The 50th PlaybookRT session was held at Helion Ventures in Bengaluru to brainstorm and understand best practices for positioning and messaging of startup products. This roundtable was led by Shankar Maruwada, who by virtue of his illustrious past experiences as the brand builder for Aadhar and P&G, and being a successful entrepreneur at Marketics ably …
What is a good sales target for a sales person in SaaS in India?
Unfortunately there is no fixed answer. Problem with SaaS is that there are too many moving variables. LTV,Churn,ARR,ARPU etc. So its really hard to come up with one fixed number. So based on our experience and our product the following is a number we have come up with to set targets for our sales organization. …
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The first 5 steps to building your own SaaS application
This post is for non developer founders who want to build a SaaS application. Software as a Service (SaaS) is a relatively small market – at $19 Billion in total revenues, it seems large, but compared to $250 Billion of the overall software market it seems minuscule. It has grown from nothing to this large …
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Lessons from the House of Tata on Technology and Innovation
There are increasing signs of breakthroughs that could provide disproportionate returns to Tata companies. One question that I am asked frequently by companies that have launched innovation programmes is: “How do we sustain interest and commitment from employees across the company?” In other words, how do we keep up the momentum? After attending the final …
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SEBI Startup Listing Exchange – Nasdaq of the East
Efforts of iSPIRT’s List-in-India Policy Expert Team have reaped the desired results. The securities market regulator, SEBI, has announced relaxed norms for a separate platform to allow “new-age companies” having an innovative business model and belonging to the knowledge-based technology sector to list in the country. The existing legal framework has considerable challenges for a successful listing, including the mandatory track record of distribution of …
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How SignEasy got featured in an Apple campaign (and almost screwed it up!)
SignEasy was a two person operation in 2010, the year we launched. And bootstrapping meant a lot of pressure first on gaining and then on maintaining traction; there was, and still is, no safety jacket. If we have no money to pay salaries and run operations, there is no company or product, period. But we …
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Starting up a new company: So simple, yet so hard
I’ve seen all sides. I’ve lived in big companies. I’ve been a technology entrepreneur. I’ve also lived inside dozens of startups as a proxy entrepreneur, aka an angel investor. And I’ve seen hundreds of software product startups as a grass-roots ecosystem builder in the past eight years. My conclusion is that in the end it …
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Top 10 Expectations from Digital Banking Users
Digital banking has caught the fancy of every bank in the world, from small to large. Digital, which assumes internet connectivity, allows customers to avail of banking services anytime, anywhere from their digital devices. Digital devices include laptops, tablets, mobile phones, ATM, Kiosks and may be even large touchscreens. Every time a customer or a …
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Should experts be limited to an organization?
I am a great fan of analogy, and one of the things I have been pondering for past year or so is comparing our software industry with that of medical and film industry. In this post, I plan to share some thoughts on how our software industry can consider the evolution of medical and film industry, …
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Bootstrapping – Imagining the possible new with evolving means
“Pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps” refers to 19th century high-top boots that were pulled on by tugging at the ankle strap. It generally means doing something on your own, without any outside help. In the present day context, bootstrapping is a commonly used term used to describe startups that rather than seeking help from …
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How to Build a Startup in India – Complete Guide
In last 4 years, I have built 3 startups and multiple products, some did well, some didn’t. Currently I am building AeroLeads which is a prospect generation software, before this, I built InBoundio and before it WorkMonk (now shut down). In between, I took few short and one long break (of one year). With all this …
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Leveraging an open IoT platform to accelerate innovation
Every decade or so, a technology shift occurs that has an impact far beyond its original design. These groundbreaking technologies can affect industries and applications that were never conceived of by their founders. The mobile phone is an example, which morphed into the smartphone and created a massive mobile development and application industry. IoT represents …
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Marketing Expense Tracker for Startups
I moved into a product role recently but for the majority of my startup life, I was in marketing. One of the things I always had lacking in my toolbox was a simple expense tracker. I looked around a lot but the best option was what I was already using and wanted to move on …
49 Not Out ! Excerpts from Product Nation’s 49th Round Table on selling SaaS products to US customers
Pune… the city of life. It’s a place you can easily fall in love with. Fun loving yet grounded folks who talk sense. Light drizzle, clean roads and a young city full of aspiring students who want to change the world. So when Product Nation announced it Playtable in Pune I latched on to the …
What’s the one tool all successful brands need? Are your listening?
A brand is representative of the source from where a product or service comes from. Over the years consumers have learned to associate a word, combination of words, tagline, logo and colors with their respective brands. A brand signifies a set of attributes. Leading brands spend a fortune to re-inforce these attributes, which are tweaked …
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