Upekkha Podcast

In today's episode, Sudarsan Ravi, Founder & CEO of Talent Acquisition platform RippleHire, talks about how he stayed authentic in the face of early-day FOMO, what it takes to sell in a low-trust market like India and why you can’t put a deadline on building a great company. Show notes:2:25: RippleHire: ‘The’ word for employee referral3:50: Ironic but true. Competition creates staying power6:14: Getting funded does not prove ambition8:12: Pole vaulting over FOMO10:42: Selling at 40x pricing over competition in India13:12: Buying SaaS in India - What’s new16:05: Looking back on the Oh s**t! moments17:18: What first-time founders can learn from my journey?18:56: Why second-time founders put value over valuationUpekkha-EY Bellwethers of Indian SaaS Report 2023https://www.upekkha.io/ey-upekkha-reportSocial:Website: https://www.upekkha.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/upekkhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/upekkhaBeAbout the host:Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan) is the co-founder and Partner at the Upekkha Value SaaS Accelerator where he has worked with over 100 early-stage startups to build their SaaS flywheel. Prior to this, he was a product leader at Intuit and worked on Quickbooks online in its global market expansion. Rajan has helped with over a dozen cross-border strategic acquisitions. 

Where quick-shooting, high-burn rocket ships blazed, Saravana Kumar, Founder & CEO of Kovai.co, took the Value SaaS route to over $10mn in ARR, while bootstrapping the global brand from his hometown Coimbatore.2:54: Going from single to a multi-product brand 7:18: HQ Coimbatore & why great products can be built from anywhere9:03: Choices: On staying solo and 100% bootstrapped11:12 Marketing before product? What’s changed?13:15: Challenges of going from single to a multi-product company15:53: Hiring as a bootstrapped foundertps://www.upekkha.io/ey-upekkha-reportSocial:Website: https://www.upekkha.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/upekkhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/upekkhaBeAbout the Host:Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan) is the co-founder and Partner at the Upekkha Value SaaS Accelerator where he has worked with over 100 early stage startups to build their SaaS flywheel. Prior to this, he was a product leader at Intuit and worked on Quickbooks online in its global market expansion. Rajan has helped with over a dozen cross-border strategic acquisitions. 

Chapters:2:08: ‘Distribution not tech is what you need to win’13:18: SaaS proliferation means you need to build brand fast16:40: The choice to exit vs. keep growing with funding12:14: Strategic actions that led to acquisition by Notion 24:31: ‘You’re not hot till you are!’ - Life after exitSocial:Website: https://www.upekkha.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/upekkhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/upekkhaBe

Chapters1:29: SaaS. Because it returns good multiples3:57: How Chennai stole the SaaS crown6:19: Going enterprise when others sold SMB9:05: Pivots on way to first million16:14: Yae or Nay? The funding question 17:57: Brand marketing before product marketing 23:37: The line from positioning to acquisition 27:10: Filter Kaapi reboot 34:04: Slow and deliberate > fast growthSocialWebsite: https://www.upekkha.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/upekkhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/upekkhaBe

In this episode, Vijay Yalamanchili, Founder and CEO of HR tech platform Keka talks about scaling SaaS while staying bootstrapped, and waiting on the right time to raise funds. Vijay also takes us behind key early decisions - though seemingly counterintuitive - on choosing India as a target market, pricing 3X over competition, and balancing services and product tracks along the Keka journey.Chapters:1:00: Breaking rules & selling SaaS in India3:42: Pricing 3x of competition7:16: Focus on one point problem and segment12:06: Leading with UI/UX early on14:38: Services vs product & should founders do both?18:37: Scaling bootstrapped22:05: Behind the brand name Keka24:32: Getting to the first $1mn ARR 25:52: Resilience through the lows27:46: Timing your first fundraiseReferences: https://www.upekkha.io/blog/saas_million_dollar_company_christoph_janshttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/myth-services-dna-thiyagarajan-maruthavanan-rajan-/Social: Website: https://www.upekkha.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/upekkhaTwitter: https://twitter.com/upekkhaBe

In this episode we spoke to Prasanna Krishnamoorthy, Partner at Upekkha about the art of effective SaaS pricing.Too often founders price their products based on a set of highly unscientific and imprecise factors. Unsurprisingly, this approach doesn't work. It invariably leaves customers feeling like they are paying too much and founders feeling like they are being paid too little. Prasanna has a way out. He argues that all pricing discussions should start with one simple question: How much value am I producing? If founders are able to answer this question, coming up with a pricing model that gives founders fair compensation while keeping customers happy is relatively easy.Of course the process of answering that question does require a great deal of work and that's what this conversation was about.For more podcasts like this visit https://upekkha.io/podcasts

In this episode we spoke to Tejas Mehta, Co-founder of SocialPilot, which is a Social Media, Scheduling Marketing and Analytics Tool oriented primarily towards digital marketing agencies who have to manage multiple accounts for each of their clients.Tejas spoke about how SocialPilot moved upmarket by investing an immense amount of time and effort into their customer discovery. Specifically he discussed how his team translated knowledge of their customer into a more focused product that met the specific needs of a particular target segment. This in turn let them increase price and spur growth.Perhaps the most interesting part of the conversation was about how increasing their price helped them manage their churn which seems counter intuitive because on the surface you'd think that people would be less likely more likely to churn if you increase prices.Bottom line, there are a lot of actionable insights in this interview that you can take into your business. Enjoy the conversation!For more podcasts like this visit https://upekkha.io/podcasts

In this episode we spoke to Gagandeep Josan, Head of Solutions & Industry @ Whatfix about how he got his job.Before joining Whatfix, Gagan was the CEO of Nittio Learn, an LMS platform that helped businesses train and reskill distributed workforces.The reason I talk about Nittio in the past tense is because earlier this year Nittio Learn was acquired by Whatfix, a leader in helping enterprises drive digital adoption.In our conversation, Gagan and I spoke about what the process of acquisition looks like for founders at smaller SaaS businesses. Specifically, he discussed:How he and the rest of Nittio's leadership team decided to pursue acquistionWhat it takes to find an acquirerWhat the legal and business process of acquisition looks like.A quick point before you listen: We recorded this interview way back in August so keep that in mind when we discuss timelines.

In this episode we spoke to Harshit Agarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Appknox, which is a cloud-based enterprise mobile app security testing software. A lot of jargon there to unpack so here's an English translation:  Appknox has a tool that allows enterprises to test the security of their mobile apps.Over the course of the interview, Harshit spoke about how Appknox found its niche serving Large Banks and NBFCs, and the challenges they faced along the way. I'll let Harshit explain what those challenges were in his own words, but to give you some context before we jump inot the conversation,  Appknox was on the verge of shutting down before they found their niche. Once they identified it though, it brought a sense of focus to the way they ran their business, from their pricing to messaging to sales scripts, and that in turn helped them change their fortunes.Perhaps the most important part of this conversation though, was how those challenges affected Harshit on a personal level. When we talk about running SaaS businesses it's very easy to think about things in clinical terms. We focus primarily on the business side of things. But lost in this discussion is the fact that the people running the business are well people... and inevitably the stress of running a business (especially one that's not doing well) can take a toll on those people. We spoke to Harshit about how he dealt with that stress.Now before I drop you into the interview, there are a few points to note.First, in this interview, Harshit is going to use the term CISO a bunch because that's who his target customer persona is. For the uninitiated a CISO is a Chief Information Security Officer. It's an executive position in large enterprises that implements and maintains processes to reduce information and IT risk.Second, please note that neither Harshit nor I are mental health professionals so when we talk about Harshit's personal experiences they are just that... personal experiences. So do not consider anything that we say to be real medical advice. If you are experiencing mental health issues, please seek help from a professional mental health provider. Here are some resources you can reach to if you need to talk to someone:https://nimhans.ac.in/pssmhs-helpline/ (India)https://icallhelpline.org/ (India)https://www.samhsa.gov/ (USA)

In this episode we speak to Kalyan Varma, Co-founder & CEO of Almabase about how you can learn about their customers' needs and then use those learnings to inform your pricing structure, product roadmap and positioning.About AlmabaseAlmabase bills itself as the "world's most loved Alumni management software." In layman's terms create tools that  universities and high schools use to form meaningful connections with their alums. Underlying this product is a mission to make education more accessible by giving educational institutes the ability to raise more funds from their alums which can then be used to fund scholarships. You can learn more about Almabase at almabase.comKalyan's Social LinksTwitter - https://twitter.com/kalyanvarmakLinkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kalyanvarmaInterested in learning more about how to run a successful SaaS business?Head over to upekkha.io for more resources.

In this episode we speak to Thiyagarajan (Rajan) M, Partner at the Upekkha Accelerator about what the term ValueSaaS means, the components of a flywheel businesses, the importance of knowing your customer and perhaps most interestingly, how metaphors (yes the kind we learn about in elementary school English) are useful tools for founders to think through problems.Rajan's Social LinksTwitter - twitter.com/mtrajanLinkedin - linkedin.com/in/thiyagarajanInterested in learning more about how to run a successful SaaS business?Head over to upekkha.io for more resources.

In this episode, we talk to Ish Jindal, Co-founder of chatbot startup Tars, about how founders who've never done marketing in their life can start marketing for their businesses. Ish talks about how he first got into marketing back when he was in college, the challenges associated with selling to an audience that lives  in a completely different cultural context and most importantly, he shares a set of handy tactics that founders can use to get the ball rolling on their marketing journeys. If you're thinking about setting up your own marketing operation or are just tired of the daily grind of outbound sales, then this episode is for you.About TarsTars helps businesses increase marketing ROI and automate customer service conversations using chatbots. The company is a member of the Upekkha accelerator and both Ish and Vinit (Tars' co-founders) swear by the accelerator's efficacy. You can learn more about Tars at hellotars.comIsh's Social LinksTwitter - twitter.com/jindalishLinkedin - linkedin.com/in/ish-tarsInterested in learning more about how to run a successful SaaS business?Head over to upekkha.io for more resources.