In this episode, Amit RG, CEO of RichPanel, discusses their journey from inception to surpassing $2MN ARR.
Here are the talking points,
Understanding RichPanel’s Value Proposition
- RichPanel’s mission: Seamless customer service experience, eliminating the need for frequent contacts.
- Comparison with industry giants like Amazon and Uber, focusing on proactive support and streamlined operations.
Target Market and Product Differentiation
- Primary focus: E-commerce companies; also serving SaaS companies.
- Unique approach: Analyzing reasons for customer contacts to proactively address issues.
- Differentiation from traditional help desks: Integration of self-service features akin to Amazon’s My Account section.
Metrics and Growth Trajectory
- Over 2000 paying customers, predominantly in the US, with an average deal size of $10,000.
- Achieved over $2M ARR, doubling revenue annually since inception.
- Initial growth driven by personal contacts; scalable channels include word-of-mouth, organic search, and SEO.
Conversion Strategy and Sales Cycle
- Inside sales model with a swift conversion cycle of 3-4 weeks.
- Conversion driven by trial usage and ensuring value realization; personalized support during the trial phase.
Churn, Retention, and Expansion
- Churn rate reduced to near 0%, with occasional downgrades and expansions.
- Limited expansion opportunities due to generous initial plans; focus on making the product more accessible.
Early-stage Growth and Funding
- Initial growth from personal contacts; later scaled through interviews and customer feedback.
- Raised $2M in funding from Sequoia with initial selection from Y Combinator.
Team Composition and Future Goals
- 30-member team with a product-focused approach, including engineers, customer support, sales, and HR.
- Next milestone: Exploring new applications and integrations to enhance product offerings and market reach.
Transcript
Hello everyone.
2
:Welcome to the B2B SaaS podcast.
3
:I'm your host, Upendra Verma.
4
:And today we have Amit Arji with us.
5
:Amit here is the CEO of a
company called RichPanel.
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:Hey Amit, welcome to the show.
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:Amit: Thank you, Bender.
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:Thanks for having me.
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:Upendra Varma: All right, Amit,
let's, let's try to understand, right?
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:What RichPanel does, right?
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:And why customers are
willing to pay you money.
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:Amit: Sure, sure, absolutely.
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:Uh, see, we, we at Driftpanel, uh,
you know, we believe the best kind
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:of customer service is the one,
uh, where you don't have to contact
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:customer service in the first place.
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:Uh, so, so, it, it sounds,
uh, uh, contradictory.
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:But if you look at the apps you
use on a day to day basis, right?
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:Look at, look at apps like
Amazon or look at apps like Uber.
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:Uh, I've gone and used these apps
for many years without having
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:to contact them even once or
contacting them like once every year.
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:Uh, because the way that these
guys think about customer services,
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:they think, Uh, any edge case that
the product hasn't solved, uh,
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:is what creates a support ticket.
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:So if you could, uh, analyze all
of them and make it a part of the
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:product, you wouldn't need to,
uh, contact these people anymore.
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:Uh, without naming any specific brands,
I've had some very horrific experiences.
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:Uh, horrific is a very strong word
to use, but frustrating experiences,
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:uh, buying from Uh, brands where, you
know, the return process, the exchange
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:process, or something like just editing
an order, uh, after hours, because
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:you know, the brand is, uh, doesn't
have like a customer support team,
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:uh, on a weekend is, is really painful
because they don't have any staff.
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:And even though, uh, you know, I tried
to change something or add items to my
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:cart within five minutes of making a
purchase, I couldn't really do that.
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:Uh, so that's, that's what we're
hoping to change with rich panel.
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:Uh, we want to enable.
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:e commerce brands to have like the
same kind of experiences or be able to
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:deliver the same kind of experiences.
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:The ones that you see on apps like
Amazon, like productize everything
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:that people don't need to contact you.
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:Upendra Varma: that makes a lot of sense.
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:So I just want to understand
this customer base a bit, right?
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:So you talked about you serving
e commerce companies, right?
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:So are they your primary focus today?
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:Amit: Correct.
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:We, we, we, uh, are expanding into
other, uh, verticals, uh, uh, without
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:promoting ourselves to other verticals.
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:We have a ton of like software
companies that already use us like
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:SAS companies or the SAS company,
including rich panel, uh, that uses rich
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:panel for its, uh, customer support.
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:Uh, As of now, the platform is very geared
and we've, you know, promoted ourselves
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:to e commerce market, in the e commerce
market, but practically the product could
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:be used for other verticals as well.
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:Upendra Varma: So, so I'm gonna talk about
the product differentiation here, right?
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:So I mean, customer service,
customer support, these are age
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:old industries and products, right?
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:I mean, I could, I see tons of like,
every, every company has like, has
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:gotta have some sort of product that
they've, they've been using, right?
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:So, so how do you position
yourself here, right?
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:So is do you believe that you're
bringing your product has got something
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:that nobody has sort of done so far?
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:Are you trying to revolutionize
something or do you believe there's
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:already an existing market out there?
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:Right?
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:So how are you looking at this
whole, you know, product in space?
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:Amit: Uh, the way that we are
thinking about this is firstly,
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:yeah, the product is unique.
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:There is nothing like this that exists.
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:In the market, uh, there are
parts that are overlapping
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:with, with existing solutions.
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:Like if you use like a Zen desk or a fresh
desk, yes, that's a help desk or that's
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:a ticketing system, but we have a very
unique way of looking at customer support.
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:So if you go to Amazon, uh,
you know, traditionally, what's
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:the definition of help desk?
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:Somebody who does a phone call,
somebody who emails you, somebody
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:who texts you, uh, or, you know,
contacts you on social media, the
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:customer support bid starts from there.
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:That's the, uh, uh, you know, width
of a customer support help desk today.
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:We are going a few.
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:What caused them to contact
customer support, right?
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:So we analyze the reasons why you're
getting a call, why you're getting an
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:email, and then we create an interface.
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:So think of rich panel as everything
that a Zendesk kind of rest is dusk plus
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:plus the my account section of Amazon.
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:Right.
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:Or, or the my account
section of, uh, like queries.
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:So people are able to see their
orders, do returns, exchanges, manage
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:their orders, manage their profile.
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:All of those bring, um, and the
way the analytics force more and
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:more operations to be front loaded.
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:Because that's a seamless, effortless
experience with a customer, and it works
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:out in the favor of the business as well.
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:Upendra Varma: Makes sense.
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:So, so I'm going to talk about the
talk about your customers today, right?
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:So how many paying customers do you
have on your platform as of today?
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:Amit: As of today, we have
like over:
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:Um,
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:Upendra Varma: And how
big are these customers?
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:Right?
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:So what, what sort of customers
are we talking about rates?
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:How much do they pay you on average?
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:Is it a hundred dollar deal, a
thousand dollar deal per year?
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:Right.
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:So what sort of deal range
are we talking about?
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:I know there's going to be a spread,
but give me a sense of, you know,
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:how big your customers are today.
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:Amit: around $10,000 is what a, uh, you
know, average customer pays on a basis.
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:80% of our revenues are in the US and
20% are, uh, you know, in, in, uh,
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:Europe, Australia, uh, and, and uh, uk.
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:Upendra Varma: Okay.
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:And have you hit that 1
million ARR marks today?
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:Amit: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Upendra Varma: Okay.
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:And is that where you are
approximately in terms of revenue?
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:Amit: Uh, no.
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:So, uh, yeah, we've, we've
crossed 2 million in ARR, uh,
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:and, uh, yeah, that's where we
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:Upendra Varma: That's, that's fantastic.
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:Right.
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:So just, just help me understand.
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:Right.
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:So 12 months before, right.
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:So where were you as a
company in terms of revenue?
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:Right.
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:So I just want to get a sense of
how you're growing before we deep
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:dive into your growth journey.
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:Amit: Sure.
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:So, so, you know, we started in like,
we started billing our customers in
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:like:three to four months to sort of bill.
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:And then every year that we've,
we've stayed in existence,
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:we've sort of like doubled.
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:Uh, that's that's where we've gone.
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:So not like hyper explosive
growth, but but uh, decent growth.
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:Upendra Varma: Got it.
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:Right.
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:So, so, so I'm assuming that you've grown
from over, let's say a million dollars
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:to 2 million over the past 12 months.
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:Right.
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:So, right.
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:So just help me understand, right.
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:So where are you getting all
of these leads from, right?
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:So where are they discovering you just
purely from a top of funnel perspective?
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:Right.
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:So where are they discovering you?
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:What channels have been
working for you so far?
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:Amit: Oh, that's an interesting
question because we have like Uh many
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:channels, uh that that is sort of
work for us Uh, and the composition
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:kept changing but I can give you like
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:Upendra Varma: So I, I'm going
to focus on the past 12 months.
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:I know it's going to be hard.
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:Right.
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:So just stick to the past 12 months.
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:Right.
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:So what's been
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:Amit: word of mouth, uh, is
one word of mouth is one.
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:Uh, second is, uh, you know, reference.
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:So every company that uses rich
panel will have the branding
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:like powered by rich panel.
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:So if you go to like built with today
and you look at the top help desk
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:solutions or ticketing systems, I
think we are already like number.
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:or 14th in the entire
ticketing category, right?
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:Uh, so that's the number
of implementations because
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:we also have a free plan.
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:So people tend to install it.
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:And once you open the widget, you
see, Oh, this is very abnormal.
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:Like this is something that
you've never seen before.
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:It's not a live chat.
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:It's not chat bot.
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:I'm able to see my orders.
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:I'm able to see like all
my conversation histories.
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:I'm able to like troubleshoot, take
actions right inside that widget.
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:So it sort of leaves an impression.
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:And then every once in a while, uh,
out of the millions and millions of
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:customers that are interfacing with
the rich panel widget, few of them
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:will be business owners themselves.
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:So they will get to us that I
bought something from this company
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:and I liked the, uh, support
experience that I received.
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:So I'm reaching out to you.
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:So that's the second source.
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:One is a direct word of mouth
saying that, Hey, I'm using it.
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:You also use it.
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:The second one is somebody
discovering us through that link.
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:Third would be organic.
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:What else?
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:What else?
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:Uh, we did a lot of paid ads
as well, which we stopped, uh,
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:recently, uh, or, you know, we've
been like on and off experimenting.
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:It's not like directly attributable,
but on several calls, I've
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:heard people finding us.
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:Through those keywords.
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:So, so
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:Upendra Varma: so, yeah, I'm
going to ask you a tough question.
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:Right.
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:So help me quantify this.
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:Right.
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:So let's say like thousand
customers that you've sort of
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:acquired over the past 12 months.
198
:Right.
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:So which one of them might have sort of
attributed to most of these projects?
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:Can you just give me, give
me an approximate split here?
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:So,
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:Amit: top two channels that I said,
like, which is word of mouth and
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:powered by rich panel, each would be
like, I think 15 percent and the 15%.
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:Then search would be around,
like SEO is another one.
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:SEO is also big.
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:Uh, would be like 30% in
terms of number of leads.
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:Uh, now it SEO maybe 30%, but it doesn't
necessarily mean that revenue, uh, is 30%.
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:The most of the revenue comes
from that word of mouth.
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:And that, uh, referral thing,
that's, that's the most, uh,
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:powerful for us in terms of revenue.
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:Upendra Varma: so talk
about this word of mouth.
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:Right.
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:So like, How do you even quantify this?
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:Right?
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:So like, how do you even
know like something like that
216
:is even happening, right?
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:How do you sort of, sort of
incentivize your existing customers
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:to go and spread the word about you?
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:I know they like your product.
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:They love the experience.
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:They want to spread the word, but how,
how, how are you incentivizing them?
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:And how are you sort of attributing
this new growth to that?
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:Amit: We not, we should be like, you
know, doing some campaigns or we don't
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:even have like a referral program,
which we ought to have, uh, but, but
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:generally like, you know, I was doing
some customer support myself yesterday.
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:I received a ticket from
a founder of a D2C brand.
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:And then, uh, uh, when I received the
ticket one hour before that, uh, one of
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:the account execs said that there's a
lead that came from the founder of so
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:and so company, you know, uh, and then I
receive a ticket from that same person,
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:Sam later on, you know, he had some issue.
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:So I'm talking to him and then at
the end, I'm like, Hey, somebody
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:reached out to us saying that
it was a reference through you.
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:Uh, so thank you for
that and I appreciate it.
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:Then I went on his Twitter.
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:He's quite popular.
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:He's covered many of these podcasts
and then he has done a few tweets,
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:uh, you know, talking about his stack,
how he's upgraded and, uh, he has
238
:mentioned Richpanel there, so some
of it is like directly his friends.
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:Some of it is like people who are
following him that could have clicked it.
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:So that's just one of the many people
that they're just talking normally.
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:Like this is what I use.
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:This is what I do.
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:And then people hear
it and then they adopt.
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:And sometimes it's like competitors.
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:Like they are keeping a track of what
the other people are using, what's their
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:stack looking like, what's the upgrade.
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:So they find us there.
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:Some tech savvy, uh, entrepreneurs
will also go on like built with, or
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:like, you know, they will look at
their competitor websites and they're
250
:like, Oh, they're using this app.
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:They're using that app.
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:And I want, I want to
implement the same thing.
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:So that's how they go.
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:And they say it.
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:Every account exec has to capture,
how did you hear about us?
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:Upendra Varma: Got it.
257
:So, and that's how you're getting
all of these numbers from, right?
258
:So I'm just, yeah.
259
:And just talk about this
powered by branding, right?
260
:So, I mean, these days I'm hearing
like every, like every SaaS founder
261
:who's got a product, which sort
of, you know, where they can sort
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:of, which has this UI, right?
263
:They have this powered by element and
then it just drives on this viral growth.
264
:And all of a sudden you're seeing
tons of top of funnel leads, right?
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:And let's just talk about
your experience here.
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:Right?
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:So, and, uh, like, I don't even see a
free plan on your, on your pricing page.
268
:Right?
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:So like, how do I, like, how,
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:Amit: It's going to come back.
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:Yeah, it's, it's going to come back.
272
:Uh, you know, the marketing team
keeps experimenting, like, let's
273
:remove this, let's, you know,
experiment with a different CD.
274
:Like, even if you look at all the
CDs on the website today, they're all
275
:like, uh, get a demo, get a demo and
stuff, you know, start a free trial.
276
:So they keep experimenting.
277
:Um, but yeah, uh, the free
plan will be added back.
278
:They must be running some,
279
:Upendra Varma: So, so, so,
280
:Amit: know,
281
:Upendra Varma: so, so basically this
free plan is what's driving a lot
282
:of, you know, lead, a lot of growth
to yard, a lot of new leads, right.
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:That's coming to your website, right.
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:Just because of this part
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:Amit: That's, that's my feeling.
286
:That's my feeling.
287
:You know, I've not like, you
know, the analyze it or I've
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:not gotten into the depth of it.
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:Like, you know, just five days
back, we got a review on the
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:Shopify app store saying that, you
know, I'm very happy with the app.
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:I've been using it.
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:This is like the Apple of help desk.
293
:Uh, and I'm still on the free plan.
294
:So, and, and I installed
this app in like:
295
:And I'm like, really?
296
:Like he's been using it
for two years for free.
297
:So it's, it's, it's reviews like
those that make me anecdotally feel
298
:like, Hey, you know, we need to have
like, uh, more such people, right?
299
:More such people.
300
:And sometimes the reason it's
not attributable, because
301
:I'll give you another example.
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:This is one company, uh,
that is on the free plan.
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:Okay.
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:And, uh, and we would not
have even discovered this.
305
:If we hadn't asked them, like, you
know, how did you hear about us?
306
:So we get a lead from a, uh, you know,
a D2C VC, uh, not, not a VC, a PE form.
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:They acquire a bunch of these e
commerce websites and then they
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:sort of buy from that, right?
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:So they had 30 or 35 such stores.
310
:It was a 100k plus deal.
311
:And then I asked them, like,
how did you hear about us?
312
:He's like, Well, we had this one
company that signed up with you
313
:in December, we acquired them and
they showed us their stack and they
314
:convinced us that all the 30 brands
that we have should move to Richpanel.
315
:So all the 29 brands were using other
helpdesk solutions, but this one free
316
:plan convinced them like, Hey, all
the others should be coming to me.
317
:So, so that lead has to be
added to the free plan, right?
318
:But you have to dig deeper.
319
:If, if it gets created as a separate
company, separate account, you wouldn't
320
:even know Uh, sort of no, right?
321
:So that was like, that
was like one example.
322
:Even, even the other one that
I just, uh, mentioned, right?
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:The one that called us the Apple.
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:I will also open that.
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:I think he's not using the app now.
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:Let me just open it once again.
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:Uh, yeah, he, he pretty much came
to us saying like, I'm not using it.
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:I have moved on.
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:I am in another company.
330
:Uh, Yeah, I'm in another company, but
I want to take a moment to appreciate
331
:because I, I hate using, uh, I don't know
if it should be bashing our competitors,
332
:but I'm just quoting my customer.
333
:Uh, yeah.
334
:Okay.
335
:Check this out.
336
:So this is, this is something
that, uh, Mark, who's the,.
337
:So basically this is a, uh, head of
from the head of customer support.
338
:And this email came from Jose Rodriguez.
339
:He used to work with a
company called Lunchbox.
340
:So I'm just reading something that
has public, uh, because he posted a
341
:review today, but he sent an email
saying, you know, don't need any help.
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:Hi team.
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:Don't need any help.
344
:Just wanted to take the time
to let you know I enjoy RP.
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:RP is short for Rich Panel.
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:More than any other helpdesk I've used.
347
:I've used Gorgias in the past and
currently use Zendesk with my other job.
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:I can't stand ZD, Zendesk.
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:Looks awful clunky, not
intuitive in the slightest.
350
:To me, RP is like, you Apple versus
Android UX is more intuitive, looks
351
:much more cleaner, polished, workflow
is much more intuitive, et cetera.
352
:And then he went on to say, say that he's
like, I'm ramming now, but RP feels like
353
:Apple of the help desk world right now.
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:I appreciate it.
355
:Upendra Varma: Yeah.
356
:Let, let's move on to your
conversion strategy here.
357
:Right.
358
:So, I mean, like, I know it's
going, it's going to take a lot
359
:of you to convert a 10, 000 deal.
360
:Right.
361
:So help me understand the sales process
that you typically go through, through
362
:one of the leads that you've generated.
363
:Right.
364
:So what does it take?
365
:How long is the sales cycle?
366
:What do you do during those days?
367
:Just help us understand the process.
368
:So
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:Amit: Actually not.
370
:So in a 10, 000 deal, you
can't really afford to have a
371
:very long sales cycle, right?
372
:Uh, it has to be quick, ideally within
three to four weeks, which includes,
373
:you know, either you're already on the
trial or, you know, the account exec is
374
:going to create an account for you, let
you trial for two weeks and, uh, you
375
:know, help you during that process, do
more calls with the other stakeholders,
376
:like It could be like the founder sent
an email to the customer support person.
377
:Go check this out, or the customer
support head or a customer support
378
:agent is exploring this on their own.
379
:So they pretty much will come on a call.
380
:They may need to do one or two more calls.
381
:Then they do a trial
and then they convert.
382
:So typically it's three to four weeks.
383
:It's all inside sales.
384
:Upendra Varma: it's typically
somebody discovering your website,
385
:starting a trial, and then you, you
ensuring that they adopt, use, use
386
:the product and derive value out
of it and then just convert, right?
387
:Amit: Yeah.
388
:But, but it's not.
389
:Yeah.
390
:I think after they have contacted
or taken a trial, it's four weeks.
391
:It could be that they've been hearing
about us for many months before
392
:that, but they didn't take an action.
393
:Uh, some people will come to us
after a year, they said, I evaluated
394
:you, but I didn't go ahead with you.
395
:I went with someone else.
396
:Now I'm coming to you.
397
:You know, so, so that also happens
398
:Upendra Varma: You've nurtured
them for quite a while before
399
:they actually sort of took that
400
:Amit: Yeah.
401
:Yeah.
402
:There, there is many, many, I think
there's many touch points that are
403
:not, not, I think, I know there's many
touch points could be like, you know,
404
:they saw some, they saw some posts,
uh, they attended some webinar, they
405
:attended some event, um, and then, you
know, they received emails from us.
406
:Uh, and uh, they, they saw us like in
organic search or something, and then
407
:they finally decided to talk to us.
408
:Upendra Varma: So I'm going to talk
about your churn here today, right?
409
:So like, how does that look
like for a business like yours?
410
:Amit: Uh, thankfully in the
last three months it's been, uh,
411
:good, like it's, it's close to
412
:Upendra Varma: you help us?
413
:Amit: but
414
:Upendra Varma: Okay.
415
:Amit: 0%, it's close to 0%, right?
416
:And then before that, it was.
417
:Uh, continuously around like
2%, uh, every month, right?
418
:I'm including both like, you
know, chance and also downgrades.
419
:People come into us and saying, yeah,
I know you've reduced your pricing,
420
:I want to come on the new pricing.
421
:So, uh, you know, that, that, that
also is considered to be a reduction.
422
:Upendra Varma: Got it.
423
:And then do you sort of do anything
actively to sort of expand an existing
424
:account if yes, what do you do?
425
:Amit: You don't have that too much, uh,
now because, uh, a lot of them have.
426
:are on a limit that is a little
bit more than what they need.
427
:A lot of those accounts like that.
428
:Uh, and the limits that
we gave to the initial few
429
:customers were pretty generous.
430
:So they don't expect, you know,
there's no expansion, uh, opportunity
431
:unless, you know, it's, it's like forms
like, Oh, I'm starting a new brand.
432
:New company, go there, new brand, new one.
433
:So the expansion is like very little.
434
:Like I've seen, I've seen like other
accounts where, uh, let's say you
435
:have like a hundred accounts, right?
436
:20 of them will churn, like I'm talking
about an absolute number, right?
437
:Uh, so if you, if you started with
a hundred dollars in the beginning
438
:of the year, 20 are churned, you're
left with 80, but this 80 gives
439
:you like additional 40 next year.
440
:So you are, it becomes
441
:Upendra Varma: is that
442
:Amit: And then you report like,
443
:Upendra Varma: so that's, that's my
question is how is that happening?
444
:So are they moving on to
a different tire or are
445
:Amit: No, it
446
:Upendra Varma: hiring more
customer service steps within their
447
:team or how has that happened?
448
:Amit: So, so right now, if they hire more
customer support agents, because we've
449
:changed the pricing recently, that's where
you saw the free plan is not available.
450
:We moved to like an agent based pricing.
451
:Before that it was based on conversations
and self service resolutions, but the
452
:limits were a little too generous.
453
:So there, the expansion
opportunities were only limited
454
:to companies adding new brands.
455
:Or, you know, starting or like, you
know, uh, starting new companies
456
:and that's when they, that's
the only expansion opportunity.
457
:Uh, and in that case, you know, we, we
would not see that we would see like
458
:out of a hundred, if we start with a
hundred dollars in the beginning of
459
:the year, we are left with like 85.
460
:Um, and then we probably add 10
from extension, extension, uh,
461
:expansion, uh, unlike others that are
getting 30, 40 more from this base.
462
:Upendra Varma: So, and are
463
:Amit: that's not,
464
:Upendra Varma: so
465
:Amit: our focus
466
:Upendra Varma: so you move to a perceived
basis, perceived based pricing or
467
:are you experimenting with it, right?
468
:So how are the results
so far and what's, what's
469
:Amit: both things, one is, one is, uh, I
think our customer, I need to reduce, I
470
:want to make the product more affordable,
uh, because one of the reasons we are not
471
:expanding that much is, uh, you know, we,
we charged a little bit more or, you know,
472
:we sold a little bit more than needed.
473
:Like the limits were set up in a
manner that you need some features
474
:you need to take like a bigger plan.
475
:Although you didn't need it.
476
:So when you do that, yeah, you
book more revenue, but you know,
477
:your expansion takes a hit, right?
478
:And the number of, uh, the, the
top of the funnel also reduces
479
:because you were able to, you drove
a lot of customers because of that.
480
:Right.
481
:So, so we need to prize ourselves to
make it accessible to more people.
482
:That's going to be my focus.
483
:And then the expansion
should naturally happen.
484
:Well, for
485
:Upendra Varma: So Amit, so I want
you to go back to:
486
:When you, when it all just started, right?
487
:So how did you get those
first five, 10 customers?
488
:Just talk about that, you know,
zero to one journey of yours.
489
:So
490
:Amit: first, uh, honestly,
the first 10 customers came
491
:from, uh, contacts, references.
492
:I've been in the e commerce world.
493
:Uh, for, for quite a while now, and our
revenues are a bit inflated because, you
494
:know, the first month you're starting,
you're starting with like, you know,
495
:10, 000 in MRR because these customers
are like, Oh, what are you building?
496
:We'll take it.
497
:Right.
498
:And honestly, the product wasn't even.
499
:What it is today, like it was, it was
like, okay, we will see what we're
500
:building kind of thing, but it was more
like, uh, you know, like, Hey, we just
501
:want to take a part in like your success.
502
:We want to help you.
503
:And I'm very thankful to those customers
because many of them are also friends.
504
:Uh,
505
:Upendra Varma: talk about
that 10 to a hundred, right?
506
:So that first scalable channel that really
worked and, you know, started giving it,
507
:Amit: Interviews.
508
:Talk to a lot of people.
509
:Okay.
510
:Don't, don't get, uh, don't obsess
over the, uh, solution like, like most,
511
:uh, founders would do, including me.
512
:Like, you know, you, you feel like,
you know, you've, you're a genius.
513
:You've created something
extraordinary, but instead focus
514
:on that's the problems, right?
515
:Like, Uh, you know, every day
when you wake up, like who's the
516
:buyer, who's the ICP every day
when you wake up, what's, what's,
517
:what's sort of keeping you up late?
518
:What's the challenge?
519
:What are the, what are the things
that you're thinking, where
520
:are you spending your money?
521
:Uh, and you got to be in that category.
522
:You, you need to have that mindset
because you're always competing
523
:for attention, not really with the
competitors, but everything else
524
:that is going on with their lives.
525
:So you got to like get to the very
depth of their business and then.
526
:Uh, sort of, sort of made the entire,
527
:Upendra Varma: Yeah.
528
:But what exactly did you do to
get from that 10 to a hundred
529
:customer sort of base, right?
530
:So apart from your contacts, right?
531
:What else really worked
532
:Amit: Listening to conversations,
listening to conversations.
533
:Yeah, listen, like doing
a lot of interviews,
534
:Upendra Varma: what do you mean by that?
535
:So
536
:Amit: and digging
537
:Upendra Varma: how did you, how,
like, what did you use to do?
538
:Like, what do you mean by interviews?
539
:Did you use to talk to
potential customers?
540
:Like where did they find, like, where
did you like, what channel did you use?
541
:Like just talk about that process,
542
:Amit: Just reaching out to potential
customers, people that I already know,
543
:even those 10 that signed up, they
signed up for a product, but ended up
544
:with another product that was completely
different because after talking to them,
545
:we were like, Oh, we have this problem, we
have this problem, we have that problem.
546
:And then out of all those, we were
like, okay, that's one problem.
547
:That's big enough for our
appetite, uh, could be used
548
:by a massive number of people.
549
:And I do see like a lot of current
technology and IP that could be applied
550
:that could make a huge difference, like
in case of customer support, it was
551
:like, Hey, If you look at articles,
uh, dating back to like:
552
:Zomato is, Zomato had to let go of
540 employees, you can just Google it.
553
:And, uh, this is despite growing so much.
554
:So why did they have to do this?
555
:Because they implemented this section,
this, uh, my account section, which
556
:started to resolve all their chats.
557
:And you're like, Hey, what if we
take this technology and apply it to?
558
:What Peter just told me or
what, what me just told me.
559
:Like they're also, you know,
telling me about these problems.
560
:They're trying to create chatbots,
they're trying to do this.
561
:And someone like ZA or an Uber is,
you know, thinking 10 steps ahead
562
:and they've created this technology.
563
:We're like, okay, what if we mix the two,
make that a product and give it to them?
564
:And by the way, we did interview
people from all of these companies.
565
:We interviewed people from
Uber, Amazon, uh, Zito,
566
:Upendra Varma: but they
didn't become your customers.
567
:Right.
568
:So they would have helped you build your
569
:Amit: they said, they said we did look
for, but they did all confirm that
570
:we did look for a solution like this
before we decided to build it an house.
571
:Now they have a team of like a
bunch of engineers that are just
572
:focused on that one thing, right?
573
:Upendra Varma: got it.
574
:Right.
575
:So talk about like, have you
raised any external funding
576
:so far to build your company
577
:Amit: Yeah, so we, we
raised money from Sequoia.
578
:Uh, we also got selected from
Y Combinator in year one.
579
:The only reason I didn't sign up
with Y Combinator is because we were
580
:remote and the whole batch was remote.
581
:I didn't think we will extract too
much value, uh, from, from the Zoom
582
:Upendra Varma: how much did
you raise in total so far?
583
:Amit: uh, 2 million.
584
:Upendra Varma: Okay.
585
:Makes sense.
586
:And like, what's, what's like,
how, how much, how big of a team
587
:have you, do you have today?
588
:Amit: We have, uh, 30
members, a little less than 30
589
:Upendra Varma: So how many
engineers and how many in the
590
:Amit: 15, 15 are in the product team,
15 are product, 5 to 6 would be, 6
591
:would be customer support and success.
592
:We offer 24 by 7 support.
593
:Uh, so even if like the volumes
are low, we, we will staff it.
594
:Uh, so people always have help.
595
:What else?
596
:What else?
597
:Then two co founders.
598
:We pretty much do anything and everything.
599
:Uh, one person is in HR.
600
:What am I missing?
601
:Three people in sales.
602
:So that's the composition.
603
:Upendra Varma: So Amit, one
last question here, right?
604
:So what's that next big milestone
that you're aiming for as a company
605
:and how do you intend to reach there?
606
:Amit: Good question.
607
:So we have.
608
:A few applications, which, which were
only, uh, you know, imagined in our head.
609
:Like if something could happen, then
we could do something like this.
610
:If this could happen,
then we could do this.
611
:And with, with, uh, the API is
made available by open AI, all
612
:of that has now become possible.
613
:So without revealing too much, uh, uh,
what you're about to launch in quarter
614
:one, uh, we're all working tirelessly
towards that is going to be a very
615
:game changing because, you know, it's
not about just, you know, having a
616
:very thin layer over AI and claiming,
Oh, we are doing something with GPT.
617
:It's about like, you know, really
re imagining the whole thing.
618
:Like if, if you were to
create a company today.
619
:Uh, to solve this problem with the
available technology, how would you do it?
620
:Right.
621
:And you have to like re imagine the
whole block, like, you know, take off
622
:your entire, whatever you built with
your Legos, take, take it off and
623
:build it from the ground up and you
will come with something beautiful.
624
:So that's what we are doing.
625
:And
626
:Upendra Varma: So, so I'm at like,
why, like my question here, right?
627
:So why do all of this, right?
628
:I mean, you've got a wonderful product
that people are allowing to use, right?
629
:So why not just keep on expanding, right?
630
:Just acquire more customers, get
to a point where, I mean, why
631
:rethink your product strategy
or why expand on those lines?
632
:Like what's the vision here?
633
:Amit: because this, this technology
is going to enable, uh, adoption
634
:across multiple channels.
635
:So as of today, all the benefit that
I'm telling you, all the things that
636
:I'm telling you is only available
on the website or the brand's
637
:website or the brand's mobile app.
638
:Uh, but if you look at a market
like us where 55 percent of the
639
:conversations happen via email, Right.
640
:Uh, 30% happen through the websites
chat, and 15% is like, uh, phone calls
641
:or, uh, you know, social media or SMS.
642
:So our technology is only applicable
to that 30%, uh, percent of the people.
643
:But with ai, we can take this
technology to the remaining 70%,
644
:uh, which was not accessible to us.
645
:Upendra Varma: Yeah, that
makes a lot of sense.
646
:All right.
647
:I mean, thanks for taking
time to talk to me.
648
:Hope you scale rich funnel to
much, much greater heights.
649
:Amit: Thank you, Pendra.