The Kalaari Podcast

We hosted Ritish Reddy, Co-Founder of Zluri, along with Sateesh Andra, MD at Endiya Partners for our SaaS from Scratch series with Vani Kola, MD at Kalaari Capital. They shared valuable insights on the emerging trends in SaaS management and fundraising for SaaS businesses. Ritish's vision at Zluri, a platform that transforms how businesses manage their SaaS applications, and discussion with Sateesh on the role of early-stage investments in nurturing innovative SaaS companies from India are some of the key highlights of the session.

One of the least discussed, yet most important, topics as a founder is exits – how do you manage company exits (IPO or M&A), deal with various stakeholders, and achieve the best outcome?Krishna Srinivasan, Founder at PALGenie Technologies (Ex-Founder & CEO at ISGN Corporation - Leading Edge Mortgage and Loan Technology) joins to share his biggest lessons on navigating a company to an exit and a lot more.

Customer success is an essential part of sales for SaaS companies because it ensures that customers are not just purchasing a product but also receiving value from it. It is crucial for companies to build customer success as a core part of their DNA early in their sales journey.Ravi Saraogi, Co-Founder & COO, Uniphore joins to discuss insights on Sales & Customer Success.

Nilesh Patel, Founder and CEO of LeadSquared, joins to share insights on the unique journey of Building SaaS for India.We discussed Nilesh's experiences in crafting SaaS solutions specifically for the Indian market, understanding the balance between adapting global technologies to local needs, and the significance of developing a product that focuses on the India market.We noted the challenges and triumphs in creating a SaaS solution that's not just made in India but made for India.

Asad Khan, Co-Founder and CEO of LambdaTest, joins to share insights on the power of Product-Led Growth (PLG) and innovative sales strategies.We discussed Asad's approach to PLG, the balance between PLG and traditional sales, and the value of a hybrid model.

The evolution of the gaming industry in India during the past 25 years has been gradual, yet it has made significant strides. From what started with a subscription to our telecom packs, it has now transformed into a digital realm where individuals not only play games but also socialize and immerse themselves in digital identities. Gaming has come a long way and the Indian gaming market is poised to reach a whopping $10B by 2030!Nonetheless, the main question that still requires an answer is: What steps should India take next to solidify its status as a gaming powerhouse and effectively compete on the global stage?With this, we are back with the next part of our ‘Play Forward’ series. This time we will be joined by Kai Bond, Partner Courtside Ventures and a dear friend, where we talk about the key whitespaces and the potential that investors see in the Indian gaming market.Courtside Ventures is an Early stage fund focussed on Sports, lifestyle and Gaming and we have been fortunate to partner with them in few of our portfolio companies.

We are back with the next part of our ‘Everything B2B’ series. This time we have Aniket Deb, Co-Founder and COO at Bizongo.Bizongo is India’s leading growth-enablement platform for SMEs, offering enterprises and their vendor businesses the end-to-end digitization of their supply chains. Started in 2015 by Aniket, Sachin Agrawal, and Ankit Tomar, Bizongo began its journey by connecting buyers and sellers in the packaging industry to make trade more efficient.Seeing a larger problem at hand – several industries working with outdated supply chains, Bizongo shifted its focus on modernising these workflows.

We're hitting the play button on our new live series, 'Play' Forward! 🎮Join Vani Kola (vanik.eth) as we kickstart the series with Saurabh Pandey, Founder & CEO of Eloelo, a creator-led live streaming platform, to discuss live streaming and the rise of gaming creators.Our series gives the stage to the influential minds shaping Indian gaming. Our goal? Give young founders real insights from the gaming world's success stories.

Did you know that India's 70M+ SMBs contribute to a staggering 30% of the country's GDP?However, the majority of these SMBs in India still operate offline and lag behind in technology adoption. This not only hampers their efficiency but also limits their growth potential.B2B Marketplaces play a pivotal role in addressing key challenges by offering high-quality supply and integrating essential services such as Logistics, Payments, and Credit. They become a full-stack one-stop solution for SMBs, solving trust issues and providing new business opportunities for both buyers and suppliers. As a result, B2B Marketplaces have emerged as a much larger market than B2C Marketplaces.With this, we are excited to launch our new live series ‘Everything B2B’ to help young startups get actionable insights from leading B2B Commerce startups on how to build businesses from scratch. To kickstart the series, we're thrilled to have Asish Mohapatra, Co-Founder & CEO of OfBusiness, a leading B2B Commerce startup specializing in industrial goods procurement and lending for SMEs. OfBusiness is valued at over $5B, making it one of India's most highly regarded startups.

For our next SaaS From Scratch speaker series, Baskar Subramanian, Co-Founder and CEO of Amagi Corporation, joins us to discuss insights on founding a vertical SaaS unicorn. Baskar has spent more than a decade building a massively disruptive broadcast-technology company from India, valued at almost 1.5 billion dollars.I’m excited to discuss Baskar’s journey of building a leading SaaS company, navigating tough decisions, and scaling to global markets.

A thriving startup ecosystem, the experience of building globally successful SaaS companies, and a large talent pool can help India generate a market value of $500B from AI applications and services by 2030. In this SaaS From Scratch speaker series episode, Pranay Agrawal, Co-founder & CEO, Fractal Analytics shares his insights on India's AI opportunity.SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

Product success and customer success go hand in hand. Most successful SaaS companies today are able to build customer-centric products that collect insights about customer needs, provide transparent feedback, promote continuous innovation, and deliver great service.In this SaaS From Scratch speaker series episode, Anand Jain, Co-founder & Head of Product, CleverTap joins us to share his insights into product thinking and design, and a lot more.SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

Successful apps like Instagram, Spotify, and Uber have all used a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) process in the beginning of their journeys. This not only helped them test the viability of their products, but also helped build functionality. Over time, these apps evolved through user testing data and feedback. Eventually, they became the apps we know today.In this SaaS From Scratch speaker series episode, Raviteja Dodda, Founder & CEO MoEngage, shares insights on building MVPs, best practices for product development, developing a problem-solving mindset, and more.  SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

Building the right founding team is make-or-break for startups.In this episode of SaaS From Scratch speaker series, Shruti Kapoor, CEO Wingman by Clari discusses insights on building founding teams, hiring talent, motivating team members, and more. SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

While healthcare spending lags significantly behind developed nations, Indian startups are rapidly disrupting the nascent market – bringing affordability, access, and innovation to healthcare delivery in India. By 2023, the HealthTech market in India is expected to reach $5B.  Kalaari HealthTech Roundtable was a conversation with founders who have built category-defining companies in HealthTech. Listen to Harsimarbir (Harsh) Singh, Co-founder & CEO at Pristyn Care and Sumit Sinha, Co-founder & CEO at Phablecare along with Vamshi Reddy, Partner at Kalaari discuss how to scale HealthTech startups, in this podcast.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

For our next SaaS From Scratch speaker series Niraj Ranjan Rout, CEO & Co-Founder of Hiver and Girish Ramachandra, CEO & Co-Founder of Shopalyst, joined us to discuss insights on Decoding initial GTM. We discussed how to kickstart the 0-1 GTM journey, how to define your ICP, run GTM experiments and more. SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

For our next SaaS From Scratch speaker series, Ram Gupta joins us to discuss insights on India SaaS & the role of early mentors. We discussed how to start selling to global markets, how to curate the right mentors/board early in the startup journey, and more.   SaaS from Scratch Speaker series by Kalaari is where we bring deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies.If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources 

In the first quarter of 2022, 93 SaaS companies built out of India raised $2 billion in funding. As the next generation of Indian SaaS companies scale, we want to demystify the ‘zero-to-one’ process of building sustainable SaaS businesses.Our new live podcast series “SaaS from Scratch” focuses on bringing deep insights to help young SaaS founders learn the tools of the trade from successful leaders who have helped scale SaaS companies. Kickstarting the series with Sourabh Gupta, Co-founder & CEO of Skit.ai, to discuss insights on Product-Market Fit. The No. 1 reason for startup failures is that there was no significant market need for their product or service. In the context of SaaS, we cover why product-market-fit is so important, how to achieve it, and how to shape business decisions pre-PMF & post-PMF.    If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

On our first episode of Web3 Talks, Ravinder Pal Singh (Kalaari Capital), Meyyappan (Nishith Desai) & Raphael (Brandl Talos) discuss the crypto bill and the best global practices for advancing India's crypto laws.Web3 Talks by Kalaari Capital focuses on conversations with industry experts on current events from the Web3 ecosystem. If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources

Logistics is the lifeblood of the economy, bringing us crucial goods and resources wherever we need them. India’s e-commerce growth story has cast the spotlight on the logistics market - with the rise of D2C brands and quick commerce propelling a $365 billion market opportunity (9% CAGR) by FY26.    Sahil Barua, Co-Founder and CEO at Delhivery, is among the shapers of India’s #logistics sector in the digital era. Starting off as a shipping company, Delhivery was early to spot the digital opportunity in the sector, evolving into a full-stack logistics platform for e-commerce and consumers. Sahil’s experience of building one of India’s largest & fastest growing logistics players gives him unique insights into this sector’s exigencies and evolution. In this #PayItForward episode, Sahil discusses the highs and lows of his entrepreneurial journey and what the future holds for logistics in IndiaThe Pay It Forward series, hosted by Vani Kola, MD of Kalaari Capital, focuses on conversations with founders and CEOs who have built businesses that have transformed the landscape of the Indian start-up ecosystem. If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us at podcast@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/resources