Saurabh Pareek

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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CLSA published a detailed research report on India quick commerce. Recommended reading. Who will be the first to create a $50-100Bn company in India internet? #Zepto #Zomato #IndiaInternet

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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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Take a look at our latest TechPulse episode featuring Abhishek Jain! With 15 years in the tech industry, Abhishek has driven innovation at leading companies like Amazon, Paytm, and Moglix. In this episode, Abhishek dives into his career journey, from his early days post-BTech to scaling solutions at Amazon and his role as Director of Technology at Adda247. He shares valuable insights on engineering, product management, and overcoming challenges in tech. Don't miss this inspiring conversation on scaling technology and leadership! #TechPulse #Podcast #TechLeadership #CareerJourney #Innovation #Engineering #ProductManagement

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Sujith Nair, Beckn's WhatsApp-averse, badminton-loving chief mover and shaker, gave us a peek into the world's first # e-commerce protocol. Imagine if Colgate wanted to sell a lot of toothpaste, would it open separate exclusive stores on every street? NO! Instead, it ensures its products are available in all stores where people come to shop, and not just toothpaste. Similarly, Beckn is a way for an online business to make its products and services available on other stores (popular daily-use consumer apps) instead of setting up its own store (its own consumer app) and waiting for customers to come in droves! The Beckn Protocol underpins Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) and is a universal translator for e-commerce platforms. We would normally call it the Rosetta Stone for digital services, but now we have BHASHINI 😉 . It allows disparate systems to "speak" to each other seamlessly. The Beckn Protocol has become a verb in the tech world. "Just Beckn it!" has become a common phrase among developers when discussing open-source solutions for digital commerce. In fact, we like it so much that we are using Beckn use cases as our episode artwork (instead of our normal groovy cover art) to spread the word in our own little way. Some may even argue that the yellow and black in the artwork denote open mobility networks (read taxis) 😀. The even more nerdy might catch the movie reference in the title 🎬. So, is it an app? Is it an aggregator? Is it a platform? No. It is a Super Capability - #decentralised and #open. Listen, learn and use. sujith nair | Pramod Varma | Sanjay Purohit | Shankar Maruwada | Shireesh Joshi | T Koshy | Namma Yatri | FIDE | Antler | Bingepods (Ideabrew Studios) | OpenExO | Thinkers360 | IBM Alumni | Microsoft Alumni Network | The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) | World Economic Forum | Digital India Corporation | nasscom | Abhishek Singh | Nilesh | Sheetal https://lnkd.in/dydrjnbU

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Interesting and relatable piece by Nutgraf / The Ken Praveen Gopal Krishnan in my inbox today. Few VCs balance this line well, even fewer can project an authentic narrative of what they actually do. In my observation of actions, a VC is a financier first and last, and anything else is marketing until proven otherwise. #vc #startups #india #founder

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The total number of NRIs and PIOs stands at about ~3.3 crores, possibly the best Indians to sell any homogenous Indian product. Just the top 6 countries account for ~1.9 Crores. The minimum income/month would be around 1-1.5 Lakhs, and net-worth easily 30 Lakhs+ Should Finsire map their net worth across geographies?

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Luv Gupta Amrita Agrawal Ambrish Gupta Mayank Chouhan Abhinav Mehta Rohit Kumar Singh Saransh Mahere Dr. Kartikey Gupta Thrilled to unveil Forescribe's xAI suite, featuring Smart Alerts and AI Post Mortem—innovations in SaaS Ops designed to elevate strategic oversight for CIOs, COOs, and their teams. 📨 Smart Alerts delivers proactive, tailored insights, enabling faster decision-making to keep your digital landscape aligned with your vision. ✨ AI Post Mortem now offers executive summaries on product spend, usage, and benchmarks with Forrester’s Digital Transformation Maturity Model—empowering leaders with clear, instant actionable insights. With xAI, unlock real-time data to drive transformational outcomes and make every tech investment count. 💰 🥂 Kudos to the teams involved in taking this live. Learn more about Forescribe xAI initiative here: https://lnkd.in/gzxxxh6W

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The disguised unemployment in India should be one of the highest in the world and a serious concern. While I understand this may be their only livelihood, I think we should do better. Unsure if we will ever be able to achieve in the current digital age, but what China has achieved in Manufacturing should be replicated sooner than before, or else we will continue seeing the same patterns. Multiple traffic police at a junction waving their hands. Multiple security guards to open the same gate. Multiple other jobs that increases the level of complacency. I hope we get a true sense of employment opportunities; otherwise, with the income inequality increasing with every quantitative easing, we would see universal basic income coming sooner, and I doubt if there ever will be a purpose post that.

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Can technical founders become effective CEOs? Srinath Sridhar knew he needed to step out of his comfort zone when he founded Regie.ai four years ago. Now he and cofounder Matt Millen have raised more than $20 million and landed on G2’s list of fastest-growing software products of 2024. My full conversation with Sri is in the comments.

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First is always special & so is our first #podcast. Thank you Avinash Tripathi & YesUsers Re-Lived the journey & early days especially. 3D-Secure & Nodal the game changers! #fintech landscape is an upward curve since inception of our journey. Loving to continue been meaningful & leveraging our learnings now for Light! Listen Us to Know Us! Syncing in with Vidhi Bhatt #podcast #entrepreneurs #startuplife

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The Hidden Revenue Drain in B2B Marketplace - Sales🚨 How did we add about 1000$+ USD every day for this business using lead follow up automation? Imagine this: you're running a successful electrical wires or steel tubes distribution business, receiving hundreds of inquiries everyday from B2B marketplace platforms. You’ve got high demand, but your team is spending hours each day manually replying to inquiries. This is exactly what M.M.SANKHLA ELECTRICALS, a leader in distributing industrial Flameproof Control Gear Products, Power-Flex & Wires & Cables faced. They were losing potential revenue of up to $1000 every day, simply because they couldn’t respond to all incoming inquiries in time. The Problem: - Hundreds of inquiries from IndiaMART etc. - The team was spending hours manually replying. - When the team wasn’t available, queries went unanswered. - Result: Missed leads, lost deals, and lost revenue. The Solution? Workflow Automation. SmallBay Digital stepped in and introduced an automated workflow. Inquiry capture → Emails are automatically read & stored. Predefined replies → System sends instant responses with product info. Lead qualification → Notifies the team only for qualified leads. WhatsApp Integration → Simultaneous replies on WhatsApp for faster engagement. We made it work using using Make, WhatsApp (Meta API), AiSensy, Google Workspace. The Result: 👉 Saved Time, Boosted Engagement 👉 50+ hours saved per month (estimated) 👉 Every inquiry responded to instantly 👉 35% more engagement with WhatsApp integration No more lost leads, no more missed opportunities. Want This for Your Business? If you're losing leads, it's time to automate! Let us help you: ☑Respond faster ☑Engage smarter ☑Grow effortlessly 💡 Phase 2: What’s Next? -> We’re currently integrating OpenAI APIs (#chatgpt) to create an intelligent, personalized response system. Soon, we’ll be able to generate accurate estimates and handle deeper conversations with potential clients automatically. -> Also, integrate all inbound leads to a full blown #CRM (Say, Zoho CRM or LeadSquared). -> Send leads data to Facebook (Meta Business Suite) so when you are ready to run Meta ads, your ROAS is to the moon! 🚀 📈 Want this for your B2B business? 💬 DM me for a quick demo or comment "B2B Enquiry" to get a one month free email follow-up integration! #b2bmarketplace #b2bleads

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Yes, everything in the age of AI is an API. And as AI evolves, the need for well designed and secure APIs will become even more crucial in the ecosystem #postman #ageofAPIs #noAIwithoutAPI

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I have been a firm believer and quite vocal about the "only" exit strategy apart from M&A for Indian born and bred #saas companies at sub $20m scale. The best outcome is an exit is an IPO in India. Like the services businesses of 90's I see a lot more companies going public in the next 18-24 months. Not all #saas can grow to 100m and subsequently 10x again to 1b ARR scale. Only a few verticals globally can achieve this scale. VC's were blinded by the boom and gave insane valuations which unfortunately is making going public a nightmare in India. If old school venture funding prevailed and we never had 2021, a lot more could have already been public. So why India and why public? Isn't it a nightmare to run a publicly listed company? Not really. A lot of myth busting needs to be done. Also a lot of regulatory framework is just now coming into place. Also it is indeed true the company should be somewhere close to being EBITA +ve. Having spoken to bankers, auditors and lawyers about this topic in depth, below are the reasons you should IPO in #india - Atleast 10x cheaper than going public in the US - Can go public from $10m ARR scale onwards - Need some level of visibility to profitability and have all the regulatory filings in place which has now become easy for foreign domiciled companies - Robust regulatory framework. A SPAC would never fly in India - Retail wealth booming combined with penetration of brokerage apps - Easy access to capital, fundraising, debt and many other instruments that private companies can never have - Growth projects need not be 100-200% YoY but somewhere between 40-50% at low scale and 20-30% at higher revenue scale Most importantly, you are giving an exit to early believers, employees and growing with the economy which is a testament of all the hard work teams put in. https://lnkd.in/dqbDZ2sr

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My discussion with Shashank Mani on his book covering 'Middle India' -- the huge in numbers & hugely aspirational middle-class of India. You will find this to be a delightful and inspirational conversation. Shashank is now a BJP candidate from Deoria, UP. This work with 'Jagriti Yatra' is so delightfully innovative & truly inspirational. Do subscribe to the 'SangamTalks Business' channel. #decolonisation #india #bharat #भारत #middleclass #entrepreneurship #startups #risingindia

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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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Google India loves collaborating with Shraddha Jain (aiyyoShraddha) to promote stuff. We would too, if we had that marketing budget 🙂 But for an early stage bootstrapped startup founder, what does this signal about #GoogleAds? Our own experience has had its ups and downs: We ran google ads for close to 4 months, with three different campaigns and some amount of testing. We stopped the ads post Diwali due to these reasons. > We weren’t reaching our ICP through the ads (this could be budget related). We felt that our ads were being shown to college students and students who were preparing for competitive exams, based on certain user feedback responses and the times of app use peaks and troughs. > We experimented with a Performance max campaign that loved to reset itself to learning mode at the drop of a hat - long weekend, festivals, budget changes, just-like-that. The longer the learning mode, the more money you spend, and wait in hope that it delivers in terms of downloads and sign-ups at some point. Meta ads weren’t better. They performed worse than Google ads in terms of app downloads/cost, and while it’s easier to set clear target audiences as compared to Google ads, Meta chooses to override these instructions too. Marketing landscape is changing, and tried and tested methods no longer seem to work. At ZEN-it, we’re currently focusing on reaching our ideal customers in an organic manner, through high quality content. We’re also reaching out to micro-influencers in the Mindfulness and Productivity space. #marketing #influencermarketing #earlystagestartup https://zenitapp.in

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Commoditization of AI models Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of watching Aravind Srinivas' (founder of Perplexity) interview with Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan . It's a great interview and I would recommend AI founders to watch it if possible. https://lnkd.in/gnM2NeS8 Couple of things that stuck me from the interview: 1. Aravind believes in the commoditization of AI models in the long run. His take his firms like Perplexity which focus on user problems and solve for it using relevant models will win. Perplexity does it quite well, do check them out if you haven't already. This is something that AI entrepreneurs should think about. Creating foundational models is freaking expensive! and for conservative capital allocators like us it is too risky a bet (not betting on AI is even riskier 😅, I guess we need to learn more) I am going to tag the platform Guru and distinguished IIMB alumnus Sangeet Paul Choudary for his take on this. 2. The initial employees (5-10) have to be truth seekers rather than social affirmers(?) It was great hearing him talk about the culture at Perplexity of seeking the truth through open conversations and arguments on Slack rather than provide positive affirmation. I think it's something that every founder should strive for. Truth will prevail in the longer run. This works in technology, finance, politics, society, anywhere. (Satyamev Jayate is true in itself!) But to be able to have an open conversation, the founders need to have depth themselves. This is something that I feel the Indian ecosystem lacks, as most of the founders seem to be managerial in nature. I find them shifting to jargons rather than simplicity when questioned deeper. (By the way this is a classic test to check whether someone really knows it, people who know what they are talking about will make it simpler, those who don't take the cover of jargons to increase complexity and portray intelligence) I understand my analysis could be biased due to self-selection, and I would love to be proven wrong. It's pretty cool that Aravind chose Larry Page as his favourite entrepreneur due to their common background of coming from academic research to entrepreneurship. What I definitely don't agree with Aravind on The idea that luck doesn't play a role in outcomes. Successful people generally attribute success to their hard work/smartness / enterprise without understanding their privilege. For e.g. A smarter/more hardworking/more enterprising Dalit girl from Bihar will never have the kind of opportunities that I had as a Tam Bram born in a lower-middle class but very well educated family in Chennai. One has tried to solve for it using our Sakhi Scholars programme, which supports gifted girls from underprivileged communities to achieve their dream through financial support. On a lighter note, Aravind is a 2017 IIT-M alum and has already built a $8 billion company, what the hell am I doing with my life? 🤔

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Effective writing is not just limited to Amazon and its famed 6-page memos. Most mid-level managers get limited windows of communication with senior leaders, and in a high-speed, low attention span environment every chance counts. That's where effective writing makes you stand out. Pratik Sharma, Head of Last Mile Product for Emerging Countries at Amazon, shares 3 business writing strategies to communicate more effectively and enhance your Executive Presence (each with a clear example of Ineffective vs Effective writing): 1) Be an Insightful storyteller. 2) Know your Key Readers & Preempt their concerns. 3) Avoid Anxiety Boosting (partially complete) Communication. Full post here: https://lnkd.in/ef3p7WZp

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