Some SaaS ventures lead to category leadership while some lead to imaginary frozen quadrants. Here’s a little 2X2 to assess where you are in your journey to SaaS nirvana. When amazing products are sold in amazing ways, it produces the almost mystical flywheel effect. Let’s dissect this. Red: Weak Product and a Weak/Average Sales Team This is a highly incremental quadrant where a single provider...
“Normal is not something to aspire to; it is something to get away from” In today’s age, almost all of you would have heard about the generation of millennials. Most of the people tend to identify them based on their years of birth, but frankly speaking it is their lifestyle that speaks much louder. Well, are you ready to go on a short tour de reconnaissance? Let me help you in decoding and...
It has been a nervous month for the professionals working for internet and e-commerce companies in India. Shutdowns and layoffs have been the flavour of the month, and business models have come under scrutiny. The effects of recent events at Stayzilla and Snapdeal have not been limited to job losses only. Weighed down by these developments in the sector, Rakuten, the Japanese e-tailer, has puts...
Today, everyone talks about going Digital. Renowned strategy and customer experience consulting firms have renewed themselves as Digital Transformation agency. Softskill trainers have become Digital marketing consultants. Large industrial conglomerates have become Digital industrial company by a creating a platform for Digital aficionados to develop custom apps. New roles such as Chief Digital...
If I were a Cobbler it would be my pride.. The best of all Cobblers to be.. If I were a Tinker, no Tinker beside Should mend an old kettle like me.. The above poem defines vertical SaaS to a T! When I got an invite from iSPIRT that there was going to be a roundtable on Vertical SaaS, I jumped from my chair with joy! First of all I discovered only recently via iSPIRT that there’s a buzzing...
(Also posted on LinkedIn here). I’m a big fan of the “Lean startup” movement. Steve Blank, Ash Maurya and others have done amazing work around innovative, startup companies. Two of my most recommended books in this area are The 4 Steps to Epiphany and Running Lean. I strongly recommend every founder read these. Shockingly, most haven’t! I’ve come across a new breed of founders who are well versed...
SaaSx4 is here! It is an event for SaaS founders, by SaaS founders. Generally, event invites to entrepreneurs focus on why it is imperative to network and learn at the event. SaaSx is different though. Here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t attend the event! You hate criticism! SaaSx is all about learning. The speakers and mentors at the event will be honest and brutal in the feedback they dish...
Who am I writing this for: people who are building or managing a Customer Success function. What’s my key point: your CSMs need to provide value, and for that it’s better they specialize based on industry (or business-type) versus round-robin or regional distribution. Our experience with the Hubspot CSM When we bought Hubspot as our marketing automation platform, we were assigned a customer...
When I started out as an entrepreneur the journey was fueled by big dreams that were perhaps a bit too daring. It wasn’t smooth sailing and early days were tough. Life in a startup is dotted with challenges that can be overcome only by sacrifice. Bootstrapping required a lot of restraint – both professionally and personally. Leaving a good-paying job at Zoho and trying to build a company...
Of the various hats I have worn all these years – Founder, Sales guy, Deployment Specialist, Level 1 and Level 2 Support, DevOps, Coder, Cheque depositor – I have come to realize I was a Product Manager all along – right from the get go. Putting a label on what you do is extremely important. It helps you define the job you do, appreciate it, read more on it and helps you improve...
