Ike Singh Kehal

Shashank Bijapur co-founder and CEO of SpotDraft, our portfolio company, ran a terrific panel at the Arkam Innovation Summit. He covered a lot of ground with Manish Jethani Co-founder and CEO of Hevo Data Data, and Gaurav Sharma Founder, and CEO of SaaSLabs .    Here are some key takeaways that stayed with me: Initial journey of identifying the problem statement and figuring out the solution during the early days at SaaS Labs and Hevo Data After selling his first company in the US, Gaurav returned to India. All he wanted to do was make $4-5 K living in India, so he started out by building tools for Shopify users. But when those tools rapidly grew to half a million in recurring revenue, Gaurav realized that he could build anything, be anywhere in the world, and sell it worldwide. Manish believes that your product has to solve a personal problem in addition to an industrial one. Once you start the journey as an entrepreneur, financial success will not satisfy you. “What one problem can you solve even if the financial outcome is not that great?” Deciding whether to validate the product in India and move to the US versus taking a US market-first approach Selling in India is hard, especially in the early days. As Gaurav said, "if you sell a $10 product, you must create an invoice, and then they’ll make the payment in 60 days. So, it became very hard to make a profit. From this, I realized that India is not ready to buy software yet, so the best model would be to build it in India and sell it across the world" Manish believes customer needs and expectations are completely different across India and the US. It's quite challenging to build a product for India and expect it to succeed in the US. So, from day one, he focused on the US market-first approach. Establishing product differentiation during the early days of growing in the US market? Initially, the number one challenge for Manish was to sell a product that their target audience could build themselves. Hevo Data needed needed financial and operational data from companies, which nobody shares easily. Most companies prefer to build a product in-house and work with that tool. So, Manish decided to find initial customers who meet three criteria: they should not want to build a product in-house, they should be fine with sharing the data, and they should be from the US. Aspects of the business that changed from 0-1 to 1-10 journey and beyond To get initial customers, Gaurav decided to integrate his product into larger companies to get more eyes on it. To sustain this growth, Gaurav bet on excellent customer service, which is “an unfair advantage for Indian SaaS,” as he says. His customer service and fast responses became the talk of the town amongst his customers. Here’s the full video video. Well worth your time to listen to three $10M+ ARR SaaS founders at the top of their game.   Arkam Ventures https://lnkd.in/gP_YT-gV

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Unlocking Customer Loyalty Through Subscription Models: Insights from Amazon Prime and Adobe Creative Cloud In today's competitive market, subscription models have emerged as a powerful strategy to foster customer loyalty and ensure steady revenue streams. Industry giants like Amazon Prime and Adobe Creative Cloud are leading the charge, each offering unique insights into creating compelling subscription services. Amazon Prime has revolutionized the way we think about convenience and value. For an annual fee, members gain access to a wide array of benefits, including fast shipping, exclusive deals, and a vast library of streaming content. This multi-faceted approach meets diverse customer needs and encourages frequent engagement across Amazon's ecosystem. The result? Higher customer retention and increased lifetime value. On the other hand, Adobe Creative Cloud has transformed the creative software industry with its subscription-based access to a suite of powerful tools. By offering continuous updates and new features, Adobe ensures its customers always have the latest technology at their fingertips. This commitment to innovation and flexible pricing options make it easier for professionals and amateurs to stay loyal to Adobe's brand. The success of these models underscores several key factors in designing a winning subscription-based customer experience: Value Proposition: Clearly communicate the benefits and ensure they address the varied needs of your customers. Continuous Improvement: Regularly update and enhance your offerings to keep customers engaged and satisfied. Flexibility: Offer pricing plans that cater to different customer segments, ensuring accessibility and affordability. As we look to the future, it's clear that subscription models will continue to play a crucial role in building lasting customer relationships. What innovative approaches are you seeing in the world of subscriptions? #CustomerExperience #SubscriptionModel #CustomerLoyalty #BusinessStrategy #AmazonPrime #AdobeCreativeCloud

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🌟 Thrilled to unveil the journey of building a global SaaS company from India! 🇮🇳🚀 In this engaging podcast with Rohin Dharmakumar from The Ken, I share some of the core mental models that have been instrumental in my entrepreneurial path: 1️⃣ Risk Taking: Embracing and navigating risks has been key to our success. 2️⃣ Mental Toughness: Insights into how my early life experiences shaped the resilience needed for the entrepreneurial journey. 3️⃣ Opportunities Ahead: Discussing the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for Indian SaaS companies. 4️⃣ Choosing a Co-Founder: Essential criteria and insights on selecting the right partner. Building global companies from India is not just a goal—it's a lifelong mission. Join me as I discuss the lessons learned, the challenges overcome, and the promising future of building a global company from India. 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/grehUQQ9 #Entrepreneurship #SaaS #India #GlobalBusiness #Podcast #MentalModels # AI

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I participated in a “SMART MANUFACTURING” panel with Gayathri Radhakrishnan, Rohini Chakravarthy and Abhijit Supekar (moderator) last week at TIECon 2024. The coolest part of the panel was 3 Women VCs talking about a topic that has not traditionally been discussed by women. I never imagined I’d see this in my lifetime. Things have indeed changed! We had a very lively discussion of whether we can expect lights out factory in 5-10 years. Automation is happening in all stages but full automation manufacturing is tough because it requires human like adaptability. It is not converting text into instruction or code - it is about precision. Robotics + AI is making this happen and we will get there. AI is going to bring the cost down for complete solution for example: there are robotic arms that can do more tasks and learn like a human and not just some specific tasks. Also check out our portfolio companies Micropsi Industries and RGo Robotics that are making it happen in this space. Thanks to Anshu Bahadur Hrishikesh Sathawane Nilesh Dixit for organizing the panel and Anita Manwani and Surbhi Kaul for making this happen! #TiECon2024 #AIUbiquity

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Finsire has recently started its learning series - Ideally by chatting with the best folks in the Industry. Here, with Siddharth Shetty, Co-founder and CTO of Account Aggregator (AA) from DigiSahamati Foundation, we speak about the data exchange's inception, growth, and future in India. - We use AA for various reasons, including pushing boundaries in India's data exchange layer with various use cases. - It's been about three years since it went live, and over 70 million cumulative Indian accounts are linked. - One-of-a-kind data sharing network from India that is not seen anywhere across the globe, baring Singapore with https://lnkd.in/gyrCQtVQ - Different approach to protect consumers as compared to the previous models that existed to attain consumer data by various methods used by Plaid or Salt Edge Onemoney Finvu (Cookiejar Technologies) Protean eGov Technologies Anumati by Perfios AA NADL - Account Aggregator Computer Age Management Services Limited KFin Technologies Ltd. Enjoy - Please click on the link below and watch the video!

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🚀 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐑𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐀𝐈! 🚀 We are thrilled to announce the launch of RagaAI Inc 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭, an automated evaluation platform with state-of-the-art metrics that show 93% alignment with human feedback. RagaAI Catalyst offers GenAI builders three key capabilities off the shelf 👇 1. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡-𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐋𝐌 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 - Evaluation metrics that align with human feedback and are optimized for cost. 2. 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬 - Coverage across all risk factors associated with LLM applications like hallucinations, safety, security and robustness with actionable recommendations 3. 𝐎𝐧𝐞-𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐎𝐧-𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 - Seamless installation and integration for the enterprise in minutes RagaAI's F500 customers are already deploying GenAI solutions with confidence using RagaAI Catalyst. 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 www.raga.ai to learn more and 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 to access RagaAI Catalyst. #AIEvaluation #GenAI #LLM #RagaAI #AIQuality #AIInnovation #TechLaunch #AIExcellence #AITesting #RAG

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Like to order deliveries from the comfort of your own home? Zepto's recent $665 million funding will now allow the company to set up even more store across India to serve you better. Read all about it only in my new article at Entrepreneur India. . . . Follow and connect for more industry news and updates . . . #News #Update #Zepto #Funding #Investment #EntrepreneurIndia #AdityaPranMahanta https://lnkd.in/gYvATrUE

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I had a chance to catch-up with veteran Partnerships leader Rohan B. for the Clazar podcast. One of the things I was curious to ask him about, was how he handles myths or misaligned expectations around Cloud GTM. He has a sound approach -  it involves pacing expectations, exploring Cloud GTM’s potential as a deal accelerator first, and then working deeper through the Hyperscalers’ vast seller network with Co-Sell. This phased adoption is very much in alignment with what we recommend as the Crawl, Walk, Run approach to getting started. However, one thing I’m particularly glad Rohan brought up is the potential of Cloud GTM in the area of customer retention. Often, and justifiably, the impetus of revenue generation through Cloud GTM is on Partnership and Sales. But when tapped, retention can end up as the unexpected hero, bringing in repeat revenue. Rohan makes some strong points that deserve to be highlighted - ➡ When your software is just a single line item on a larger Commit budget, there’s a lower chance of it bearing the brunt of cost cutting or consolidation decisions ➡ Cloud GTM shifts the onus of contract renewal to the Hyperscalers and frees up time CSMs would normally spend in chasing up and negotiating renewal terms Definitely something more GTM leaders should be keeping their eyes on. Here’s the link to our full conversation. Plenty more nuggets to take away - https://lnkd.in/dgEnahuN  #Partnerships #CloudPartnerships #CloudGTM #CustomerRetention

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**Founders & GTM leaders ** -- only 2 days left to sign up for Lightspeed India'a #MastersOfSaaS session with the creator of MEDDIC - John McMahon known widely as the BEST salesperson in the world. John is a board member at companies such as Snowflake MongoDB ThoughtSpot and more! This will be an online session on JUN25th 8-9PM IST / 730AM PST. Please RSVP early to reserve your spot: https://shorturl.at/ZPLxH We'll discuss: - common mistakes in setting up sales teams - learnings from being a CRO at multiple 100M+ ARR businesses - how to hire A+ talent, every. single. time. - and much more!

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Congrats to Zingly.ai, Gaurav Passi and the entire team on their launch. We are proud to be investors from Day 1. This is once in a decade style opportunity. It's 2024, and You and I, as customers, still continue to struggle with 1-800 numbers, ineffective AI Chatbots and spelling our names, account numbers and other info over and over again ... It's time to change all that. Zingly lets a business's customers drive the experience they want as they want it (quick answer from AI or a real conversation with human agents or a hybrid), how they want it (text, audio, video), and from any device without having to repeat info over and over again - all from a single personalized Zingly Room. Sounds obvious! But the best ideas are the simple obvious ones! #FutureOfCX #AIRevolution #CustomerExperience #Startups #Entrepreneurship #VentureCapital https://lnkd.in/gV9mk7je

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🎙️The latest episode of Arta Finance "Live Long and Prosper," features the incredible Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, CEO of Grammarly! In this episode, we cover topics that resonate deeply with me: AI in business, investing on a personal level, and hard-earned career wisdom. Here are three key takeaways: AI Innovations and Business Impact: Rahul shares how AI stands as the most disruptive technological force of our time, highlighting its immense potential to revolutionize productivity and interaction. He offers insights from the front lines on leveraging AI to enhance human communication, business operations and the critical need to stay adaptable in a fast-evolving tech landscape. Personal Finance and Investing: Rahul shares his financial journey, underscoring the importance of simplifying investment strategies. He advocates for consistent investing, preferring index funds over stock picking, and maintaining a disciplined, long-term approach to wealth building. Career Lessons: One of Rahul's most profound pieces of advice is the importance of tuning out external noise when making significant life decisions. He emphasizes the need to trust your inner voice, align your choices with your core values, and embrace the support of loved ones in your professional journey. This conversation is brimming with wisdom and inspiration. Thank you Rahul Roy-Chowdhury for doing this. I’m so lucky to host these conversations - and even more so to share it with the world. I hope you enjoy it! 🖖🎧

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Extremely grateful to Vineet Mahajan for this insightful discussion at Blueshift Engage! My key takeaways: 1️⃣ CDP vs DWH, and the importance of real-time engagement: Vineet talks about how their journey with first party data started with setting up a data warehouse. However, he points out that there was a big gap around real-time actionability, and that's why they decided to bring in a #CDP. Now they are able to not only combine warehouse data with real-time events to build profiles, but also act on these profiles in real time for both inbound and outbound engagement. 2️⃣ Democratizing data for marketers: One of the big topics he talks about is around making data actionable for marketers, and eliminating the need for complex technical queries to access insights from the data. In his words, "there is so much functionality available in there that you don't need engineers". 3️⃣ Combining Customer AI with Content AI: One of the key things Vineet highlighted was how content and commerce com together in the customer journey. First, in a typical "funnel", the content educates at the top of the funnel leading to commerce and conversions at the bottom. More importantly, however, content can then extend the journey beyond that first conversion, and help create a "flywheel"instead of a dead-end funnel. We talked about the importance of combining Customer AI (that helps understand the customer's journey) with Content AI (that recommends the next best content to extend the journey, and create the flywheel). Whether you are just getting started with your CDP and Engagement journey, or are looking to start using advanced AI, there are a lot of great nuggets of wisdom in Vineet's talk. Do give it a listen!

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Excited to see our work at CloudEagle.ai featured in msn Microsoft Network! It's been an incredible journey leading our amazing team to save millions for our customers. "The major trend right now is to cut down on spend. CloudEagle.ai helps other companies save on their wasted software spend." Couldn't have said it better myself! 🔗Read the full article here

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Friends at Factors.ai launching a big product update today. Congrats Srikrishna Swaminathan / Praveen Das and the entire factors team on building this copilot in a very short time. With the LinkedIn ads Co pilot - You can improve reach and campaign performance. - Think frequency capping, account-level retargeting - view-through attribution etc Mainly you can control spends and make it more efficient. Join us at 8.30 to explore the features. RSVP comment section

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Co-lead a workshop (with Sumathi my business partner and Komal lath of Tute Consult) on branding and communication and why/how its' strategic & important for the portfolio companies of an early stage growth focused PE fund in Mumbai this noon. very interactive session. lots of takeaways. one of the biggest benefits of doing such workshops with founders and CXOs of growth companies is that you get to first hand understand their pain points and priorities. which makes you realize there is a long road ahead laden with great opportunity for those in PR & comms if we take off our hats and look at it from their perspective.

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The decisions and actions of our brightest minds in the coming years will play a crucial role in defining our trajectory for the century and where we land with the technology of our time. We have a special fireside chat in Bangalore this week that will explore an Investor perspective on the India opportunity in AI. We’re joined by Pratik (from Nexus VP) and Matt (from EF) who’ve been investing in AI for more than a decade. Expect us to delve into key topics like the role of capital, talent, compute, the importance of alignment and safety, and the future of AI among other things (more on this in the link). RSVP here: https://lu.ma/h589mcrs #venturecapital #technology #ai #entrepreneurship #startups #vc

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The productcon is back and now in NY. Some great insights from @Purvi Shah (VP, American Express), Ibrahim Bashir (VP, Amplitude), Sneha Rao, VP of Product Nytimestoday News and Jame (VP of Products Slack). Here are my key takeaways from day 1 1. AI is everywhere learn to use in product management effectively, meaningfully and with use cases 2. How to bridge from product to revenue by from chaotic multiple inputs, multiple feedback, metrics framework to one single input, one metric to track and monitor progress, use business objective related metric, with north start with user-centric.. (we are doing this all in Shorter Loop bdw!) 3. Unifying fragmented experiences and moving from years-old product to scaling it for growth through - gamification, mobilization, user adoption, communities, building teams around the world, and building new markets.. typically flywheel approach 4. Be strong and brave to decommission an age-old product to improve efficiency enterprise-wide - have executive sponsorship, resources, daily communication across the channel, celebrate small milestones, MVPs and big wins and show by doing so how many $$ we save for the company and what new revenue opportunity waits by adopting a new business model among existing users and also new users..... #productcon #newyork #genai #meaningfulai #effectiveai #decomissioningproduct #scalability #efficiency

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Did you know that there is only one Indian #startup in the list of the top 50 #AI companies in the world (ranked by traffic)? 🫨 That startup is Invideo, and we're bringing its leadership to SaaSBoomi's #AIBootcamp '24 to deliver not one, not two, but three masterclasses! What's more? 🔨 Masterclasses on GTM, SEO and tech choices in an AI-first business environment 🔨 Workshops on Product-Market-Fit and navigating the Co-pilot/Auto-pilot spectrum of opportunities 🔨 Frameworks for identifying and adding AI use cases 🔨 Blueprint of an ideal AI tech stack (from prompt engineering to ML Ops) 🔨 Workshops on evaluating and adopting agentic frameworks 🔨 Masterclass on Messaging and Positioning for AI Products - Differentiating your startup in crowded markets Apply now! Link in the first comment w/ Sanket Shah, Anshul Khandelwal, Chaitanya Chokkareddy, Avinash Raghava, Thiyagarajan Maruthavanan (Rajan), Anand Raman, Ashwin Ramasamy, Shashank Kumar, Sumanth Raghavendra, Nivedha Venkatesh, Shruti Kapoor , Shankar Maruwada, , Matthew John, Rajath KM, Varun Thirumalai Pallav Nadhani, Abhi Ballabh and few more...

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Clay funding a great news, or is it ? Clay is indeed a remarkable product, and Varun Anand and Kareem Amin have crafted a startup success story that's worth retelling for ages. So, much #respect for the duo and the team. Clay significantly eases the workload for SDRs and sales teams by automating many labor-intensive tasks. In the age of AI, Clay leverages GenAI smartly, paving the future path for various versions of AI-powered SDRs—from fully automated to advisory roles and copilots. However, as sales professionals, we should remember that the world of sales resembles a Hedonistic treadmill, and these tools just make us jump from one treadmill to the next. It's beneficial if we are the only ones accelerating, but if everyone around us is also speeding up, we as sales folks don’t gain much of a competitive edge. #Automation and AI tools are becoming accessible to everyone, so while adopting them is essential, it often means we're just keeping pace with the competition. Humbling huh ? True differentiation only comes from a deeper understanding of customer needs, building exceptional products, and consistently communicating a unique value proposition authentically - which incidentally Clay itself has done brilliantly.

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