Madhav Chadha’s Post

For #Cybersecurity founders, building the enterprise GTM function is crucial, and it helps to plan for this early. Recently, we hosted an intimate dinner where Akshat (Co-founder and CTO, Cyware) and Rahul (Co-founder and CEO, CloudSEK) shared their journey. Here are some key takeaways: 𝟭. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹: Companies like Cyware and CloudSEK spent a year developing their products before hitting the market. In enterprise security, launching a half-baked product is not an option 𝟮. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹: Building relationships with individuals one or two levels below the CISO is crucial. These champions can advocate for you and facilitate key introductions 𝟯. 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀: While beneficial, excessive customization requirements can stray from your core product. Maintain your product vision and walk away if the partnership becomes exploitative 𝟰. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀: Selling to enterprise CISOs is challenging. If ACVs > $50k, partnerships with service firms can help open some doors. Make sure you compensate them well – don’t be stingy to those bringing in money 𝟱. 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭: Avoid selling at deep discounts, even in the early stages. This ensures a strong pricing strategy and prevents setting bad precedents 𝟲. 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: One approach could be to generate a pre-decided amount of revenue remotely before adding feet on ground. This revenue can then be reinvested to build the sales function for the geo 𝟳. 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆: Trust in your product is essential for retention. Aim for the right customer at the right price point to minimise churn 𝟴. 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: Sales hiring should be based on references from customers and peers. Engaging in random huddle calls helps ensure top-down alignment in product messaging across teams 𝟵. 𝗘𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Give a 1 year timeframe for sales performance evaluation. Conversion ratio is a better KPI than volume given varying market depth. Maintaining a high variable component in salary could help, maybe even 50% 𝟭𝟬. 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗪𝗦 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘇𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀: Getting listed on AWS and Azure helps grow the business, but pick marketplaces based on customer type. E.g. Azure for enterprise 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀: 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗔𝗿𝗲: When selling to enterprises, trust and image are vital. Ensure they perceive you as a larger, more established entity. It could even mean buying that expensive suit or bag for meetings :) If you have any thoughts on these points, we would love to hear them! Matrix Partners India (aka Z47) | Ashwin | Avnish | Pranay | Vikram

Recently making headlines across tech circles, Cognition introduced Devin, their fully autonomous AI software engineer.   Moving beyond traditional coding assistants, Devin could be a paradigm shift in AI capabilities, claiming to manage entire software projects autonomously – from conception to deployment – building, learning, debugging, and deploying applications, working in tandem with human teams.   On the SWE-bench coding benchmark, Devin eclipsed its predecessors, solving 13.9% of real-world coding issues, compared to 4.8% by Claude 2 and 1.7% by GPT-4. Devin was unassisted, whereas all other models were assisted (other models were told exactly which files need to be edited)   Possible Implications: 📈 Increased Dev Productivity: Devin automates routine tasks, like boilerplate code writing, redirecting developer focus towards high-value tasks. 🌐 Democratization of Development: Devin's user-friendly interface lowers entry barriers, empowering individuals with minimal coding knowledge to venture into software creation, heralding the rise of citizen devs. 💰 Business Agility and Cost Efficiency: The acceleration in development and potential for smaller, focused teams could translate into significant cost savings and a competitive edge in time-to-market strategies. 🔀 Job Market Realignment: The automation of certain programming roles may necessitate a workforce shift, urging a reevaluation of skills and roles within the tech industry. I got a chance to catch up with Asankhaya and share thoughts on the same. - Devin has captured the imagination of the dev community – nailing down the task planning and orchestration required - However, to those familiar with the space, it doesn’t add non-incremental value on top of ChatGPT. At the moment, it is going to be expensive (token costs) and impractical for real development tasks (~14% on SWE-bench) - The advances in this area are quite rapid but the lookout for a Klarna customer support efficiency like story for software development is still on Alongside Ashwin, Pranay and Vikram, I focus on early stage investments across SaaS and Enterprise tech at Matrix Partners India. Keen on engaging with founders ideating/building in the space! #ai #softwaredevelopment