In this episode of the INSIGHTS podcast, we continue with our deep dive on SaaS and hear from Sudheer Koneru from Zenoti (vertical SaaS solution for the Beauty & Wellness industry operating in US, UK, Australia among other markets) and Anand Jain from CleverTap (Customer engagement platform that enables consumer brands to improve their retention and conversion rates).
Anand and Sudheer give a glimpse into their respective startup journeys- skillsets they brought from their previous experiences, new challenges that they were not prepared for, and milestones that marked their journey.
The podcast covers all the different phases of their journeys: from identifying the problem to go after and building the MVP to scaling the product, figuring out monetization, and solving for Sales GTM and funding.
To learn more about what it takes to build scalable global SaaS companies out of India, tune in to the latest episode of the Insights Podcast by Accel
Notes:
04:24 — Early days of the startup journey
11:22 — Picking the right mountain and validating it (Vertical vs Horizontal SaaS)
20:40 — Finding the first set of customers
29:55 — Business model and monetizing
34:55 — Funding the early phase: bootstrapping vs fundraising
39:20 — Scaling up phase, expanding geographies
48:30 — Advise for early-stage SaaS founders
50:30 — Rapid Fire Round
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We’re building Passionfroot 1, an operating system for creators to manage their business.
We’re based in Europe and raised our $ 3.4m pre-seed round from Creandum and US angels such as Vlad (Webflow) and creators like Ali Abdaal.As we’re creating a new category and as the creator economy is global and mostly online, we’re building from Day 1 a global company and product that helps creators monetize around the world.
This brings a lot of complexities especially in terms of payments and taxes as our early users are based both in Europe and the US and deal with cross-border transactions.What are Do’s and Dont’s for European startups who have a global ambition and build products for a global customer base from Day 1. Anything you would do differently?
Thanks @pjbouten! Love how you’ve thought about incrementally shaping a category with a focus on product and service, and only then thinking about getting the message out there vs the other way around.
And totally agree on the distinctions and overlaps both self-serve and enterprise motions share.
Thanks, PJ, for taking the time to address questions from the great vantage of shaping Showpad into a global, enterprise SaaS brand!