Many successful software companies didn’t start in the business they are in now. A surprising number of them got started with a different idea.
Then they learned something important from actual customers and changed course.
“We had to start with something to find the real business we are in now,” they say now.
But they started with the full confidence that it would work, until it didn’t.
Sameer Narkar is the founder and CEO of Konnect Insights, a global SaaS company based in Mumbai that provides an omnichannel customer experience platform to consumer brands in 100 countries.
Sameer created Konnect Insights in 2015 with a simple website analytics tool. Then they created a product to help customer service teams respond to customers who mention their brands on social media.
The product and company have expanded from a slow start, working through marketing agencies in India, to now distributing through ISV partners in all major global regions.
The Konnect Insights product now includes social listening, ticketing, reputation monitoring, and social media analytics.
They have grown to 140 employees, hundreds of customers, and $7 million ARR–without any outside funding.
Sameer still thinks it’s more important to start and see where it takes you, as he describes on my podcast:
“When you start a software company, you have all odds against you. You don’t have enough money. There’s no reason why customers would trust you against the established products. There is a 99% chance that you’ll fail.
“But if you’re really passionate about what you’re building, then don’t look too far ahead. Try to achieve your smaller goals or get from zero to one. So just build something and get some early customers. We figured out a way for agencies to be interested in selling our solution to bring it to market.
“Then, meet directly with your end customers. It’s very easy for tech founders to sit in the office and build a product the way they think. That doesn’t work.
“Many founders think that if they take a half-baked product, they won’t get another chance. But that’s not the case. You need to build relationships to help you improve and grow.”
This is the classic “MVP vs. complete 1st product” debate that has been going on for years.
Either way you launch, it’s about the extent of your relationship with your first customers to truly learn if your first product is viable or not.
In this episode, Sameer also talks about:
- Selling through agency and ISV partners to grow efficiently
- Competing with large, well-funded software companies
- How he thinks about how AI can help them compete
- Why he hasn’t sold the company or raised outside funding
Check out this savvy interview with Sameer Narkar on the Practical Founders Podcast.
