Mohan Narayanaswamy Natarajan

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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Insights gleaned from industry leaders is a solid strategy hack, and that’s especially true for this paradigm shift to the dominance of #AI technology. Recently, Manas Human, the CEO of Nagarro spoke with Mark Walker, Editorial Director of The Fintech Times to provide his own perspectives on his company, his life story, and his take on current technological and societal issues. There’s plenty to take away from the profile — but to focus on his take on artificial intelligence specifically, Human likened the advent of AI to electricity, which I think is a unique way to put it. Basically, Human believes AI has the potential to revolutionize various sectors of the industry, but it will not likely replace the need for human collaboration and coordination. #Communication is vital to any workforce, and while AI can expedite processes and automate certain tasks, it cannot provide the #guidance that human wisdom offers. I echo and appreciate Human’s words. A lot of discussion around AI can often be hyperbolic, but his perspective is measured, and fair. He acknowledges AI’s power but also stresses the importance of human perspective, which is the healthiest way to approach this topic. Have you read this conversation between Manas Human and Mark Walker? What are your takeaways?

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HSBC's recent assessment values Byju's at $0, along with other unicorn startups like Meesho, Pharmeasy, and StackOverflow Valuation down from previous round. This highlights the importance of focusing on value creation over valuation in the startup ecosystem. An exemplary case is Zoho, which revolutionized the software as a service market without external funding, emphasizing customer success. #startup #funding #valuation [Read more](https://lnkd.in/dPk7i8Jh)

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With a large chunk of India's per capita boost coming in from Tier 2 and Tier 3 non-urban clusters, the need to unblock affordability is more acute now than ever. Fit in the fact that the per capita income would still continue to stay below 5L per annum well upto 2030 and #emi as a lucrative growth lever becomes even more clear. The average online shopper would continue to be price and affordability sensitive. This is also reflected at how Amazon continues to leverage #emi as a dominant feature on it's PDP and checkout pages both. Sometimes the price callout itself being the EMI offered! This is where we at Snapmint step in. ✔️ Approval rates that enable true affordability ✔️ Credit penetration at thin credit zones ✔️ Increase AOV and overall GMV ✔️ Superlative EMI checkout experience ✔️ Reassuring post purchase support for your shoppers Click to know more: www.snapmint.com Abhineet Sawa Ram Prasad #d2c #ecommerce #upi #gmv #aov

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The a16z podcast on product-market sales fit with Jyoti Bansal, Peter Levine, Satish Talluri and Sonal Chokshi is a goldmine of lessons for founders and product leaders of startups at different stages. Here are a few key takeaways from my perspective: 1: There is no market without the user.  In the early phases of a company, when you're still pre-product-market-fit, obsesses over the user, not the technology. It is crucial at this early stage that you are able to define what metric you will use to measure user adoption, and optimize for it accordingly. 2: Integrate the go-to-market model into your product thinking. Who you sell the product to, and how you intend to sell and support your product is just as important as the functional & technical requirements of the product. The features of the product should reflect aspects of the go-to-market strategy. 3: Solving an existing problem? Do it 10x better. If you want to introduce a product in an already established market, make it 10x better - 10x easier, or 10x cheaper or 10x more scalable. 4: Bridge the gap between engineers and customers. Who said engineers don’t need to understand the customers? While this may be especially relevant to technical products, I’d argue this applies across the board. Engineers hold the keys to innovative solutions, but to fully equip them, it's necessary they possess a robust understanding of both the business and its customers. 5: if your users are getting adoption and are happy with the product, the money will come.  Lower margins for the first year with a platform + services deal is still okay, if it significantly increases your chances of renewal. 6. Follow the two-thirds, one-third rule Dedicate two-thirds of your engineering resources to sustaining current customers and penetrating existing markets further. Assign one-third of your engineering resources to broadening your TAM (new markets/new users). 7. Display creativity with your product, but maintain simplicity in pricing. Keep it straightforward for your sales team to explain your pricing structure. Price your product in a format that your customer is familiar with. Understand the ROI, the value your product adds to the business, and their budget constraints. Use these factors as pricing guidelines. Once you know this, it's better to price higher; you can always offer discounts later. 8. Concentrate on the aspect you must learn the most to reach the next milestone. Excel at it and then proceed to worry about the subsequent milestone when you get there P.S. I've put the link in the comments below" 👇 #brand30 #productmanagement

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📊 Is pricing the answer to fragmenting the UPI App market? 📊 📈💡NPCI has extended the 30% market cap deadline because the top 3 UPI apps have ~92% market share. Phonepe, Paytm & Gpay capitalized on the early mover advantage. New apps don’t have incentives to compete for UPI volumes because it is a “free product.” And while this was why it grew, it has now also hindered entry of new players ✅ Global real time payment (RTP) equivalents are usually free for the customer while merchants are charged. Ex: 🇧🇷 Pix: Merchant: 0.22 - 0.3% / txn, free for user 🇨🇭 Twint: Merchant:1.3% / txn, free for user 🇵🇱 Blik: Merchant: $0.1 - $0.75 / txn, free for user 🇸🇪 Swish: Merchant: $0.09 / txn, free for user 🇸🇬 PayNow: Merchant: 1.3% / txn, free for user 📈💡 If we want to keep RTP free for the end user, the constraint is free P2P payments. Only P2M can be charged. Is that feasible? Let’s look at the data: 📌 UPI Value (in Cr): From April ‘23 to ‘24, grew by 39.6%. P2P grew from 10L Cr to 14L Cr, at ~32% growth YoY. And P2M grew from 3.2 L Cr to 5.3 L Cr, at~65% YoY. 📌 UPI Volume (in B txn): From April ‘23 to April ‘24 UPI volume grew by 62%. P2P grew from 3.8B to 4.9B, at YoY 29%. P2M grew from 5B to 8.3B at YoY 65%. And proportionally: 📌 April ‘24 Value: Total: INR 19L Cr, P2P: 72.97%, P2M: 27.03% 📌 April ‘24 Volume: Total: 13.3B, P2P: 37.5%, P2M: 62.5% ✅ The constraint of only being able to price P2M transactions is not a blocker, P2M seems to have significant volumes. But that’s the overall P2M market: There is a big segment that falls within P2PM (unorganized merchants), that NPCI will not charge 📈💡Let’s assume that P2PM majorly consists of low value transactions of AoV less than Rs 2000. If we look at AoV > 2000 bucket of P2M transactions, this constitutes for 4.50% of txn numbers, and 68.36% of P2M txn value. ✅ So even excluding P2PM this still leaves a significant~68% of P2M monthly value or 4.5% of P2M txns that can be monetized So what’s the ideal pricing model? ❗Well, the cost of a UPI transaction is ~Rs 0.4. At 13.3B UPI txns that is a monthly cost of Rs 532 Cr. Which is Rs 6384 Cr per annum to maintain the UPI ecosystem! The pricing needs to generate atleast this much❗ 1️⃣ Option 1: Fixed fee / txn: If only AoV > Rs 2000 txns are charged, then to break-even, the fee per txn needs to be Rs 15, which is high. If ALL the P2M txns are charged, then a per txn cost of Rs 0.67 would be enough to break-even. But the P2PM merchant would be impacted 2️⃣ Option 2: % of txn value: If only AoV > Rs 2000 txns are charged, then the break-even fee is 0.15%. If the total P2M value is charged, the fee needs to be 0.10%. Seems to make more sense But even if pricing comes, while it incentivizes new apps it also incentivizes incumbents to keep their market share. Enter: the 30% UPI market share cap To read the full article and other pieces like this, click here: https://lnkd.in/gSPm49aq #fintech #UPI #NPCI

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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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Sanjay Jha is moderating an intriguing panel discussion at GSA (Global Semiconductor Alliance ) executive forum now Rene Haas : insatiable demand driven by AI speed up our roadmap. Software does not die, AI is an additional demands for hardware. Life science and drug development will be the next big thing. Anirudh Devgan : AI is in the phase 1 of infrastructure and phase 2 of AI in existing application, 3rd phase is AI new application. Cadence is engaging phase 1 by enabling AI Chips, and phase 2 which drive design automation. 3DIC is natural extension of Moore's law. Optimistic about power, as new Innovation along the way will bend the straight line projection usually seen in the early inning of technology like AI. Real value realization will mostly be vertical based, not the horizontal LLM. AI will move from infrastructure AI, physical AI(automotive, robotics) to the horizon 3, that is likely AI biggest apps such as AI for science, particularly life science Sandra Rivera : AI impact is multi facets. First it is a TAM expansion for FPGA, which is needed as co-accelerator. AI is also embedded in placement tool and in even in basic fabrics, which will be making FPGA better. Power is the single Largest limiter for AI deployment. Also, Should AI be better regulated than what happened in social media, leading to the data security and privacy. Tien Wu : AI has driven ASE to increase capex to 4B This year from 2B last year due to systematic complexity, not just technology but the more players in ecosystem, which breaks the traditional pricing. AI has made us seeing the first time that Hardware is the bottleneck in term of improvement and return in profit. US has the data and economic scale to deploy AI across all sectors in term of efficiency improvement, given US also has been a highly "wasteful" nation.

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#Take2 Why the Market May Be Overestimating Quick Commerce's Future Despite Damodaran's Optimism As a genuine admirer of #AswathDamodaran and his insightful #valuation frameworks, it's fascinating to see how his evaluations cut to the core of a business's #financial #health. However, with #quickcommerce, it’s possible that the broader market has overestimated the long-term potential of these businesses. Quick commerce is undeniably enticing in terms of #growth and #marketshare grabs, but as Damodaran himself has noted, the sector faces headwinds like narrow #margins and dependency on high-frequency, low-value transactions. Quick commerce relies heavily on the temporary advantage of local #logistics and #labor #arbitrage, but as cities become more congested and labor markets tighten, these operational “advantages” could quickly erode. Furthermore, the political landscape may not always be welcoming, especially given the impact on local #kirana stores, which are integral to India’s #retail fabric. While Damodaran’s framework rightly emphasizes lifecycle positioning, it may not fully capture the #political and #inflationary risks that quick commerce facilitates and faces as it scales. This could mean that valuations, even if optimistic now, might not reflect the long-term stability or profitability the street expects. One critical factor that quick commerce models often overlook is India's regional #diversity —it's anything but a #homogenous market. Local preferences, purchasing behaviors, and infrastructure vary widely from city to city. Quick commerce platforms will need to adapt to these variations, constantly refining and expanding their product categories to cater to local demands. This could mean shifting beyond the basic groceries and essentials model and embracing more regional product mixes, which further adds to complexity and costs. The sector's reliance on ultra-fast delivery and inventory optimization only intensifies these challenges, as what works in a metro city like Delhi or Mumbai may fail in smaller towns where consumer habits and logistical networks differ significantly. This makes scaling in India particularly #complex, and could limit the profitability of the "one-size-fits-all" model that quick commerce often tries to implement. All things considered, I’m confident that these companies have the talent needed to evolve. Just look at how Zomato transformed from its early days to what it is now. The real question is: what will they evolve into, and will that future model justify the premium they currently command? For now, I’ll take advantage of my exclusive offer on Coke Zero from quick commerce and enjoy it while it lasts.

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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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🌿✨ Embracing AYUSH: Empowering Health Naturally! 🌟 Did you know? Recent data from the survey on AYUSH conducted by National Sample Survey Office, India reveals that 50% of Indians used AYUSH healthcare system in the last year! 🔹 AYUSH system of medicines refers to the use of one or more of the system(s) of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homeopathy 🔹 95% of rural and 96% of urban folks are aware of AYUSH traditions. 🔹 85% of rural and 86% of urban households practice Medicinal Plants/Home Remedies/Local Health Traditions. 🔹 Nearly half of rural (46%) and over half of urban (53%) individuals used AYUSH in the last year for health benefits. We at SaveIN work with several leading alternate medicine providers like Dr Batra’s Healthcare Jiva Ayurveda Madhavbaug Homeocare International among others, and are witnessing tremendous demand for alternate therapies, especially for chronic diseases and lifestyle disorders. Let's continue to explore the power of traditional wisdom in promoting holistic wellness alongside adopting the latest in healthcare! 🌱💪 #AYUSH #HolisticHealth #WellnessJourney #TraditionalMedicine #Healthcare #Lifestyle

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Marketing leaders at $2-5M ARR, this is your chance to gain actionable insights, master US GTM strategies, and learn from top practitioners. Join the #SaaSBoomi #Roundtable in Bangalore to accelerate your growth. Don’t miss out—apply now #B2B #marketing #growth

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Excited and looking forward to discussing the evolving challenges of raising capital for early-stage startups at SAASCON24. Join me as I dive into the current trends, what founders need to know, and how we can navigate this more challenging environment. #SAASCON24 #StartupFunding #EarlyStageStartups #SaaS #Entrepreneurship

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💲💲 If you are a D2C Consumer Brand Startup you should know this VC that invests in pre-revenue stage Startups! 💰 VC Background: Meet Sauce VC a Cat II VC that launched their first fund in 2019 with a modest corpus of INR 60 Cr and since then launched 3 more funds and made 33 investments. Their recent INR 365 cr Fund launched in Aug'24 plans to invest in 20-25 consumer brands. They pick 6-7 selective investments annually out of 3000+ deck they get. However, their Fund I has a success rate of 50% (not a bad idea to invest in the fund if you are a UHNI). Infact their Fund IV was oversubscribed 3 times. 💰Notable Investments: Mokobora, Hocco Ice cream, Supertails, Innovist, The Whole Truth etc 💰Stage at which they invest: They invest even at pre-revenue stage to early traction stages. Ideally this VC invests at pre-seed to Series A. 💰What do they look for: Taking call at pre-revenue stage is really tough, especially in Consumer Brand segment. Hence, they look for founders who have deep experience in the segment either by the family background or by the founder's professional background. However, if the founder is not well-versed with the D2C game, they are cool with it. But the founder should know the segment, scope for new brands and plan to differentiate the brand. 💰Ideal cheque size: $ 1 Mn. But can go up to $ 5 Mn. 💰Investment Style: Sauce VC prefers working along with the founders to ensure the success of the Startup. They lead the rounds at pre-seed and Series A stages. Once the Startup is into Series B, they take a back seat and only participate in the following rounds. 💡 Hope this helps. Share it with some great founder of a consumer brand who is at early stages and needs to know this. If you want a warm-introduction, DM me or let me know in the comments. Bhavesh K Jatania Raunaq JaisinghaniAshish SharmaMohit Kanjwani

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Is there a recipe to building a cockroach of a start up? Only time will tell if in Solv we have been able to create a cockroach. Learnings from my journey: - Team - flexi, resilient & high integrity (models will come and go). Hire for values over hard skills, most roles. Take good care of them...period. - Culture & execution, together > strategy. The founder needs to be the ninja that drives all 3. - solve a large enough problem - Right to exist (why is your maggi sauce different), does it reflect in your metrics? - Multiple revenue streams - Be anal about unit eco (base camp) - Operating leverage - Org wide frugality - 24 months runway - keep the cap table healthy - Governance (yes, even in early stages) - it gets lonely - have people you can talk to & above all Have a purpose (beyond ebidta, IPO etc) ! Eg: Improve livelihoods of MSMEs in India Feel free to add if I missed any.

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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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Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) is on the rise globally, with India hosting over 150 CVCs. This trend reflects corporations' recognition of the innovation startups bring and their desire to stay competitive. By investing in startups, corporations gain access to innovation, value-adding technologies, and financial incentives. CVCs play strategic roles by investing in startups within their industries, offering benefits like industry networks and expertise, while also providing general support such as access to experienced professionals and relaxed return expectations. The significance of corporates investing in the startup ecosystem is continually growing globally, with many Southeast Asian corporations turning their attention to South Asia, particularly India. Read More Here: https://bit.ly/4a8vsTJ #Restaurants #Hospitality #Technology #Business #Innovation #AI #investing #venturecapital Branded Hospitality Ventures Noah Stern

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In this episode of The Lobster Talks, Ashish Bajaj, co-founder of DIME (YC W24), shares the emotional rollercoaster of building a startup after Y Combinator. ✅ Ashish opens up about the challenges of maintaining intensity and focus after the YC accelerator program. ✅ He shares the strategies he and his co-founder use to keep their momentum going. ✅ Ashish also talks about the importance of mental resilience in entrepreneurship. Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform or watch it on YouTube - https://lnkd.in/gScqXQdY . . . . . #startups #YCombinator #entrepreneurship #manufacturing #innovation

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