward to the next one!
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ :
Couple of questions had an interesting undertone. A 'no' from an investor was being taken as a validation on whether or not their startup could work.
I think that an investor could say no for great many reasons. Ultimately, a founder should try to look at their startup as a financial product in an asset class. It will be difficult to do so - but it has to be done while pitching.
This financial product needs to be put in front of atleast 100 investors before we take their responses as a validation. It is a full time activity for 1 founder for 4 months.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ:
Some bits were being asked around 'how to get customers to change their habits/behaviour?'
An arguable opinion of mine about this is that we should not. Changing consumer/customer habits is extremely difficult and an expensive exercise. We must understand that we will have to learn to fall out of love for our idea and build what the market wants.
Atleast in B2B, more often than not, change management is a huge responsibility that no-one on the client side wants to take. As long as you are cheaper, better or faster at enabling them to save time, save money or make more money - that should do the trick.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ:
Couple of interesting hacks were being shared around handling and dealing with negative reviews. These ranged from 'responding to negative reviews quickly' to 'offering the reviewer something for free'.
While these are great for consumer brands, they don't work for B2B. For B2B SaaS, the customer doesn't leave a review. They just churn. At Clientjoy (Acquired by Synup), Anupama and I had a strict schedule of speaking to 1 churned customer every week and we invested significantly in ways to identify churn related behaviours to detect early signals.
After $100K in MRR, a SaaS company is more of a retention game than an acquisition game.
๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐จ-๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ:
Everyone is looking for co-founders for their own business idea. People who have specific skills are also searching for problems to solve.
What I noticed interestingly is no one is saying that 'I am a great AI engineer - I am looking for a business person who has identified a problem, is trying to build a solution and join them as a co-founder.'
It seemed like people felt they should work only on their own ideas and in absence of that, look for ideas. In my opinion, and most other founders, ideas are dime a dozen. Look for people with complimentary skills and relentless persistence.
At Momentum Ventures, I am proud of the structure and working relationship Jay, Harsh Koushikram and I have created as co-founders.
Lastly, thank you Jatin and eChai Ventures for the opportunity and i-Hub Gujarat for the venue.
Looking forward to the next one!
The eChai Effect - In Their Words
โWhen we launched LegalWiz.in back in 2016, concept of procuring legal and compliance services through a digital commerce platform wasn't as prominent in India. eChai played a significant role in providing the early adopters, and building significant positioning in the startup fraternity.ย Overtime, eChai grew to be a massive network of like-minded entrepreneurs and extended that benefit to all the members in a true "co-rise" spirit. I personally love to attend eChai events, learn from subject matter experts who share relatable and actionable insights and experiences.ย For startup journeys, it is so important to be surrounded by people who can add relevance, perspective, and push you to do better. Most importantly a group of people where you aren't being judged about things going right or wrong, but be a motivational force that keeps you going, yet keeping you in check. eChai is that place for me!โ
Shrijay Sheth
Founder at LegalWiz.in and Hire4Higher Consulting
"If thereโs one phrase that sums up my journey, itโs truly โThe eChai Effect.โ Six years ago, I simply walked into my first eChai event, not knowing what to expect. The honest conversations, energy, and inspiration from founders and entrepreneurs struck a chord within me. That eChai spark became the catalyst for everything to follow. I proudly say: my entrepreneurship journey startedโand keeps evolvingโbecause of eChai. Redicine Medsolโs story is integrally linked to this community. Iโve gained so much, not just as a founder but as a forever volunteer and grateful member of the eChai family. With all my heart, thank you Jatin Bhai and everyone at eChai for shaping, guiding, and supporting my dreams. The eChai Effect will always be a part of my story."
Kush Prajapati
Founder, Redicine Medsol
"eChai is playing biggest role in my personal and professional life together. Its a community where i meet like minded people to share idea and learn from their idea. Even while playing cricket i learn something and i implement something new from that learning. Its my entry point for building network in different countries where my base is not established yet. Personally my only fun activity day in a week is eChai cricket and social."
yash shah
Chairman, ES Group of Companies
eChai Partner Brands
eChai Ventures partners with select brands as their growth partner - working together to explore new ideas, open doors, and build momentum across the startup ecosystem.
