Bhat was joined by Mitesh Shah, Co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures; Lalit Bhise, CEO & Founder of Bizom; and Tarun Joshi, Founder & CEO of IGP.com at the recently concluded Economic Times (ET) Soonicorns Summit 2024 in Bengaluru where 60 speakers, more than 50 soonicorn founders, over 200 startups, spanning 9 thematic tracks, and 20 frontier sectors, and over 20 curated sessions, convened to steer knowledge-sharing in candid conversations. Themed ‘From Resilience to Resurgence, India’s largest congregation of future unicorns witnessed some of India’s key startup founders, innovators, changemakers, and policy experts address the critical challenges faced by the Indian startup ecosystem.
One such deep dive was the panel discussion titled ‘Expanding the Indian SaaS Footprint at Home and Abroad: Scaling Strategies to Achieve the $37B Target’ where panellists delved into the opportunities and challenges that Indian SaaS companies face on their global journey.
For Business-to-Business (B2B) companies, unlike Business-to-Commerce (B2C), this becomes more complex as the customer’s location significantly impacts product design and requirements. “Being able to have the local context to build a product that serves, say, a customer sitting in Canada as well from India, is definitely a consumer awareness challenge,” Bhat asserted.
So, how does an Indian SaaS company with global aspirations navigate this critical stepping stone? Answering this question was Lalit Bhise, CEO & Founder of Bizom, who echoing Bhat’s sentiment, stressed the challenge of building a product that perfectly caters to consumer demand in regions like South America or North America, all while operating from India. However, the dilemma remains: Should one focus on venturing into foreign markets or capitalise on India’s burgeoning market? As Bhise pointed out, large enterprise-focused businesses like Bizom have experienced significant growth and traction in India. In essence, Bhise illustrated the classic push-pull between domestic growth and international ambition.
Boots on the ground: A strong foundation
Bhise emphasised the importance of having a physical presence in foreign markets. “We realised, after making a few mistakes, that we had to put boots on the ground to actually understand the pro-sumer,” he said, unravelling deep insights into how cracking the code of cultural nuances and local hires were key to resonating with customers abroad. Bizom’s experience reveals that remote operations alone are not sufficient for enterprise SaaS companies, especially when trying to cater to diverse and culturally specific markets. Towards that, Bizom today boasts teams based in the Middle East and Southeast Asia comprising locals who can speak the language and decipher the cultural nuances.
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Product localisation is key
Turning to the product side, Tarun Joshi, Founder & CEO of IGP.com, offered insights from the perspective of gifting software. IGP.com operates in the space of business gifting where the company sells products to corporations with unique needs. These needs are designed around rewards and recognition programmes or with the agenda of channel incentivisation. Diving into the theme of “understanding the consumer from a cultural standpoint”, Joshi shared an anecdote: “In the same office, I cannot gift or place a gift on someone else’s table… It’s a very India-specific thing but does not exist in the US.” The underlying idea being that in India the management wouldn’t make the information they are differentiating between different types of employees public. And such local nuances come into play despite the fact that Apple sells one product across the globe cutting across geographical and cultural boundaries. This example encapsulates how local culture influences customer expectations, which in turn demands product customisation. He added, “Cultural nuances are very important. Consumer understanding is very important and tech etc. all can be built around that.”
Straddling domestic and international markets
On the subject of striking a balance between domestic and international markets, Mitesh Shah, Co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures, offered a straightforward guideline: “Cater to the market where it’s selling.” Shah’s observations, drawn from investing in over 30 SaaS companies, highlighted the importance of being able to sell a product, not just create one. “The biggest challenge that we have seen… is that they’re great product guys… but when it comes to selling, at least 70% of them fail,” he shared. This, according to Shah, is where many startups stumble, as the focus on crafting a perfect product often overshadows the need to find product-market fit early and iterate based on customer feedback.
Sales as a founder’s priority
Bhat, adding to the conversation on sales, emphasised the necessity for founder involvement, particularly with larger clients. “As you go upmarket… the founder’s role looks more relationship-based,” she explained, illustrating that founders often need to maintain credibility and build trust with significant customers. In contrast, for smaller enterprises or consumer markets, founders tend to focus on product leadership.
Customer retention and loyalty: India versus the world
On the subject of customer retention, Joshi pointed out the contrasting expectations between Indian and international customers. “Indian customers are very relationship-driven,” he observed, noting that in India, behavioural aspects such as access and availability often outweigh the strength of the product itself. Relationships are paramount in building long-term loyalty, and this dynamic is far more pronounced in India than in other markets.
Bhise supported this view, adding that in India, “there seems to be less loyalty towards products, but more loyalty towards people.” This, he noted, is a stark contrast to the US, where product-led growth dominates.
Busting common myths: The Indian SaaS playbook for scaling
Shah concluded the discussion with a three-point strategy for Indian SaaS companies aiming to compete globally.
First, he debunked the myth that overseas clients are inherently more profitable. “It’s probably a myth that overseas clients pay more, Indian clients don’t pay,” he remarked, pointing out that India is an equally lucrative market.
Second, he emphasised the importance of having a strong sales capability within the founding team: “This is something which cannot be hired,” he stated firmly.
Finally, he highlighted the need for a keen focus on cost control, warning that startups often lose sight of this as they expand into new markets and secure funding.
While product excellence is a given, the speakers collectively emphasised the importance of localised consumer understanding, strong sales capabilities, and relationship-driven customer retention.
The ET Soonicorns Summit 2024 is powered by Phoenix Kessaku. Upskilling Partner: UpGrad Enterprise; Insurance Partner: PolicyBazaar for Business; Banking Partner: Bank of India. Gifting Partners: IGP.com; The Mind and Company, Plum, Clay Capital.
To learn more about the ET Soonicorns Summit, visit the website..
