Gopal Krishnamurthy is the founder and CEO of Lumel, which has a suite of products focused on enterprise performance management (EPM). Their apps allow users to plan, report, and analyze data using modern native app frameworks on top of modern cloud data platforms such as Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, Databricks, and others. Lumel’s products provide a full stack of integrated planning, BI, and data apps on the customers’ data platforms.
He grew his enterprise services company, Visual BI, to over 300 employees and sold that company to Atos in 2021, as he described in his first Practical Founders podcast interview in 2023. Gopal self-funded Lumel with a VC-sized investment and has grown it to over 300 employees in four years. Lumel already has a revenue run rate of over $12M ARR and is growing fast.
Lumel is building its apps using modern cloud data platforms, not siloed SaaS databases, allowing it to manage real-time data across applications. This bold new vision and architecture for enterprise software apps align with modern data approaches supporting AI, creating a billion-dollar opportunity for Lumel in the future.
In this episode, Gopal also discusses:
- The challenge of transitioning from custom services to a no-touch product-led approach selling to enterprises
- Why VCs wouldn’t understand their technology bet and why their patience is paying off
- What it’s like to grow a fast-growth and innovative technology company as a bootstrapper
Quote from Gopal Krishnamurthy, founder and CEO of Lumel
“The main thing is it’s a big market. It’s not like we are just trying to get to our first $10 million revenue. We did that before with Visual BI and we have already done that with Lumel already. We are looking at how we can get to a billion-dollar ARR business. That’s the big, bold vision. We have invested tens of millions already and we are almost profitable.
“We think we can absolutely create a billion-dollar business based on our customer feedback and traction from 3,000 customers. So, it’s not a question of product market fit. We worked with hundreds of our enterprise customers and perfected our data apps products.
“The other thing is our products can work for smaller businesses and medium-sized businesses, because of our architecture and approach. It’s completely horizontal: it works for all industries and all customers of all sizes.”
Links
- Gopal Krishnamurthy on LinkedIn
- Lumel on LinkedIn
- Lumel website
- Lumel and Microsoft announcement
- Lumel video on the rise of native apps
Podcast Sponsor – Cypress Growth Capital
This podcast is sponsored by Cypress Growth Capital, an alternative to equity, royalty-based growth capital provides funding in exchange for a fixed percentage of your company’s future monthly revenues. Learn more at https://www.cypressgrowthcapital.com/
