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Announcing the Business Catalyst program at InTech50

We are pleased to announce that this year Intech50 will connect Indian startups with experienced business catalysts and consultants visiting specially from USA.

Why Are We Launching Business Catalyst

In his famous blog, Ben Horowitz discusses why we need sales people in the cloud world.

Last year we saw many of our startups getting the POC from large US customers, but some of them struggled to close the deal. We felt the companies need for experienced local sales presence to help maneuver the enterprise sales process.

Partly quoting from Ben’s article, the purpose of the enterprise sales team is not just about relationship and introductions. They also have to talk about value for the specific customer, dethrone alternative options, and navigate through the complex enterprise procurement process. In addition, when selling a startup product, they have to mitigate the risk of buying from a startup.

Our goal for the Business Catalyst program is to help startups understand this process of selling in USA with their interactions with senior sales leaders and consultants.

And Yes, the business catalysts can also provide introductions to their customers and manage the sales process for you.  

Some of the confirmed list of business catalysts are:

Is there a cost to participate in the Business Catalyst Program at the conference?

There is no additional financial cost that InTech50 will charge to participate in the program. The business catalysts will be choosy about who they take to their customers. They will be looking for companies that are ready for launch in USA market. The criteria generally include product readiness, some references; understanding of US based customers to target, competition and ability to fund sales expenses in USA. To this end, there will be a small questionnaire we will ask you to fill.

Most business catalysts will expect to enter into some financial arrangement if they decide to work with you after the conference. Our goal is to educate you on what they are looking for, and ensure a warm handshake.  

Which Industries, verticals domains and geographies are the Sales Consultants from? Typical Profile?

While this is an evolving list, our focus is sales consultants from North America. We expect 4-6 sales consultants. Each consultant typically has 15+ years of sales experience in large MNC and now helping other companies on full time basis. 

Do I have to work with sales consultants that Intech50 recommends?

No, there is no obligation to work with sales consultants after the conference.

 

 

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A little thought goes a long way

My kids attend a public speaking course called “Think and Speak Up”. The main idea behind the class is that in order to be an effective public speaker, you need to think before you speak i.e. be prepared before you speak. A recent conversation with a very action oriented CEO who wants to launch in the US got me thinking that the “Think and Speak Up” approach applies to companies as well.

It takes a certain personality to go and strike out on their own. Small business owners and startup founders are generally action-oriented folks who want to get stuff done. This tendency, while admirable, can be costly especially when entering new markets. While it is very tempting to just go out and hire some people and just start selling, it is usually counterproductive in my opinion, unless you have gone through and analyzed the following.

The Market –  When selling your product/service, you need to have a clear understanding of what else is out there. For example, what do the options look like to your buyer? What trends would they be seeing that you need to factor in? Are there compliance directives in place or coming along that would impact your customers? In short, you need to understand the lay of the land.

The competition – The buyer is probably doing something internally to address the problem that you are proposing a solution for. In addition, there are probably other companies in your space doing something similar to you. Both internal and external solutions are potential competition for you. You need to understand what you are up against before you go out and sell.

Positioning – Given the market and the competition, where do you need to be? You need to figure this out well in advance of hitting the streets. If you don’t you will waste time and money chasing after the wrong prospects. Keep in mind, your positioning in a foreign market could be very different from your domestic audience. Also keep in mind that you may need to change your positioning based on market feedback aka pivot. However to enter the market without a positioning hypothesis is folly.

Value Proposition – Once you have a clear idea of the market, the competition, where you want to be, you need to come up with why you? What makes you unique. We are not talking bells and whistles here, we are talking about real value to your buyer. The value proposition has to be in the context of where you are operating and it could vary from geography to geography.

People say the difference between success and failure is perseverance and a deep pocket. I would argue there is a third factor that is at play here and that is thought. Action without thought might make you feel like you are getting somewhere but like a hamster on a treadmill you might be moving fast but not getting anywhere.

Agree, disagree or have another opinion? Would love to hear your thoughts.

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Move vs Hire – establishing a beachhead in the US

I have written many posts on what it takes to enter the US market. Most of my past posts have been around sales and marketing. However, there is a much more fundamental, one might say visceral, approach to entering a new market. How committed are you to it? As the famous anecdote goes of the hen laying an egg (the hen is involved) vs the chicken that gets cooked (the chicken is committed). Does the commitment involve time and resources spent in building an overseas organization by remote control i.e. while the founders remain in India or does it involve at least one of the founders moving to the US?

This is a tricky one and a dilemma that many startups deal with. On the one hand, we live in a highly connected world where it should be theoretically possible to build organizations remotely. On the other hand, one really does not get a good flavor for a market unless one is immersed in it. So what is the right model?


In my experience I have see three different models in place. Two work and one mre often that not, doesn’t. The one that is a waste of time and money, in my opinion, is one where the founder travels frequently to the US to try and make a sale and build an organization. I have found that this model takes an immense toll on the individual without actually achieving much since the commitment to the US market is lacking

The two models that seem to work reasonably well are ones in which either one of the founders moves to the US and builds an organization or the founders make a key first hire in the US and get that individual to build out a US organization.

So with that said, should one of the founders be US Employee #1? The answer is a qualified yes. However, there are clearly some things companies should think about before having one of the key executives move.

Known quantities – There is tremendous comfort in knowing who you are working with. If your first hire in the US is somebody you have worked with in the past, then the case for one of the founders moving to establish a beachhead is somewhat diminished.

Established support eco-system – If there is an existing eco-system of individuals in the US that the company has worked with in the past, it is a huge benefit and could outweigh the costs – both in terms of resources and time, of a founder moving to the US. The eco-system can be leveraged for initial growth.

High-touch vs low-touch business – Whatsapp made major inroads into geographies outside of the US and India even though they were not physically present in most of the geographies. If your product is high-touch, complex, high-dollar and requires evangelizing, you need a strong champion in the US – a founder moving to the US is usually a good bet. If not, think hard about it. Can you do it more smartly, remotely?

Business Objectives – This is critical. A company really needs to look at the short-term goals and figure out what is the most effective way of getting to them. If, for instance, a short-term goal includes raising a large sum of money from a Silicon Valley VC, well then one of the founders better high tail it over to the Bay Area sharpish.

Entering a new market is not for the faint-hearted. It takes time, patience and commitment and there is no guarantee of success. However, you can improve your odds being smart about it. So as to whether or not a founder should move to the US – I’d say “Probably, but it depends”.  So what IS the right model for you?

Agree. Disagree. Or have another viewpoint. Would love to hear your thoughts.

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The curse of the horizontal solution or what to do when you think you have the product that can solve Global Warming?

There are many solutions that are targeted at a niche, that solve a specific problem. Selling these is relatively easy. You know the target, you know the problem. The challenge comes with the horizontal solutions, or ones that apply to wide variety of industries and business problems. There is tremendous potential opportunity there and yet they are devilishly difficult to sell for a small company. The problem is focus.

When you have a solution that you can sell to ten different types of companies, where do you start? If you have deep pockets, perhaps you go after every manner of opportunity, but if you are a small company, you neither have the resources nor the bandwidth to tackle all opportunities. So what does one do?

This is an issue I have dealt with in the past working with my clients, but it came to top of mind after a recent conversation with a company that has a horizontal solution. I have thought about this subject over many years and have a viewpoint on this. I thought I’d share my current thinking on this subject as it may be useful to some of you.

Think small – The solution has wide application but it helps to narrow the scope when you are starting. Figure out a specific business problem, in a specific industry, in a specific geography to address. Focus helps you with both your targeting as well as your messaging. In addition, it is an effective use of limited resources.

More cheetah, less monkey – Cheetahs need focus to survive. When you see them on a hunt, you can really see they are focused. Monkeys on the other hand, forage for food and are easily distracted. The tendency in startups is to go after everything – mostly through a combination of optimism and desperation. In addition, there are too many distractions when you are getting started. Be aware of that. Focus only on what is important.

Learn from Agile – The Agile software development methodology has a lesson for entrepreneurs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Agile advocates breaking a large  project into smaller, bite-sized chunks. These chunks, called Sprints, deliver specific functionality in a very short period of time. The idea is to incrementally build the software solution with all stakeholders constantly aware of the value addition. This is in contrast to the monolithic model of software development where big projects were delivered after months of work and considerable expense, often to users who clearly did not want what they got. You should think of your go-to-market strategy as a series of Sprints. Identify a business problem/target audience, develop a tactical plan and test it out. If after putting in effort, it is not working, change. You should always be looking to fine-tune your go-to-market, but at the same time have the discipline to stick to a plan, for a period of time, before starting on something else.

Leverage your successes – I am a big believer in this and have harped about it at length. If you have a success with a client, see if you can approach similar companies with a similar proposition. Do it consciously, with a plan and a value proposition. Even though this may be obvious, many companies, especially ones with a broadly applicable solution, seem to ignore this.

After running my own consulting outfit for a couple of years, I have a newfound respect for entrepreneurs. Starting and running a company is not for the faint-hearted. It is very difficult to make money, contrary to the feeling one develops working in the corporate world, where big paychecks just happen if you are good. With all the stress and uncertainty of working in a startup, having some structure and discipline around sales is critical. Whether you like my approach or not, please do consciously think about what will make you more effective with limited resources. It will be well-worth the effort.

Agree. Disagree. Or have another viewpoint. Would love to hear your thoughts.