The Exchanges

Q And what is the current composition by sector?

A So I think, uh, Financial services will be close to 30%, a little bit less than 30%. Education would be another 30%, including U.S. because we sell in U.S. uh, education. Then the healthcare would be about, you know, 10 to 15%. Um, and then remaining would be more, uh, more, you know, uh, large companies, enterprises, uh, you know, which is growing now, by the way, that segment of our business is actually really taking off now, um, where people are like in automotive and manufacturing, um, In building materials, right? I think people are liking our, our product and field sales and stuff like that. And I think that I believe is going to take off really well for us now.

AI assessment note: “Financial services will be close to 30%... Education would be another 30%”

Q What, what have been the inflection points in this journey?

A I mean, usually, uh, okay, let me just think back, right? So, you know, getting the first few customers always is important, and I think, uh, I still remember, uh, the first hundred user deal we had in early of 20 14. I was a, you know, education, multi-location education company out of Mumbai, and, uh, you know, um, that was the, you know, let's just say the first large deal we had then, right? And, uh, I would call that as a starting, uh, point for us. Uh, we were selling into other businesses before that, but, uh, not as scaled for us at that, at that time. And then, um, as we progressed in 14, uh, you know, we signed up, uh, other education companies along the way in 14, uh, and, uh, sometime during, uh, last quarter of 14, uh, We had, um, signed up by Jews as a customer and, uh, their growth was phenomenal, uh, you know, in, uh, from 14 till, you know, 20, 21, 20, 22. And along with them, uh, you know, many other ed tech companies also, uh, were growing, uh, at that time, Vedantu was one and several others. And because we signed by Jews, it was an easier story for us to tell other ed tech companies and, and we signed up customers, uh, as a result of that. And, and that I would call as a important inflection point because the whole ed tech industry, which was attracting a lot of capital, Uh, you know, uh, solid squared as one other solution which can help them grow and scal…

AI assessment note: “that I would call as a important inflection point because the whole ed tech industry”

Q And, and if I can ask, uh, how did customer perceive the differentiation? Like how were they were comparing you to other softwares in CNN and what stood out for you?

A See, um, I think, uh, one was that in the beginning that tech did, you know, stood out, right? Because, you know, some of our reps will go, uh, to the customer and they say, well, because everybody in edtech is using lead square. So you don't even have to take a demo basically. Right. And so that, Uh, was helpful. Uh, people would just buy, uh, lead squared. Um, so that was, uh, that was one. And, uh, I would say, uh, the second was the, uh, the number of people who were using lead squared got accustomed to how the software is, uh, you know, helping them. And, uh, while everything looks outside very CRM like, right. When you go in the software, the way we've designed some functionality in our product, which is relevant for high velocity sales, especially when you're selling to consumers. Um, so when you're used to that process, uh, it'll be difficult for you to then go back to a B to B type of system and try to do the same thing there because you lose efficiency In that. And I think, uh, anybody, I won't say everybody, but a lot of people who've tried to switch out of lead squared and gone to other B to B players have seen some of that efficiency drop for them.

AI assessment note: “the way we've designed some functionality in our product, which is relevant for high velocity”

Q And we discussed offline, right? That before the conversation started that the initially Indian founders were building tech teams in India and then selling in the US. Now you are saying that Indian founders are hiring everywhere.

A Yeah. Look, I mean, uh, Indian founders are hiring in India for sure. Like, uh, I have met people who have hired, you know, who are in India, hiring outside India because certain type of talent is not available in India, right? So that, that is happening. I know founders who are Indian founders who have Who are working with companies or, or have offices in Eastern Europe and, and places, right? So I think, uh, you know, that, that variability will continue. Um, but also the fact that, uh, India offers the, the vast majority of developer ecosystem, developers in the ecosystem continues to be the true. So that'll, that'll attract, you know, many companies to come here, but at the same time, the price question will also play a role, right? Like, If the price of talent in India, if that increases beyond a point, uh, you know, then, uh, it's not there by the way yet, but then the competitiveness, uh, would, uh, suffer as a result of that.

AI assessment note: “I have met people who have hired, you know, who are in India, hiring outside”

Q Got it. I believe, you know, the last reported public number was in twenty-twenty-two, that when you were at thirty million error, you raised a massive one fifty million round from Uh, Westbridge. And before that you had only raised very little capital, let's say from Gaja and some angels. How has been the, the capital raising journey been of the company?

A So we, uh, interesting question. Um, we, we raised a little capital along the way, starting, uh, from, you know, friends and family and, uh, uh, and such. Um, and we also contributed some part of the capital, uh, as founders. Along the way. Um, so our initial raise, uh, which, uh, was smaller rounds across, uh, you know, multiple years in each round, somebody was sort of leading of sort. Uh, um, I think, um, you know, the whole angel concept was not that deep, uh, you know, 15, 10, 12 years ago as it is now. And, um, and so whoever was willing to invest in our circle, we would call them Technically Angel, and then they invested. And I think that, um, allowed us to continue to grow till, um, let's just say, 2016, 17. Um, then Jyoti Bansal of AppDynamics, he, uh, you know, uh, we got him in, in 17.

AI assessment note: “we raised a little capital along the way, starting, uh, from, you know, friends and family”

Q You started your US journey quite late. What were the challenges?

A Uh, you know, we, we, we tried a little in between to be, to be candid, uh, but I think, uh, the capital required, uh, to be, do anything meaningful in US was never available, right? We formally raised the first round in 19, right? Uh, while we raised, you know, a little capital amounting to maybe, you know, roughly Two and a half, three million before that, but that was not enough for us to have any meaningful, you know, US presence. And that too, so to, so in between what we tried was mostly, you know, do some, you know, little campaigns, online campaigns, and, you know, some people working in the night shift to, you know, do some, you know, calls and, you know, take demos and things like that, but nothing major happened. Uh, as we, uh, took the first round, we started putting more capital, you know, started going to some events, you know, hosting some events, you know, shows and things like that. And that sort of started trickling, you know, new customers for us. So, so I think that was the key reason, if you ask me, uh, um, for us to not sort of venture. And then the other thing was, uh, you know, uh, that while we are, Seeing customers coming in India also getting attracted to what we're offering to them. That also was sort of kept the momentum going, right? Our growth rates were, you know, north of 80%, uh, every year then 80 to 90%. And so that was enough. I wouldn't, I …

AI assessment note: “the capital required, uh, to be, do anything meaningful in US was never available”