Venkat Bhamidipati

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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Looking forward to diving into the state of the late-stage venture market at TechCrunch Disrupt next week with Karthik Subramanian. With late-stage companies facing tougher paths to exit, we’ll be debating whether the market is actually rebounding, sharing our thoughts on the outlook for future IPOs, and discussing how founders can navigate these shifting dynamics. Hope to see you there! #TCDisrupt #VC

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Company vision ≠ financial targets Does your value creation plan spell out the vision for the company? ▶️ Awesome conversation with Shiv Narayanan on the PE Value Creation Podcast! Thx for having me Shiv. #PrivateEquity #PE #ValueCreation #First100

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All of us at BCV would like to congratulate Rubrik’s founding CEO Bipul Sinha, founding CTO Arvind Nithrakashyap, and their two other original co-founders, Arvind Jain and Soham Mazumdar, along with the rest of the Rubrik team on their initial public offering today. Rubrik has significantly transformed the landscape of digital resilience, expertly transitioning the concept of data protection into a broader, more critical framework of data security. This shift has not only captivated the interest of customers worldwide but has also positioned their solutions as indispensable tools for modern businesses. Transitions are never easy, but as a board member for the past five years, I have seen Rubrik seamlessly navigate this complex process under the visionary leadership of Bipul and Nitro. Today marks another milestone in Rubrik's journey, a testament to the team's hard work, innovation, and the strong direction provided by its leaders. The emphasis on securing data not just from loss, but as a proactive measure against threats, shows Rubrik's commitment to redefining the industry's standards for data security. cc: Bain Capital Ventures Rubrik

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Looking forward to meeting women entrepreneurs who are on their journey to create some pathbreaking ideas and inspiring others to do the same. #advaitawomenentrepreneurs #womeninbusiness #entrepreneurship #womenentrepreneurs #EmpowerWomen #womenleaders #businesswomen

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I recently spoke to Sri from Rocketlane about the massive opportunity AI presents for the services industry. We also covered: Fast-Track Adoption of AI: AI is driving tech adoption at an unprecedented pace. Services companies must adapt quickly or risk being left behind. This rapid shift offers huge growth opportunities. Building a Winning Services Ecosystem: Leveraging AI to solve real business problems, not just following the hype. How Mindtree’s early adoption of digital tech set the stage for long-term success. The importance of positioning your company as a leader in AI services. The Future of AI Services: AI services could surpass the current $300B IT services market. Success will hinge on focus and strategic partnerships. Now is the time to prepare for the coming AI wave. If you’re building in AI services or planning to, this could be of use to you. Here’s a sneak peek into the episode. https://lnkd.in/esXXd3cy #AI Services # Mela Ventures #Category Creaters # Fearless Entrepreneurs

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I had a lot of fun recording a podcast episode with Shiva Singh Sangwan. We discussed the evolution of Humba Ventures & Susa Ventures; tips for raising and building a fund; how to improve investment sourcing & picking; the role of luck in investing, and so on. https://lnkd.in/eiqsStej

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2017: Why investors gave Varun Dua $30 million even before he launched his startup?? The journey that is answering..... Acko acquired OneCare in All-Cash deal! One Care backed by Better Capital and QED Innovation Labs has omni-channel model for chronic conditions Interestingly, Acko earlier acquired Parentlane (Acquired by ACKO) in March 23 - A digital health platform for Mother-Child. Expanding its presence in the retail health insurance segment Going Back in 2017, Acko revolutionised segment adopting 'Digital Only' approach with laser sharp focus on 'Deep Questions, More Data Sets for every customer'. Filling up very important gaps. I continue to vouch on rooted things making bigger impact! It's been a buzzing week for startups with news on funding, acquisitions, and happiness around Angel Tax and LTCG. #Innovation #Acquisition #angeltax #ltcg #startups

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