Once upon a time, there was an Asian Dragon and an Asian Elephant, both wanting to be self-sufficient in defence technology. But they chose different paths. In Jan 2004 one went out to acquire four retired aircraft carriers for study, along with purchasing foreign aircraft carrier designs; which resulted in this Asian Dragon commissioning their …
Testing Time for a Bootstrapped Entrepreneur: 7 Practical Lessons for Software Product Testing
What’s a bootstrapped entrepreneur’s favorite three alphabets? The answer is DIY and there are no prizes for guessing! One of the things every bootstrapped entrepreneur should do is to take ownership for testing their product and not leave it to the engineering team. Wondering why this is important? Here are four great reasons why you …
Key Takeaways from The Design Thinking Roundtable
When it comes to building a product, I had absolutely no experience before Pricebaba. While building Pricebaba.com I did learn many nuances and tricks for growth. I am grateful to the friends and mentors who have always helped us understand users better and how to build a great product. It was a pleasant coincidence last …
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Taxation and “Digital Economy”
Background There two precursor blogs recently published to this new article on taxation of digital economy, which are helpful in understanding the context for Software product industry in general and especially for SaaS. ‘SaaS’ – the product advantage and need ‘SaaS’ – indirect tax issues in India Here is a brief overview. The first blog, made …
Announcing the CXO connect program
Reaching out and connecting with the CXOs at the enterprise level is still a problem many product companies tend to struggle with. While some well funded companies seem to have covered some ground there is more work to be done here. Most companies tend to lose out big when it comes to getting the mindshare …
Who said that the customer is a king?
Lesson one in succeeding at customer management: don’t treat them all alike. Whosoever said that the customer is a king, didn’t tell us which customer! And until you know which customer deserves your very best, you’re not likely to have a very effective customer management strategy. In this post, I want to share a framework …
Customer Purchasing Insights For eCommerce Software
SoftwareSuggest is an online software discovery & recommendation platform. We provide free consultation on software and help SMEs select the right software for their organization. As a part of our business, we collect customer requirements, which when analysed can serve the industry with deep insights. Our learning for the eCommerce industry are presented in this …
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‘SaaS’ – indirect tax issues in India
It seems there is still time before the Software as a service (SaaS) blooms well in the Indian domestic market. The biggest friction points are relatively low acceptability of online model, lack of quality internet penetration in country side and the unsupportive policy framework e.g. recurring billing, expensive payment gateway solutions and confusing indirect taxation …
6 traits that define successful entrepreneurs
The contribution of entrepreneurs to boosting the global economy is undeniable. Right from the Graham Bell to modern day Steve Jobs, their journey of innovation has greatly benefitted their countries and the world in general. For sure, entrepreneurs are cut from a different cloth, though one cannot really pin down a particular type that defines …
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Becoming Cash Flow Positive In SaaS Business & Growing Revenue By 3 Times In 3 Months: The ShieldSquare Story
In Q1 2016, we saw our hard work payoff. We achieved some notable milestones. We became cash flow positive and our annual revenue rate (ARR) grew by 3 times in 3 months. We expanded our customer base to 68 countries (with over 90% of the revenues from outside our home base), and doubled our team …
‘SaaS’ – the product advantage and need
India has all the potential to lead the world in the SaaS segment, yet the largest number of SaaS companies relocate out of India, for want of ease-of-doing-business. SaaS is one of the major blocks in the emerging Software product Industry of India and it needs urgent attention in this digital economy age. Whether SaaS …
Tech Startup Awards launched by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched the Tech Rocketship Awards 2016-17, held in Mumbai. With the intent to identify and support some of India’s best and brightest start-ups, the initiative will assist them to scale globally. The Tech Rocketship Awards – an initiative by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in India – provides …
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How to identify and track the right metric?
“To know how to measure the success, is to know how to achieve it” A few days ago while discussing complexities of managing a product portfolio, Uday asked me a simple question: what is the most important metric one should use to measure product performance? I suddenly felt dumbfounded because I didn’t have a clear answer. …
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An Indian Fintech Entrepreneur’s Views on UPI
Ever since UPI (Unified Payments Interface) alpha launched on 11th April 2016, I see much confusion amongst various stakeholders. For me, the most relevant question is will UPI kill payment gateway aggregators and PSPs (payment service providers) ? My answer is No. If you’re interested to know more, please read on… To understand in detail, …
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