Building a global SaaS business and pricing it right
Entrepreneurship is all about spotting problems that no one has noticed before, and finding innovative solutions for them. Former Burrp Mafia, Anand Jain and his team found one particularly irksome problem- Spam!
Leveraging data generated by mobile phones, they built a unified stack that married segmentation, analytics and engagement. CleverTap uses real-time behavioral data to help companies engage with consumers in a relevant manner, instead of sending out emails and messages indiscriminately.
However, building a global SaaS company requires more than just a great product.When and how do you monetize your product? How do you hire for a global company? How big a role does your sales team play in establishing the early reach of your company?
In a candid conversation on an episode of Building It Up with Bertelsmann, SaaS maven Anand Jain shared the journey CleverTap took while answering these questions. Here are some excerpts which you may find helpful if you’re thinking of going global with your company.
Don’t monetize to woo investors!
“You can’t sell 3/4th of a car!
You need to reach a minimum viability before monetizing it.”
A monetized product could curry favour in the VC circles, but rest assured it’s not a prerequisite for raising funds. You would be surprised to know that CleverTap monetized their product after they raised their Series A funds. However, “more money” from increased revenue doesn’t necessarily mean “more profit”.
Pricing isn’t just about picking a number.
The pricing dilemma is real! CleverTap meddled with metrics such as pricing on RAM cost, value-based pricing, or according to events, only to realize that they needed to listen to their customers.
Customers are key to hammering the right price, especially for products that are sold across countries. Each country has different policies that impact pricing. Pricing according to the requirements of their individual clients helped them surmount the obstacles created by borders.
Everyone can learn to sell.
“Machines you can fix. Humans are more complex to deal with!”
At the offset every member of CleverTap was a salesman. They were a team of generalists who were eager to learn and the team was one of the last to be formulated within the organization. Anand believes that the hustle is only to get through the door thereafter, a good product will sell itself. He also vouches that building what customers want is the key to any company’s growth.
Be hawk eyed about your churn rates.
The only companies that benefit from churn are those that make butter! Anand maintains that companies must be vigilant about their churn rates and react to it every week. This provides an insight about the “stickiness” of the product with customers.
Tune in to the podcast here, to catch Anand’s full story and more insights on how he and his team scaled beyond borders and overcame the challenges of running a global company.
Tickle your brain cells with these interesting reads:
16 Ventures on SaaS pricing
Anand’s take on retention
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