September 19, 2023 • 23 mins
EPISODE SUMMARY
Building a new software company from the ground up is a thrilling yet challenging endeavor. One of the biggest obstacles SaaS startup founders face is the temptation to stray from their initial vision and get sidetracked by shiny new opportunities.
In this episode of Scale Your SaaS, we'll explore the importance of staying focused on your core mission and niche, drawing insights from a conversation with Sanjay Ghare, CEO of Vervotech, a travel technology company leveraging AI to transform the industry with host and B2B SaaS Sales Coach Matt Wolach.
PODCAST-AT-A-GLANCE
Podcast: Scale Your SaaS with Matt Wolach
Episode: Episode No. 282, "From $0 to Exit - How Staying Focused Allowed Them to Win - with Sanjay Ghare"
Host: Matt Wolach, a B2B SaaS Sales Coach, Entrepreneur, and Investor
Guest: Sanjay Ghare, CEO of VervoTech
TOP TIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Sanjay Ghare and Vervotech's journey provides several valuable lessons for early-stage SaaS founders:
- Prioritize Marketing and Visibility
- Embrace Lean Practices
- Adopt a Customer-Centric Approach
- Cultivate a Unified Vision
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- The Dangers of Distraction
- The Power of Laser Focus
- The Power of a Singular Focus
TOP QUOTES
Sanjay Ghare
[15:36] “It's never perfect. Actually, there is always something that needs to improve. But we are very keen and very responsive to our customers and very attentive to our customers.”
[21:09] “Start doing it, build the right team, and be active on LinkedIn.”
Matt Wolach
[05:32] “Focus on solving a specific niche problem to achieve success and an exit.”
LEARN MORE
To learn more about Vervotech, visit: https://vervotech.com/
You can also find Sanjay Ghare on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjayghare/
For more about how host Matt Wolach helps software companies achieve maximum growth, visit https://mattwolach.com/scale-time
Get even more tips by following Matt elsewhere:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Wolach (00:10):
One of the toughest parts about building a new
company is staying away from allof the distractions of other
bright shiny new capabilitiesyou could offer other things you
could provide when you'vealready come up with the idea
that this is what we need to do.
And I've been guilty of itmyself of saying, Oh, we had
this or what if we did this andit just takes you away from what
you're trying to do. It makes itso that your focus is off and
that's what we talked abouttoday. I had Sanjay Ghare on and
(00:34):
Sanjay with Vervotech amazinglevel of focus he figured out
how to make sure they were a toonly focus right at their exact
goal at their exact mission.
They didn't stray they didn't doall this other stuff. So
definitely check this outbecause he shares how they were
able to accomplish this,including the mistakes he'd made
previously with other jobs othercompanies before he started
(00:56):
Vervotech I think if you want tomake sure that you understand
how to nail an industry How toWin how to get an exit, finding
a niche and focusing on solvingtheir problems within that niche
is critical. Sanjay does thatbeautifully. Enjoy.
Intro/ Outro (01:10):
Welcome to Scale Your SaaS, the podcast that
gives you proven techniques andformulas for boosting your
revenue and achieving your dreamexits brought to you by a guy
who's done just that multipletimes. Here's your host, Matt
Wolach,
Matt Wolach (01:27):
and welcome to Scale Your SaaS very happy
you're here. I'm Matt Wolach.
I'm your host. By the way, makesure that you're subscribed to
this show. We're gonna give youall kinds of amazing leaders and
innovators and people who havedone some great things to scale
their Sass so that you can learnhow to scale your SaaS. So
definitely hit that subscribebutton, you'll get notified of
all the new shows. And ontoday's show. I'm really excited
(01:48):
to be talking to Sanjay GauriSanjay, welcome.
Sanjay Ghare (01:54):
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Matt.
Matt Wolach (01:57):
Absolutely. I'm really glad to have you here.
Let me make sure everybody knowswho you are Sanjay Sanjay. He's
the CEO at vervoe tech. He comesfrom an engineering background.
But as an industry veteran andinfluencer Sanjay leads and
drives Vervotech's vision oforganizing the world's
accommodation data. Sanjay hasalso founded a technology
service company called TechSpain. Now, VervoTech is a
(02:19):
travel technology company thatleverages the power of AI to
power 1000 Plus travel companiesaround the globe. I'm really
excited to hear how they'redoing that. Once again, Sanjay,
thanks so much for coming on theshow.
Sanjay Ghare (02:33):
Thank you for having me, mate. Thank you.
Matt Wolach (02:35):
Absolutely. So tell me what's going on with you
lately? And what's coming up?
Sanjay Ghare (02:39):
Yeah, so, you know, last month, Matt, whatever
they got acquired, byconstellation software, through
its portfolio, Juniper group.
Constellation is the world'seighth most valuable software
company listed publicly in turnto stock search. So being
(02:59):
honest, you know, last fewmonths, I was really busy in the
due diligence on all theprocess, you know, majorly in
addition to day to day businessthings, and I think you know,
next few months is, while youknow, we are finishing the
integration, and we have 100 dayplan to, you know, do some of
the things I'm you know, reallyfocused on kind of bringing the
(03:22):
momentum and be more aggressivein our growth than ever before.
So that's pretty much you know,what's going on right now.
Matt Wolach (03:32):
Well, congratulations on the
acquisition. Thank you. Thanks,Matt. That's fantastic. And I
think that that's something thata lot of people are really
interested in doing. Of course,if you found a software company,
most of the time, the goal is tohave an exit most of the time,
the goal is to get to thatpoint. So I want to kind of
follow your path on how you wereable to do that. But let's go
back, how did Viva tech come tobe? What did it start? Where did
(03:56):
that idea come from? Yeah,
Sanjay Ghare (03:59):
so you know, Matt, I had been working in the travel
technology for more than, youknow, 15 years now, I have
worked for multiple, you know,products. And we have solved
multiple problems throughdifferent kinds of products. And
one thing I have realized is inthe travel ecosystem, when
everyone is trying to doeverything, things are not sold
(04:21):
at a perfection. And that's whenwe thought about this problem
that which is about hotelstandardization, Hotel mappi. So
everyone who is selling thehotels to, you know, travelers
or guest online, they need toconnect to multiple suppliers.
And when when we look at theoptions or solutions available,
(04:43):
there are very no lot of optionsin the market. But there are
just one company who had beendoing this for quite some time.
And with the latest technologyand the AI and all these things,
you know, evolve. We saw anopportunity of doing things You
know, leveraging AI in anefficient way, and having an
(05:05):
option for everyone, given thesize of travel industry. So
that's what our idea was verysimple, we will solve a very
small and just one problem, butbe the best in that instead of
trying to do lots of things. Sothat's where we started with low
tech with a single line ofvision that we will organize the
world's recommendation data willnot do anything more than that.
(05:28):
And we had been very focusedaround it for last five years.
Matt Wolach (05:32):
Well, congrats, I think that that's so important
is to figure out what is thatniche that needs an answer that
needs a solution? And, and howcan we help people within that
niche? And I think it's amazingthat you guys did that? Because
it probably, it probably wasenticing to look outside of that
niche and look at other thingsand say, Oh, maybe we could do
that, too. And maybe we could dothat. How did you remain focused
(05:54):
on solving that singular issue?
Sanjay Ghare (05:57):
Yeah, I think, you know, I would say experience,
because in the previous roleswhere I worked upon, we had, you
know, I would say, got into thistrap. When we build something,
we have some happy customers,they ask for something else. And
with, Okay, why don't we dothis. And we ended up building
12 to 13 products. And after1012 years doing that, and we
(06:20):
looked at, Okay, number ofcustomers we are serving are
probably 50 or 60, globally. So,you know, it sounds as as an as
a technologist, myself, I knowthis trap, that, you know,
getting into a trap of buildingmore and more things really
keeps you away from being thebest at something. So because
this was an experience in thepast, we were very clear about
(06:42):
this, that we will remainfocused on just one thing at a
time. We had number one in that.
Matt Wolach (06:49):
I think that's fantastic. I'm so glad. And
sometimes it does take thatexperience of trying it a
different way in order to beable to get to the right answer
and get to the right solution oflet's stay within our niche. I
think that's fantastic kudos onthat. And I know that Vivatech
really specializes in, in AIdriven solutions, like you said
it does this for for a lot ofbusinesses. Can you explain how
(07:14):
the technology isrevolutionizing the way travel
businesses operate? Yeah,absolutely.
Sanjay Ghare (07:20):
Okay. So if you look at travel industry, you
know, people know the bigplayers like Expedia
booking.com, you know, Agoda allthese big players, but the
reality is, these big playersare not contributing even 10% of
the total travel industry. Thereare 300,000 more travel
businesses, who are distributinga significant part of that, to
(07:45):
you know, the customers, youknow, the kind of reach they
have into different regions ofthe globe. And all these 300,000
travel agencies, they try to getthe best rates for their
customers wherever you know itis coming from. And every other
day, new suppliers will pop inand start supplying something
which is better than others,maybe only for few hotels. So we
(08:08):
provide an ability, that where atravel agency can start sourcing
from any of the you know, travelsuppliers popping into the
industry by mapping the contentwithin 24 to 48 hours. That is
the speed of mapping content,which used to be months if new
suppliers come into existence.
The inventory will take monthsto map for the first time.
(08:32):
Through an automation leveragingAI and ML models, we have
brought that down to 24 to 48hours based on the inventory
size. So the friction, the speedof going into the market has
changed very significantly,which is helping the industry to
move forward in a faster way.
Matt Wolach (08:55):
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And we're back. Very cool.
That's amazing that you guys areable to speed it up so much. And
I'm sure the space iscompetitive. How do you stay
ahead of these emerging trendsand technologies and everything
that seems to keep happening?
Sanjay Ghare (11:08):
Yeah, I think you know, so two things, we have to
constantly invest in r&d. So wehave being a very small company,
we still have a dedicated r&ddepartment who is constantly
just looking for the new things,how do we leverage the new
databases, new, you know,technologies, which are coming
in to solve the currentproblems, we also go and try to
(11:29):
attend a lot of tech events, letit be web three, or cloud
specific events and try to learnfrom the people who maybe in the
other domains, because honestly,technology in the travel is
slightly behind. If you look atthe other industries, so learn
from the other industries likeoil and gas finance, and try to
apply those technology,evolution into travel is also
(11:52):
helping us to kind of moveforward and fine to kind of come
up with the new things.
Matt Wolach (11:57):
I love it. So glad you're staying on top of it.
Okay, so when you got started, Iwant to kind of go through this
journey, as we talked about sothat people can understand how
they can achieve what you'vedone. So what were some of the
good decisions that you made inthe early days after the launch
that really got you some initialtraction and got you some
(12:18):
foothold with some newcustomers?
Sanjay Ghare (12:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's, you know, amazing
question. And I love that. So westarted back in October 2018,
which is, you know, almost fiveyears back, when we decided to
do this. And we were very clearwith the vision. And I would
say, when I look at thedecisions we had taken is, first
of all, no matter how greatproduct you build, but you have
(12:42):
to really present in front ofcustomers. So, we were very
clear, we have invested from dayone in marketing and marketing
not only website but all kindsof you know, let it be website
videos, Presley's attendingevents, you know, having inside
(13:03):
sales team reaching out tocustomers talking about the
products. So, we have investedin marketing from day one is the
first I would say importantthing, because the great product
is good, but you have to put itin front of the right people.
The second thing which I wouldsay, you know, happened because
of these situations is we hadbeen very lean, and very, I
(13:28):
would say cost sensitive beforespending $1 We were clear that
what we are going to get out ofit. And the reason I said it is
very situational, because whenwe started we got a good
traction, we were also thinkingabout even getting funding, but
that's when the pandemic youknow, came in because of
pandemic we dropped the idea ofgoing into funding because you
(13:50):
know, everything was kind ofdisturbed. But that has helped
us to go back and focus and howdo we kind of remain lean what
we learned in the pandemic hasbecame our DNA forever even
after acquisition now, our focusis even spending a single dollar
we always think how this dollaris going to come back to us. So
(14:12):
I think the second thing isabout very ROI driven when we do
the investment and third thingis we have accepted the fact is
you cannot solve everything youcannot have every feature on day
one, you will have things whichare missing but what is
important is having the rightmindset to work with your
(14:33):
customers understand their painpoints, if customer needs a
feature, work with them and tellthem okay, this is going to come
at this point. How can I helpyou right now? So from day one,
we had been awarded as best forcustomer success. Even recently
we did a customer survey and thebest thing which came up is a
customer success. Because youknow in a global industry when
(14:54):
you really don't you know whatwith each other in person and in
the remote work Whether you'reusing software from someone you
prefer that if you have aproblem or if you have feedback,
or if you have a question, howsoon someone is available, how
someone is able to understandyour context and just not
responding in a transactionalway to your ticket. So customer
(15:15):
success has been, again, inanother focus area, I think
these are the things you know, Iwill not say these are the
decisions, but these are thevery conscious focus areas,
which we had kept throughout ourjourney has been very helpful to
us. Because, you know, as a, asa product manager, product is
never perfect on day one. Andit's never perfect, actually,
(15:36):
there is always something whichneeds to improve. But we are
very keen and very responsive toour customers and very attentive
to our customers.
Matt Wolach (15:46):
That's great. I'm so glad to hear that. You talked
about being lean, and howsomething good came out of the
pandemic of you learning how tobe lean, and you've kept that
I'm, I'm really impressed thatyou've kept that afterwards. So
I think that that's critical. Ithink so many times, especially
in the tech world, people arejust spending and they don't
realize, if we put this dollarin the machine, how many are we
(16:08):
going to get back? And reallylooking like you said, at each
dollar, I think is critical.
It's something I learned in myearly days in startups of, you
know, hey, what are we going toget out of this, if we're going
to spend this what's going toactually happen? I think the
companies who figured out ifwe're going to spend this we
will get this are the ones whothrive, the ones who just kind
of willy nilly throw moneyaround. They're the ones who
don't make it. And it's, it'svery scary. So I really
(16:31):
appreciated that, that you'redoing that. I also love the
customer success angle thatyou're taking care of your
customers? Have you seen yourchurn rate be very successful?
Because you're your customersuccess focus? And have you seen
your customers love the product?
And love the company more? Stickaround more because of that?
Sanjay Ghare (16:53):
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, because we
are so connected with customers,you know, we are able to
understand their pain points,all their pain points work
through give this additionalcomfort. And this has been one
of the most important factor inhaving John as late as possible.
Matt Wolach (17:11):
I love it. So those are some of the good things you
did? What were some of themistakes that you made? What
were some decisions that youwish you could have back?
Sanjay Ghare (17:19):
Yeah, that's a good question. So, you know, I
think, Matt, because whensomething reaches to a good
stage, probably no, it is reallyhard to think about the big
mistakes. And that's the thing,you know, I'm trying to think.
So, you know, I will not saymistakes as such. But but in
(17:40):
journey, because in my previous,you know, previous roles where I
was very focused on the productand a lot of products, I was
very clear about we were missingon marketing, we were missing on
sales. So I was very focusedhere. r&d and a constant
evolution on technology, I wouldsay we started little late in
(18:01):
the vertex journey. It shouldhave been, you know, there from
day one, I think two or threeyears down the line, the you
know, apprenticeship journey, werealized that we had to go back
to r&d. So if I have to restartall my journey Vertec, I would
make sure that the investment inthe r&d and the new trends and
(18:21):
the technology will be slightlymore from the day one, which we
eventually did after two and ahalf years.
Matt Wolach (18:30):
Got it? Got it. So how do you see your company
evolving and growing over thenext five years?
Sanjay Ghare (18:36):
That's a beautiful question. So, you know, in last
five years, Matt, we have kindof, you know, put ourselves in
front of everyone's travelecosystem now knows us as an
option. You know, we are there,everyone knows us. We know
people can use us in next fiveyears, I want to change this
(18:57):
perception from you know, beingan option to the number one
option. Okay? So if todaysomeone is going for a
smartphone, I think iPhone isthe number one choice, it's very
clear, there is no doubt aboutit, no one is going to argue
about it. We just want to bethat iPhone of the mapping
industry, that we become thenumber one preferred choice.
(19:20):
People buy it or not, forreasons, like you know, cost or
any other is fine. But we wantto make sure that everyone
agrees and feel we are thenumber one choice for customers.
So we want you to take ourproduct to the level we want to
take our customer success to alevel where we become a
(19:41):
preferred option than just beingan option.
Matt Wolach (19:46):
I love that. And so, as a leader, are you making
sure the whole team sees thatvision and how do you make sure
everybody's on the same page?
Sanjay Ghare (19:54):
Yeah, so you know, I think that's that's the beauty
being us. startup and being aSaaS company and we are small
team, really, really everyone isa leader here. That means, you
know, what happens is, annuallyevery year when we start, we
actually start with ourfinancial goals. And then we
start with our product goals.
And then when we do and annualOpSite, with the entire company,
(20:17):
everyone in the company, eventhe intern will come on stage
and talk about what he or she isgoing to achieve in next one
year. So really, really, all ofour things are very transparent,
where the goals and whateveryone is going to do is
decided by them in the overallecosystem and overall goals. So
we have such meetings quarterlyreview, to check the status
(20:41):
against things. Whereas we havemonthly all hands meeting where
we talk about the same numbers.
And we have seen KPIs, it isabout accuracy of the mappings,
it is about the percentage ofthe mappings, it is about the
revenue, we have grown this, youknow, this month, month on
month, we only talk about thoseKPIs in all, all the groups very
(21:05):
openly so everyone is alignedtowards the same thing.
Matt Wolach (21:09):
I love that I think it's so smart to be able to do
that and get everybody focusedtowards the same goal. So this
has been a lot of fun learningabout how you guys have done
this, Sanjay, what other advicewould you give to early stage
and new SAS founders who aregetting started and want to
follow your path to get to anexit?
Sanjay Ghare (21:25):
Yeah, I think you know, so I would say no Getting
started is the most important.
So if you aspired of doingsomething, the only thing which
is stopping you is you know,just not doing it. So I would
say just start doing it. On theway you will find a way out. I
think the only thing which yourequire for building a
(21:47):
successful company is makingsure you have the right leaders
or right co founders and youbuild the right team. Ideas can
be tweaked ideas can be changed.
You know, but you know, right.
If you have a right team, don'twait. Just get started. Things
will follow.
Matt Wolach (22:08):
I love it. Well, Sanjay, this has been really
awesome learning about you. Howcan our audience learn more
about you and Viva tech?
Sanjay Ghare (22:16):
Be I think you know, me and even overtake both
are very active on LinkedIn. Soif you can follow or take on
LinkedIn, as well as follow meon LinkedIn, that's the best
place to be connected and, youknow, be updated.
Matt Wolach (22:30):
Okay, perfect.
We'll make sure we put that intothe show notes. And as well as
in the description if you'rewatching on YouTube, but Sanjay,
thank you so much for coming onthe show and sharing all this.
This has been great.
Sanjay Ghare (22:41):
It was lovely, man. Lovely talking to you.
Thank you for having me. Thanksa lot.
Matt Wolach (22:45):
You're welcome. It was lovely having you here as
well and everybody else outthere watching and listening.
Thank you for being here to onceagain, make sure you're
subscribed to the channel and weare looking for reviews. If you
think this is helpful. And allthese episodes and these
interviews are good, pleasereview us and put that out there
that shows other people thatthis is something that can help
them as well. Once again, thankyou very much for coming, and
(23:05):
we'll see you next time. Takecare, and
Intro/ Outro (23:10):
thanks for listening to Scale Your SaaS.
For more help on finding greatleads and closing more deals. Go
to Mattwolach.com
One of the toughest parts about building a new
company is staying away from allof the distractions of other
bright shiny new capabilitiesyou could offer other things you
could provide when you'vealready come up with the idea
that this is what we need to do.
And I've been guilty of itmyself of saying, Oh, we had
this or what if we did this andit just takes you away from what
you're trying to do. It makes itso that your focus is off and
that's what we talked abouttoday. I had Sanjay Ghare on and
(00:34):
Sanjay with Vervotech amazinglevel of focus he figured out
how to make sure they were a toonly focus right at their exact
goal at their exact mission.
They didn't stray they didn't doall this other stuff. So
definitely check this outbecause he shares how they were
able to accomplish this,including the mistakes he'd made
previously with other jobs othercompanies before he started
(00:56):
Vervotech I think if you want tomake sure that you understand
how to nail an industry How toWin how to get an exit, finding
a niche and focusing on solvingtheir problems within that niche
is critical. Sanjay does thatbeautifully. Enjoy.
Intro/ Outro (01:10):
Welcome to Scale Your SaaS, the podcast that
gives you proven techniques andformulas for boosting your
revenue and achieving your dreamexits brought to you by a guy
who's done just that multipletimes. Here's your host, Matt
Wolach,
Matt Wolach (01:27):
and welcome to Scale Your SaaS very happy
you're here. I'm Matt Wolach.
I'm your host. By the way, makesure that you're subscribed to
this show. We're gonna give youall kinds of amazing leaders and
innovators and people who havedone some great things to scale
their Sass so that you can learnhow to scale your SaaS. So
definitely hit that subscribebutton, you'll get notified of
all the new shows. And ontoday's show. I'm really excited
(01:48):
to be talking to Sanjay GauriSanjay, welcome.
Sanjay Ghare (01:54):
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Matt.
Matt Wolach (01:57):
Absolutely. I'm really glad to have you here.
Let me make sure everybody knowswho you are Sanjay Sanjay. He's
the CEO at vervoe tech. He comesfrom an engineering background.
But as an industry veteran andinfluencer Sanjay leads and
drives Vervotech's vision oforganizing the world's
accommodation data. Sanjay hasalso founded a technology
service company called TechSpain. Now, VervoTech is a
(02:19):
travel technology company thatleverages the power of AI to
power 1000 Plus travel companiesaround the globe. I'm really
excited to hear how they'redoing that. Once again, Sanjay,
thanks so much for coming on theshow.
Sanjay Ghare (02:33):
Thank you for having me, mate. Thank you.
Matt Wolach (02:35):
Absolutely. So tell me what's going on with you
lately? And what's coming up?
Sanjay Ghare (02:39):
Yeah, so, you know, last month, Matt, whatever
they got acquired, byconstellation software, through
its portfolio, Juniper group.
Constellation is the world'seighth most valuable software
company listed publicly in turnto stock search. So being
(02:59):
honest, you know, last fewmonths, I was really busy in the
due diligence on all theprocess, you know, majorly in
addition to day to day businessthings, and I think you know,
next few months is, while youknow, we are finishing the
integration, and we have 100 dayplan to, you know, do some of
the things I'm you know, reallyfocused on kind of bringing the
(03:22):
momentum and be more aggressivein our growth than ever before.
So that's pretty much you know,what's going on right now.
Matt Wolach (03:32):
Well, congratulations on the
acquisition. Thank you. Thanks,Matt. That's fantastic. And I
think that that's something thata lot of people are really
interested in doing. Of course,if you found a software company,
most of the time, the goal is tohave an exit most of the time,
the goal is to get to thatpoint. So I want to kind of
follow your path on how you wereable to do that. But let's go
back, how did Viva tech come tobe? What did it start? Where did
(03:56):
that idea come from? Yeah,
Sanjay Ghare (03:59):
so you know, Matt, I had been working in the travel
technology for more than, youknow, 15 years now, I have
worked for multiple, you know,products. And we have solved
multiple problems throughdifferent kinds of products. And
one thing I have realized is inthe travel ecosystem, when
everyone is trying to doeverything, things are not sold
(04:21):
at a perfection. And that's whenwe thought about this problem
that which is about hotelstandardization, Hotel mappi. So
everyone who is selling thehotels to, you know, travelers
or guest online, they need toconnect to multiple suppliers.
And when when we look at theoptions or solutions available,
(04:43):
there are very no lot of optionsin the market. But there are
just one company who had beendoing this for quite some time.
And with the latest technologyand the AI and all these things,
you know, evolve. We saw anopportunity of doing things You
know, leveraging AI in anefficient way, and having an
(05:05):
option for everyone, given thesize of travel industry. So
that's what our idea was verysimple, we will solve a very
small and just one problem, butbe the best in that instead of
trying to do lots of things. Sothat's where we started with low
tech with a single line ofvision that we will organize the
world's recommendation data willnot do anything more than that.
(05:28):
And we had been very focusedaround it for last five years.
Matt Wolach (05:32):
Well, congrats, I think that that's so important
is to figure out what is thatniche that needs an answer that
needs a solution? And, and howcan we help people within that
niche? And I think it's amazingthat you guys did that? Because
it probably, it probably wasenticing to look outside of that
niche and look at other thingsand say, Oh, maybe we could do
that, too. And maybe we could dothat. How did you remain focused
(05:54):
on solving that singular issue?
Sanjay Ghare (05:57):
Yeah, I think, you know, I would say experience,
because in the previous roleswhere I worked upon, we had, you
know, I would say, got into thistrap. When we build something,
we have some happy customers,they ask for something else. And
with, Okay, why don't we dothis. And we ended up building
12 to 13 products. And after1012 years doing that, and we
(06:20):
looked at, Okay, number ofcustomers we are serving are
probably 50 or 60, globally. So,you know, it sounds as as an as
a technologist, myself, I knowthis trap, that, you know,
getting into a trap of buildingmore and more things really
keeps you away from being thebest at something. So because
this was an experience in thepast, we were very clear about
(06:42):
this, that we will remainfocused on just one thing at a
time. We had number one in that.
Matt Wolach (06:49):
I think that's fantastic. I'm so glad. And
sometimes it does take thatexperience of trying it a
different way in order to beable to get to the right answer
and get to the right solution oflet's stay within our niche. I
think that's fantastic kudos onthat. And I know that Vivatech
really specializes in, in AIdriven solutions, like you said
it does this for for a lot ofbusinesses. Can you explain how
(07:14):
the technology isrevolutionizing the way travel
businesses operate? Yeah,absolutely.
Sanjay Ghare (07:20):
Okay. So if you look at travel industry, you
know, people know the bigplayers like Expedia
booking.com, you know, Agoda allthese big players, but the
reality is, these big playersare not contributing even 10% of
the total travel industry. Thereare 300,000 more travel
businesses, who are distributinga significant part of that, to
(07:45):
you know, the customers, youknow, the kind of reach they
have into different regions ofthe globe. And all these 300,000
travel agencies, they try to getthe best rates for their
customers wherever you know itis coming from. And every other
day, new suppliers will pop inand start supplying something
which is better than others,maybe only for few hotels. So we
(08:08):
provide an ability, that where atravel agency can start sourcing
from any of the you know, travelsuppliers popping into the
industry by mapping the contentwithin 24 to 48 hours. That is
the speed of mapping content,which used to be months if new
suppliers come into existence.
The inventory will take monthsto map for the first time.
(08:32):
Through an automation leveragingAI and ML models, we have
brought that down to 24 to 48hours based on the inventory
size. So the friction, the speedof going into the market has
changed very significantly,which is helping the industry to
move forward in a faster way.
Matt Wolach (08:55):
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poor win.
And we're back. Very cool.
That's amazing that you guys areable to speed it up so much. And
I'm sure the space iscompetitive. How do you stay
ahead of these emerging trendsand technologies and everything
that seems to keep happening?
Sanjay Ghare (11:08):
Yeah, I think you know, so two things, we have to
constantly invest in r&d. So wehave being a very small company,
we still have a dedicated r&ddepartment who is constantly
just looking for the new things,how do we leverage the new
databases, new, you know,technologies, which are coming
in to solve the currentproblems, we also go and try to
(11:29):
attend a lot of tech events, letit be web three, or cloud
specific events and try to learnfrom the people who maybe in the
other domains, because honestly,technology in the travel is
slightly behind. If you look atthe other industries, so learn
from the other industries likeoil and gas finance, and try to
apply those technology,evolution into travel is also
(11:52):
helping us to kind of moveforward and fine to kind of come
up with the new things.
Matt Wolach (11:57):
I love it. So glad you're staying on top of it.
Okay, so when you got started, Iwant to kind of go through this
journey, as we talked about sothat people can understand how
they can achieve what you'vedone. So what were some of the
good decisions that you made inthe early days after the launch
that really got you some initialtraction and got you some
(12:18):
foothold with some newcustomers?
Sanjay Ghare (12:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's, you know, amazing
question. And I love that. So westarted back in October 2018,
which is, you know, almost fiveyears back, when we decided to
do this. And we were very clearwith the vision. And I would
say, when I look at thedecisions we had taken is, first
of all, no matter how greatproduct you build, but you have
(12:42):
to really present in front ofcustomers. So, we were very
clear, we have invested from dayone in marketing and marketing
not only website but all kindsof you know, let it be website
videos, Presley's attendingevents, you know, having inside
(13:03):
sales team reaching out tocustomers talking about the
products. So, we have investedin marketing from day one is the
first I would say importantthing, because the great product
is good, but you have to put itin front of the right people.
The second thing which I wouldsay, you know, happened because
of these situations is we hadbeen very lean, and very, I
(13:28):
would say cost sensitive beforespending $1 We were clear that
what we are going to get out ofit. And the reason I said it is
very situational, because whenwe started we got a good
traction, we were also thinkingabout even getting funding, but
that's when the pandemic youknow, came in because of
pandemic we dropped the idea ofgoing into funding because you
(13:50):
know, everything was kind ofdisturbed. But that has helped
us to go back and focus and howdo we kind of remain lean what
we learned in the pandemic hasbecame our DNA forever even
after acquisition now, our focusis even spending a single dollar
we always think how this dollaris going to come back to us. So
(14:12):
I think the second thing isabout very ROI driven when we do
the investment and third thingis we have accepted the fact is
you cannot solve everything youcannot have every feature on day
one, you will have things whichare missing but what is
important is having the rightmindset to work with your
(14:33):
customers understand their painpoints, if customer needs a
feature, work with them and tellthem okay, this is going to come
at this point. How can I helpyou right now? So from day one,
we had been awarded as best forcustomer success. Even recently
we did a customer survey and thebest thing which came up is a
customer success. Because youknow in a global industry when
(14:54):
you really don't you know whatwith each other in person and in
the remote work Whether you'reusing software from someone you
prefer that if you have aproblem or if you have feedback,
or if you have a question, howsoon someone is available, how
someone is able to understandyour context and just not
responding in a transactionalway to your ticket. So customer
(15:15):
success has been, again, inanother focus area, I think
these are the things you know, Iwill not say these are the
decisions, but these are thevery conscious focus areas,
which we had kept throughout ourjourney has been very helpful to
us. Because, you know, as a, asa product manager, product is
never perfect on day one. Andit's never perfect, actually,
(15:36):
there is always something whichneeds to improve. But we are
very keen and very responsive toour customers and very attentive
to our customers.
Matt Wolach (15:46):
That's great. I'm so glad to hear that. You talked
about being lean, and howsomething good came out of the
pandemic of you learning how tobe lean, and you've kept that
I'm, I'm really impressed thatyou've kept that afterwards. So
I think that that's critical. Ithink so many times, especially
in the tech world, people arejust spending and they don't
realize, if we put this dollarin the machine, how many are we
(16:08):
going to get back? And reallylooking like you said, at each
dollar, I think is critical.
It's something I learned in myearly days in startups of, you
know, hey, what are we going toget out of this, if we're going
to spend this what's going toactually happen? I think the
companies who figured out ifwe're going to spend this we
will get this are the ones whothrive, the ones who just kind
of willy nilly throw moneyaround. They're the ones who
don't make it. And it's, it'svery scary. So I really
(16:31):
appreciated that, that you'redoing that. I also love the
customer success angle thatyou're taking care of your
customers? Have you seen yourchurn rate be very successful?
Because you're your customersuccess focus? And have you seen
your customers love the product?
And love the company more? Stickaround more because of that?
Sanjay Ghare (16:53):
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, because we
are so connected with customers,you know, we are able to
understand their pain points,all their pain points work
through give this additionalcomfort. And this has been one
of the most important factor inhaving John as late as possible.
Matt Wolach (17:11):
I love it. So those are some of the good things you
did? What were some of themistakes that you made? What
were some decisions that youwish you could have back?
Sanjay Ghare (17:19):
Yeah, that's a good question. So, you know, I
think, Matt, because whensomething reaches to a good
stage, probably no, it is reallyhard to think about the big
mistakes. And that's the thing,you know, I'm trying to think.
So, you know, I will not saymistakes as such. But but in
(17:40):
journey, because in my previous,you know, previous roles where I
was very focused on the productand a lot of products, I was
very clear about we were missingon marketing, we were missing on
sales. So I was very focusedhere. r&d and a constant
evolution on technology, I wouldsay we started little late in
(18:01):
the vertex journey. It shouldhave been, you know, there from
day one, I think two or threeyears down the line, the you
know, apprenticeship journey, werealized that we had to go back
to r&d. So if I have to restartall my journey Vertec, I would
make sure that the investment inthe r&d and the new trends and
(18:21):
the technology will be slightlymore from the day one, which we
eventually did after two and ahalf years.
Matt Wolach (18:30):
Got it? Got it. So how do you see your company
evolving and growing over thenext five years?
Sanjay Ghare (18:36):
That's a beautiful question. So, you know, in last
five years, Matt, we have kindof, you know, put ourselves in
front of everyone's travelecosystem now knows us as an
option. You know, we are there,everyone knows us. We know
people can use us in next fiveyears, I want to change this
(18:57):
perception from you know, beingan option to the number one
option. Okay? So if todaysomeone is going for a
smartphone, I think iPhone isthe number one choice, it's very
clear, there is no doubt aboutit, no one is going to argue
about it. We just want to bethat iPhone of the mapping
industry, that we become thenumber one preferred choice.
(19:20):
People buy it or not, forreasons, like you know, cost or
any other is fine. But we wantto make sure that everyone
agrees and feel we are thenumber one choice for customers.
So we want you to take ourproduct to the level we want to
take our customer success to alevel where we become a
(19:41):
preferred option than just beingan option.
Matt Wolach (19:46):
I love that. And so, as a leader, are you making
sure the whole team sees thatvision and how do you make sure
everybody's on the same page?
Sanjay Ghare (19:54):
Yeah, so you know, I think that's that's the beauty
being us. startup and being aSaaS company and we are small
team, really, really everyone isa leader here. That means, you
know, what happens is, annuallyevery year when we start, we
actually start with ourfinancial goals. And then we
start with our product goals.
And then when we do and annualOpSite, with the entire company,
(20:17):
everyone in the company, eventhe intern will come on stage
and talk about what he or she isgoing to achieve in next one
year. So really, really, all ofour things are very transparent,
where the goals and whateveryone is going to do is
decided by them in the overallecosystem and overall goals. So
we have such meetings quarterlyreview, to check the status
(20:41):
against things. Whereas we havemonthly all hands meeting where
we talk about the same numbers.
And we have seen KPIs, it isabout accuracy of the mappings,
it is about the percentage ofthe mappings, it is about the
revenue, we have grown this, youknow, this month, month on
month, we only talk about thoseKPIs in all, all the groups very
(21:05):
openly so everyone is alignedtowards the same thing.
Matt Wolach (21:09):
I love that I think it's so smart to be able to do
that and get everybody focusedtowards the same goal. So this
has been a lot of fun learningabout how you guys have done
this, Sanjay, what other advicewould you give to early stage
and new SAS founders who aregetting started and want to
follow your path to get to anexit?
Sanjay Ghare (21:25):
Yeah, I think you know, so I would say no Getting
started is the most important.
So if you aspired of doingsomething, the only thing which
is stopping you is you know,just not doing it. So I would
say just start doing it. On theway you will find a way out. I
think the only thing which yourequire for building a
(21:47):
successful company is makingsure you have the right leaders
or right co founders and youbuild the right team. Ideas can
be tweaked ideas can be changed.
You know, but you know, right.
If you have a right team, don'twait. Just get started. Things
will follow.
Matt Wolach (22:08):
I love it. Well, Sanjay, this has been really
awesome learning about you. Howcan our audience learn more
about you and Viva tech?
Sanjay Ghare (22:16):
Be I think you know, me and even overtake both
are very active on LinkedIn. Soif you can follow or take on
LinkedIn, as well as follow meon LinkedIn, that's the best
place to be connected and, youknow, be updated.
Matt Wolach (22:30):
Okay, perfect.
We'll make sure we put that intothe show notes. And as well as
in the description if you'rewatching on YouTube, but Sanjay,
thank you so much for coming onthe show and sharing all this.
This has been great.
Sanjay Ghare (22:41):
It was lovely, man. Lovely talking to you.
Thank you for having me. Thanksa lot.
Matt Wolach (22:45):
You're welcome. It was lovely having you here as
well and everybody else outthere watching and listening.
Thank you for being here to onceagain, make sure you're
subscribed to the channel and weare looking for reviews. If you
think this is helpful. And allthese episodes and these
interviews are good, pleasereview us and put that out there
that shows other people thatthis is something that can help
them as well. Once again, thankyou very much for coming, and
(23:05):
we'll see you next time. Takecare, and
Intro/ Outro (23:10):
thanks for listening to Scale Your SaaS.
For more help on finding greatleads and closing more deals. Go
to Mattwolach.com
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