September 8, 2024 • 40 mins
🎙️ In this episode of the Startups Dil Se Podcast, we dive into the world of AI-powered account management and sales with the innovative father-daughter duo behind Kaboom.ai.
Our guests:
Don't forget to subscribe to Startups Dil Se Podcast for more exciting discussions on innovation, business, and technology!
Our guests:
- Ram Ganesan: A seasoned entrepreneur with a knack for identifying market gaps
- Anoushka Ramkumar: A fresh Yale graduate taking on a leadership role in tech
- The genesis of Kaboom.ai and its mission to revolutionize account management
- How AI is being leveraged to unlock revenue from existing customer accounts
- Ram's journey through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship
- Anoushka's transition from Ivy League halls to the fast-paced world of tech startups
- The unique dynamics of a father-daughter partnership in business
- Vision, decision-making processes, and future plans for Kaboom.ai
- The challenges of building an AI platform in the competitive sales tech landscape
- Balancing family ties with professional ambitions
- The potential of AI to transform how businesses approach customer relationships
- Insights into the entrepreneurial mindset across generations
Don't forget to subscribe to Startups Dil Se Podcast for more exciting discussions on innovation, business, and technology!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I want another less so startup today. I'm your co
host Pretty Gore alongside Campy. For today, we welcome Rahman
and from kaboom Ai. So let's dive into it. Ram,
why don't you pick us up with an introduction and
a bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thanks for having us with you and Anthony, It's wonderful
to be on startup, Dell saying, and I'm coming to
hear from sunny and pleasant New York City. UH, and
that's where kaboom ai is based. We are in New
York City and proud of New York startup uh in
the applatee space and and I we are co founders
(00:52):
trying to build the next best thing in B two
B applyed ai for sales.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hi, everyone, it's great to be here. Thank you Vivi
and Anthony for the opportunity. I'm an Ushka. I run
product and operations at kaboom Ai, and I'm really excited
to be here and talk.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
To you about what we're working on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Awesome, welcome your book and for the audience. Right, we
have a father Doo hair here which is which is
incredible to see.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
So that's an amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Opportunity for us to as well explore any do you
want to kick off a question?
Speaker 6 (01:26):
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, you guys will
serve as inspiration for my daughter as well. Someday we'll
we'll do something together. She's still in middle school though, anyway,
So let's just jump in dram I mean, you said
applied AI. And in the world of AI today everyone
has an AI startup, Right, Why did you choose to
(01:49):
do something with applied AI in the B two B
space especially, And what was your inspiration to do Kaboom
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, so the distillation of the Kaboom idea.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
Is a lived experience for me. Right.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So I am an engineer. My background, and I would
say a good part of my professional career was essentially
running engineering teams. And then I started my previous venture,
Surian Technologies in twenty twelve.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
And the one thing that I really struggled was.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
With sales, and over the years, through trial and error,
through some hard lessons, through some training, and through some
I would say osmosis, I picked up the skill behind sales, right,
And so a lot of what is being delivered as
part of Kaboom is really the convergence of that lived
(02:44):
experience in terms of how can sales be done better?
But really with the application of AI based technologies, which
is really a timely confluence, I would say, you know,
the commoditization and democratization of data science, machine learning, AI,
generally AI, et cetera. The timing couldn't be better, right,
(03:05):
So it's really a convergence of a lived experience for
me and the world of AI as it's evolving and
changing so many things around us today.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
That is great because by the way.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Versus Logan out there, he's our four year old Shibao
and he might have an opinion or two from time
to time, so.
Speaker 8 (03:29):
Just keep in mind with that he's already be expressing
himself perfect. So one of the things that you said
struck me there. I mean, and I hear this in
common with a lot of founders, right where if they
do a startup based on a paint point that they
live through, you know that that that is really something
(03:51):
to build off of.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
And in your case, I mean, you've basically tried to
solve for that with with Kaboom and coming from the
enterprise sale, the B to B sales or business development world. Myself,
I mean, I hear the pain, right, and so maybe
we just clarify this for the audience, right when me
say sales, I mean you're obviously talking about once you
(04:14):
get into an account, how do you mind that account better?
How do you make sure you're not leaving any opportunities
on the table? How do you make sure your relationship
is stop notch Maybe Anushka, there's a question for you
as the person behind the product itself, I mean, how
do you take all those into account and try to
(04:37):
build that into Cabo?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So, from a lot of our I guess calls and
conversations with people in the industry, you know, we're not
trying to just base our product solely based off of
Brohm's experience, right, So we spoke to plenty of other
people in the industry about their pain points in account management,
and we found that a lot of it is heavily manual,
(05:01):
So most of it is done through Excel or other
sorts of you know, just document management, and the rest
is through emails and calls and maybe chat messages depending
on the nature of the relationship.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And we found that.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That is a boatload of data that can be used
to actually uncover meaningful insights.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Which is not really being done right now.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So the idea is essentially to take all of this
data between customer interactions about the nature of a customer
relationship and really use that to uncover analytics and insights
into how a salesperson or an account manager can be
a better account manager.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
And we call these nudges.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So this is really where the magic happens for kaboo, right,
and to a point, and your clarification before kaboom is
not specifically for sales. Even within sales, it tries to
focus on where you have.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
An existing relationship. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
What we feel is that traditional CRMs really ignore the
r part, the relationship part, and we are double clicking
into that because one of the things that I did
learn in my previous experience is that you can really
boost your numbers and your revenues by focusing solely on
(06:25):
building the relationships with your existing accounts, and that provides
an immediate boost and also a defense, if you will,
to your revenue and your growth strategy because new logos
are always hard.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
To come by.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Even if you break it into a new logo, it
starts very small and it takes time for it to
become something really meaningful. And impactful to the top line
and bottom line, whereas with existing accounts, many times what
happens is that we ignore some very obvious opportunities and
very obvious areas where we.
Speaker 7 (06:59):
Can truly boost growth.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And those are the areas that Kaboo looks to automate with.
Really that confluence or that convergence of structured and unstructured
data right in today's computational power that we can get
with all these GPUs and data centers and tensorflows out there,
is that you can truly make magic happen with structured
(07:23):
data on one side, which is your traditional workflow and spreadsheets.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
And whatever else, put them into a database.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But then take all the unstructured data, be that emails,
conversations like these, et cetera, apply natural language processing, apply
AI techniques to summarize it as well as gain insight
from it, and then be able to bring those two
together to enhance the light or to enable the account
(07:50):
executive to do better.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
And that's what Kabo endeavors to do.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
That's really good to know. I have to ask, this
is a very impressive name. How did you guys even
come about this?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So we wanted something that rolled out the tongue that
was explosive and catchy, no pun intended, right, So we
went through a branding exercise and we looked at a
few things from Bada bing Baba boom booom itself, right,
some of those URLs were taken and we converged on
(08:24):
kaboo and actually the more than the brand name, I
think the real backstory here is the fight that we
had to do to actually get the kaboom dot ai
ur l because, as you know, dot ai domains are
much more tougher to come by now, they're like the dot.
Speaker 7 (08:43):
Coms like a few years before.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So kaboom dot ai was on an auction at some
weird hour of the night and there were three people
bidding for it, right and every time, and being an
early stage startup, we put like twenty five bucks up
for it, right, and we had an upper limit and
I'm not going to say what that number was, but
it were truly the upper limit for us, for our
(09:07):
for our pockets at that time, and we were pushed
all the way to the upper limit and beyond, right,
and these guys were out there, I'm guessing they're just
domain sharks or whatever it is, right, they're just outbidding
us every time by fifty bucks, right, and.
Speaker 7 (09:24):
We're starting to lose heart.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
But fortunately when we hit the upper limit, they just
politely bowed out and for a moment. So that's how
we had to win that domain name. Otherwise we would
have had to find a new name for the company.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Pretty cool.
Speaker 9 (09:38):
I think this is this is the part of the
startups that people don't realize, right, So the small things
also take that investment and you know, hustle to get
But that's great. So I think at least for me,
I know, you guys at the early stages, how has
the journey.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Been so far, and they want to take that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
It's been a lot of fun. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I recently graduated from university, and I think working on
this part time as a side project had been semi serious.
But I think when we really kind of realized that
this is full time and this is our this is
this is everything to us, it really kicked in. You know,
all of the pressure and all of the excitement at
(10:22):
the same time.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
So I've been really enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I think, especially as a new graduate, it's a great
opportunity to explore various aspects of a business from operations
to even uiux design of course development work, and you know,
it's been a blast.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I think in more traditional.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Roles, especially entry level roles, I would have probably not
gotten this level of level of exposure. So I've had
a lot of fun, and of course there are good
days and there are bad days. So we're we're just
kind of excited to keep things going forward and keep progressing.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you, Insha.
You're coming from Yale yet, I mean that's where you graduated. Yeah,
I mean, you could have gone in a thousand different
directions out of college and instead you chose to Inspiration.
But I mean, looks like you were working on this
part time even before you came out of college, and
you chose to continue on that journey.
Speaker 7 (11:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So we'd kind of ideated on it for a bit
last year, and we started kind of the initial sort
of groundwork of finding a company name and coming up
with ideas as to what we're trying to build, and
then of course exploring product level conversations with various people
in the industry, and when we kind of realized that
(11:43):
this is something that we wanted to pursue full time,
it was very close to when I was about to graduate,
So it was very divine timing, I guess for me,
and I realized that it was a better opportunity than
you know, looking for a job. And I'd always known
that I'd want to be in startups in some capacity.
I'd worked in venture capital before this, and you know,
(12:05):
of course it's in my blood to be an entrepreneur.
So I just figured that it was kind of the
right place, right time for both of us to come
together and work on something, especially as Mom was at
the tail end of his previous entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Perfect that's a great segue.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I meant, yeah, I really think that the journey for
an entrepreneur, as I forget which book it's written in,
it's ninety.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Percent terror and ten percent euphoria.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I think it's always the case, but I think doing
this the second time around, I feel there's a better balance.
I would still say it's a fifty to fifty mix
between the two, and maybe not as enhanced on both sides.
But you know, the day to day grind of a
startup is something that you know, the stories don't get
written about, right.
Speaker 7 (12:58):
Everybody wants to.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Hear the glamorous or for that matter, of the scary
part of it. But there is a lot of day
to day grind that really goes into conceiving the company,
the culture, the product, the technology, and also.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
The sales side totally. So Ron, let's talk about your
journey itself before Kaboom, right. I mean, I don't know
if you told me on the phone when we spoke.
I mean, you know, even in your childhood growing up
in Mumbai, you told me you are sort of a tinkerer, right,
you would open up things and try to fix them
(13:35):
or break them and that sort of thing. I mean,
so from then on to your previous company to this one,
I mean, how much of the growth you've seen in
yourself or how much has your mindset changed in terms
of starting a company from the first one to this one,
and anythings that you learned the hard way that you
(13:56):
wouldn't do in Kaboom.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
Absolutely, I think that's a very relevant question.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And I wish I knew so many things that I
know now right from pure having trial and error, and
in many ways I have also met a lot of
interesting mentors along the way who'll being able to.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
Pass down some of that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But every journey for every entrepreneur is unique, right, and
this second chapter has its own uniqueness in the sense
that we're starting something from scratch.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
My co founder is.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Far more than two decades younger than me, and you
know that brings a completely different set of perspectives. But
going back to the past, right, I've always been an
engineer at heart.
Speaker 7 (14:43):
When it comes to.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
My early childhood, I would open up the radio or
the cassette player, or you know, i'd graduate into actually
opening up the TV back back home in India, Mumbai
when I was growing up.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
And then I went to engineering school and.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Kind of kept up with it and then kind of
gravitated towards software. And you know, I would say a
conservative path of employment, and then it could tell that
something wasn't right. Dabbled with a few I would say
company ideas, but never really understood what it meant to
conceive or create of a company until my late thirties,
(15:25):
you know, when you know, my career was going perfectly.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Fine and I was just on track to become CTO
or cio.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
In you know, an e commerce type of business set
up in the background. But I realized that that that
was not me. You know, I wanted to do something
of my own, and I just was very fortunate to
have a former employer support me through that process. Right,
(15:56):
So the McCann brothers had one hundred flowers very supportive
in the initial phases of my previous venture, Surry and Technologies,
and we we learned a lot. We built a company
that grew from strength to strength, you know, went through
a lot of trial and error. And the one area
(16:17):
that I was struggling with was sales. I hired salespeople,
I tried to attract salespeople as partners, I tried to
hire salespeople as mentors, et cetera. And I just couldn't
get it right. For seven years, I struggled with it,
but we did keep up with the growth, right, called
(16:39):
that lot, called that good work that we did on
the customer service, on the delivery side. We kept growing
and then we made Ink five hundred, and we made
Deloitte Fast five hundred, and so we started get some
getting some inbound action for companies that were looking to
invest in us or buy us out. And then we
(16:59):
join hands with a company that's now known as in Kor.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
It was called Intercom before.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
In twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, but we joined in Cora
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
They're backed by private equity.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Or with Canadmin International, and that was a great validation
of what we were setting out to do. But along
with that, we also had signed up for some very
aggressive growth targets, right.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
That was part of our.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Acquisition criteria that we had to make certain.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Numbers within a very certain timeframe. And that's what led
to a very deep exploration.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
On my part and my team's part to understand what
can we do with what we know about sales without
necessarily adding to cost or just hiring more people and
again experimenting with it that we can do to move
the needle on sales right. And that's where we converged
upon the playbook of account manage right, and we realized
(18:02):
that there is gold in your backyard, right that if
you focus on your existing relationships but you applied different
leads to it, it creates magic. It creates results within
a very specified timeframe. Of course, you can't just keep
doing that right, because you still need new customers to
add to the kitty so that the pool or the
(18:24):
pie keeps growing bigger. But that was the experience that
I would say was the most rewarding of all. Of course,
you know, we got acquired, we made our numbers and
everything else. But the learning that we got from that process, right,
and that I got from that process is something that
is invaluable from a pure personal experience standpoint right, And
(18:49):
that's the learning that I'm taking onwards to. I would
say the next set of ideas that we're calling, at least.
Speaker 9 (18:58):
Like for me right play much in the sales space,
but I know there are bigger players, at least with
the CRM. So how does kamploe may I capture that market?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
What is the area you guys are going after?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
What is what's that looking like?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
So we kind of live in between several tech stacks.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
The idea is that account management.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Already uses a very broad tool set from sales to
delivery to finance management, and we try to bridge all
of that together within our platform with our various integrations.
The idea being that we don't want to necessarily require
customers to replace an existing tool with Gaboom, but use
(19:44):
it as a compliment, especially to the CRM. So we
integrate with all major CRMs salesforce hubspots, Oho, CRM, and
we kind of live on top of it where you know,
and we live where you live. So our nudges are,
you know, these smart insights that come into you anytime
between once a day or a couple of times a week,
depending on your user configurations, and they come to you
(20:09):
either in your slack messages or your email in box
and you know soon to be in your text messages.
And the idea is that, you know, we don't want
to really necessarily be an additional tool, but rather live
where you live. So if you're looking for an additional
kind of dashboard or UI, we have that, but we
(20:29):
also come.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
To where you are. So you know, we understand that.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It's a competitive space, but we believe that, you know,
there's still a meaningful gap and account management that's not
being addressed by incumbents.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
And the key thing is it will directly impact revenue.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Right, We sincerely believe in that this is not just
a tool that adds to the already crowded space of
tools that you have on your repertoire.
Speaker 7 (20:56):
As a salesperson.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Right, we believe that the nudge, which is promote certain
level of productive and proactive actions by the account exec
and it doesn't interfere with that day because it lives
where they live, So it will come to you in
the form of a Slack notification or in the form
of an email, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
So it just adds value to you in.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The background while you're continuing to service your account. So
our goal is never to automate the human out of
the equation, but to really add more power in the
hands of the human without.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Necessarily creating additional work for them.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
So we really feel that that's something that we've thought
through well and we want our users to experience that.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
So speaking of the users, I mean, I think simply put,
at least in my head coming from the biz dev world,
we call them farmers. We call them hunters, right, I mean,
so this is more for the farmer use case and
the CRMs of the world kind of to more broadly
(22:01):
the hunter use cases, right I mean, And for the
farmer I mean, who's on the ground, you know, trying
to reap every opportunity in the account. I mean, this
is the tool, because I'm in the CRM for the
most part, doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose for
the person wearing the account manager hat. So to speak
(22:25):
of a client partner hat right? I mean, did I
say that?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Right?
Speaker 7 (22:28):
Absolutely? I think you couldn't have put it better, right?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
A hunter farmer very easy to understand from a jargon perspective, right,
But clearly it's for the person who has been given
a portfolio of accounts and needs to be able to
prioritize their time and not necessarily just pursue a specific opportunity.
The hunter is typically chasing a very specific opportunity or
(22:52):
a person, whereas the farmer has to kind of look
at their portfolio of contacts as well as the accounts
be able to prioritize. And what happens is that this
prioritization is a very imperfect exercise when it's done on.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
A spreadsheet, or even worse.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
When it's done on email or you know, what should
I do today?
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Or who should I call today? Mindset?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
So what kaboom does is really organize all of that
for you so that you do not ignore any of
your relationships. You're able to give everybody a bit of
your valve in a meaningful manner, and then to drop
it any of that grunt work that you typically have
to do as a farmer. A lot of it Kaboom
takes away, right, so that then you can just focus
(23:36):
on what you are there for is to really nurture
those relationships and thereby increase the revenue and attain your
revenue targets.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Perfect, And can I ask you, I mean, obviously I
come from the tech sales side. I mean, but I
think the way you're describing it, this doesn't have to
be just tech sales.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I mean, So we started kaboom and costed on professional
services so that we can get one set of industries, right,
but I feel that it's extendable. So the current set
of companies that we're targeting are tech services, software enterprise
software SaaS companies, marketing agencies, digital agencies, AD agencies, management consulting.
(24:20):
So anybody where there is an SOW type of engagement
is where we are targeting. But we feel that the
world of B to B sales and B to B
account management expands into other industries like financial services, asset
management companies or alternative investment companies et cetera. Investment management
(24:44):
companies that are B to B relationships, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
Again you're catering to hospitals and providers and large B
two B transactions. So wherever there is a complex B
to B transaction involved, we believe KABOOMEI can ad it clear.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Thank you. I think the next thing I wanted to
ask is what are you guys in terms of just
the overall company progress itself? I mean, what do you
plan to do next?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, we We've definitely been kind of heads down on
product for the majority of this year, and the goal
is to kind of break into our first few customers
by the end of this year. We're fortunate to have
a few design partners working with us to kind of
mature the product and make it as valuable as possible
(25:36):
so that when we go out to market to actively
sell it, it will be something that really wells people.
So for the most part, just been kind of heads
down focused on building this and making it making it valuable.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Are you taking in any beta users and step.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
That's what I meant by design partners.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
We have a couple of companies that are using the
product for free and providing us as feedback.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
It's an interesting phase we're in.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right, We've got all the infrastructural pieces of the company ready, right,
legal entities, basic marketing, presence, basic presence on social media.
We have kind of put together, coupled together a design
and engineering team, an additional in addition to the core
(26:26):
founding team, if you will. So we're heads down currently
building out the product, rolling it and putting in the
hands of prospective customers and getting that initial feedback. And
we're trying to be careful to calibrate that right, Like
we don't want to go too fast and kind of
crash and burn, and at the same time, we don't
(26:49):
want to be too slow that we've become too boring from.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
A progress perspective, or we just run out of runway. Right.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So far it's been good, but it's always a fine
tuning exercise. Every day we ask each other are we
on the right track? What should we be focusing on?
Should I be selling more aggressively or should I be
kind of toning it down and focusing on the one
or two people that are in the pipeline and really
getting them locked down and fully bought in and delighted
with the product, right, And it's always that is the
(27:19):
typical zero to one challenge that most early stage startups face, right.
But the other thing that is really serving as a
guiding light for me, here is some of my past
experience and also my access from a network perspective to
some very seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
Who are helping us calibrate that progress.
Speaker 9 (27:39):
So we as we have our community here with Gustoer's pieces,
what can the community do for you?
Speaker 5 (27:46):
What are you looking forward?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
The help? Need it?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So right now, at this very moment, we're looking for
feedback on the concept, the product, understanding how to position it.
I think Anthony self, having been on the user side
of this industry before, has given me some invaluable feedback
that we've already kind of molded over and seen how
(28:13):
we can include it into the product roadmap. So things
like that is what we need immediately. But I think
the key thing that we also need is to be
able to find that balance as to when do we
go out and seek funding versus continue to do it
on our own. Right, Being a second time entrepreneur gives
(28:34):
me a lot of luxuries, but at the same time,
you know, it's our resources are not infinite, right. We
definitely need help either from paying customers who will give
us that traction, or from investors who understand what we're
setting out to do.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
What our cultural.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Fit is as well as you know what the vision
for kaboom AI is right, and to be able to
selectively get to that right community for us is very
is very important. So if I were to sequence that,
I would say customers who are willing and able to
try Kaboom at a highly discounted price but to use
(29:15):
it and give us real feedback would be number one
in priority, followed by investors, angels or bcs who have
a real alignment with our vision and mission and are
able to add rocket fuel to Kaboom would be what used.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
That's great. So I always ask startups with co founders
you know two or more about decision making process? I mean,
and in this case, you know both of your family
as well. I mean, how do you guys come to
an agreement on resolving conflicts? I mean if you have
a different point of view on doing a certain feature
(29:54):
or making a decision, I mean, have you both figured
out a way to kind of iron out those differ instance.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
It's very simple and makes all the decisions. I just
I just follow her lead.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
You should say whether that's right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
I mean I think that we have a very strong
I guess debating culture at Kaboom, where you know, we
like to give everybody a stage to voice their opinion.
And between the two of us, I think usually how
it goes is that if there's a strong disagreement, I'm
(30:30):
always right, and if it's a you know, it's a
small matter, then I let wrong win.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
That's going to go in double quotes with.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
Far from the truth.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Right, Like Anushka being, I guess a fresh crat and
I guess very mission focused for this time is a
lot more forceful in terms of the questions or the
accountability that she introduces to this being, I would say
(31:04):
more seasoned and experienced. For me tends to I take
things a little with the flow of things, but she
holds me, holds my feet to the fire, right.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
So sometimes.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I definitely lean in on that youthful energy and that
eagerness to get things done. And I think hopefully I'm
adding my experience and my knowledge from having been there
once to the mix.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Right.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
So it's a real healthy balance.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
But I would say the decision is not The decision
making is not just limited to just the two of us, right.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
There's other people involved in engineering.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Product and design who have different roles and they form
part of our extended Kabuon family.
Speaker 7 (31:53):
Right now, it's very.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Low key, but I think everybody's opinion does matter, and
that is one thing that we will con tenure to
foster as a company culture that everybody's opinion, point of
view and perspective is taken into account as we evolve
as a company, because that's what would really make us
grow explosives perfect.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
I was going to add to one of the points
you mentioned about, you know, different stages of career, you know,
Anushka being a fresh grad and all that.
Speaker 7 (32:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
I mean I think about it as well. I mean,
when I'm in the hiring process and somebody with five
years of experience comes in, their thought process of how
to do account management is totally different from what say
around you and I would have done for the past
fifteen years or twenty years, right, So I think the
systems also have to change.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
With the times, right.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I mean, for example, if text message is the best
way of reaching out to a client, I mean, you
and I probably wouldn't have thought about that ten years ago.
We probably would have stood by the executive assistant asking
can I speak to that client for five minutes? You know,
that would have been our mindset versus you know, in
today's world, people text somebody or say, oh, I'm an
Instagram friend with this particular client, can I message him
(33:08):
or her on Instagram? All of those dynamics are going
to come in, and I think we are at an
important intersection or at time I think where I think
we've got to take into account all the new trends
in the world, all the new trends on the Internet,
and the different ways in which at the end of
the day, I think, like you rightly said, it's a relationship,
(33:31):
but how we build that relationship has changed or continuously evolved.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Absolutely, we grew up in an age of you know,
data starvation, Anthony, you know, so we had to we
had to deal with that, right, So our goal was
to converge on the data the current generation and we're
part of that.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Right is that we are.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
In a data deluge right now, right so there's too
much data and we're trying to make sense of it,
and that's where we want to So the summarization technologies
of Kaboom in conjunction with structured data is where we
feel that the account executive will really feel empowered and
enabled right, and that's the problem you're looking to solve,
(34:11):
and the more people work with it, they'll see the
method in our madness in terms of what it is.
And because it's a lived experience, I'm confident that it's
going to create incremental and meaningful revenue opportunities.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
For all farmers and account executives alike. So that's that's
the promise.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
Of Obviously, you're using a lot of data from what
I understood based on what you said in Nishka and
Ram and I spoke earlier as well.
Speaker 7 (34:41):
I mean you.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
Probably could use access to as much as inputs as possible, right,
I mean, whether it's your calendar information or your email
or Slack or whatnot. And whenever I mean you need AI,
I mean you need good input as well. And hand
in hand goes to as I mean, how much of
my private information are you reading through this? How are
(35:05):
you handling that inherently in the product, and what is
your point of view on just privacy overall when it
comes to Kaboom.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, So without getting too technical, I can say that
you know, we're extremely privacy and security forward. I think
integrity in those two aspects is at the core of
who we are and what we're building, so we like
to be very flexible in terms of what the user
would like to consent to. So, for example, in our integrations,
(35:39):
the user can or cannot. The user can choose to
or choose not to integrate their email calendar or enable
our meeting bot. It just kind of depends on the
level of data they're comfortable with exposing to Kaboom. On
top of that, we only read data that is associated
(36:00):
with the accounts and the contacts that are being tracked
in Kaboom, So internal interactions or accounts that are not
being tracked in Kaboom will not show up in our
data and we will not even process it. So you know,
we we are extremely kind of focused on making sure
that the user is comfortable with whatever we're ingesting, and
(36:21):
of course we work with open AI on you know,
processing all of this data. But the user can also
choose to bring their own llm N point to connect
to Kaboom. So if they have a private endpoint in
their enterprise organization they can use to they can choose
to use that instead, so, you know, extremely flexible and
(36:43):
open to different variations of the data ingestion. It's kind
of just up to the organization.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
And even at this nation stage, we're already working on
SOP two and is twenty seven one accreditation, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (36:58):
We are well on our way for that, right.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
So our security posture is really very proactive, and we
do understand that we're sitting on a lot of I
would say data privacy and data security concerns, and we
want to be able to address them in a very
proactive manner as a team and as a company.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Perfect. I think that's a very convincing answer. Obviously you're
evolving as well, right, I mean as and when you know,
different industries have different regulatory requirements as well, and I'm
sure you can tweak and cater to them.
Speaker 7 (37:33):
But that's a great start, Absolutely awesome.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
So, Ram and Anushka, anything else you feel like you
want to get out there that we've not asked you?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
No, just I would say a personal comment here, right,
I think the biggest reward for me is being able
to co found something with family.
Speaker 7 (37:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Most next generation businesses are usually the children joining their
parents' business. Right here, we're actually truly co founding something
from scratch. So it's a very different journey and a
very rewarding experience on its own right.
Speaker 7 (38:11):
So for me, I feel already rewarded having embarked on
this chair.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
I would say the same for myself.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I think I mentioned earlier that you know, this is
a really fantastic convergence of I guess timing for the
two of us, and it is also just a great
opportunity for me to be able to learn so much
at such a rapid pace. So I'm really grateful to
be able to work with my dad. And while it
is an unconventional setup, I think we're both very comfortable with,
(38:39):
you know, being one hundred percent honest with each other
and having those uncomfortable conversations. And you know, I think
it'll be a long journey ahead, but I think it
will be extremely rewarding.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
Does your mom complain that you give too much of
your time to your dad?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I think it's an interesting kind of dynamic.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
It's very different from before before we started this, But
I think we do a very good job of avoiding
talking shop when we're around the rest of our family.
So when we're around my brother and around my mom,
it's all family time.
Speaker 6 (39:14):
That's awesome. So I think from Riddy's perspective. In my perspective,
great to have you on. You're the first that daughter
combo on our podcast. I mean, hopefully you're an inspiration
to many people out there who want to do this
and wish you guys all the very best with Kaboom
and anyone who comes on our show and were obviously
(39:37):
route for you guys, I mean you're here number one
because I mean we think you have a cool idea,
but all the very best to you. Hopefully we'll have
you when you become a unicorn or something, right, so
maybe sooner than that.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
All the best, Yeah, awesome, that's the goal. That's good.
Speaker 7 (39:53):
Pleasure to meet y'all.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Have a great evening you too,
I want another less so startup today. I'm your co
host Pretty Gore alongside Campy. For today, we welcome Rahman
and from kaboom Ai. So let's dive into it. Ram,
why don't you pick us up with an introduction and
a bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Thanks for having us with you and Anthony, It's wonderful
to be on startup, Dell saying, and I'm coming to
hear from sunny and pleasant New York City. UH, and
that's where kaboom ai is based. We are in New
York City and proud of New York startup uh in
the applatee space and and I we are co founders
(00:52):
trying to build the next best thing in B two
B applyed ai for sales.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hi, everyone, it's great to be here. Thank you Vivi
and Anthony for the opportunity. I'm an Ushka. I run
product and operations at kaboom Ai, and I'm really excited
to be here and talk.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
To you about what we're working on.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Awesome, welcome your book and for the audience. Right, we
have a father Doo hair here which is which is
incredible to see.
Speaker 5 (01:19):
So that's an amazing.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Opportunity for us to as well explore any do you
want to kick off a question?
Speaker 6 (01:26):
Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, you guys will
serve as inspiration for my daughter as well. Someday we'll
we'll do something together. She's still in middle school though, anyway,
So let's just jump in dram I mean, you said
applied AI. And in the world of AI today everyone
has an AI startup, Right, Why did you choose to
(01:49):
do something with applied AI in the B two B
space especially, And what was your inspiration to do Kaboom
in the first place.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, so the distillation of the Kaboom idea.
Speaker 7 (02:04):
Is a lived experience for me. Right.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So I am an engineer. My background, and I would
say a good part of my professional career was essentially
running engineering teams. And then I started my previous venture,
Surian Technologies in twenty twelve.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
And the one thing that I really struggled was.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
With sales, and over the years, through trial and error,
through some hard lessons, through some training, and through some
I would say osmosis, I picked up the skill behind sales, right,
And so a lot of what is being delivered as
part of Kaboom is really the convergence of that lived
(02:44):
experience in terms of how can sales be done better?
But really with the application of AI based technologies, which
is really a timely confluence, I would say, you know,
the commoditization and democratization of data science, machine learning, AI,
generally AI, et cetera. The timing couldn't be better, right,
(03:05):
So it's really a convergence of a lived experience for
me and the world of AI as it's evolving and
changing so many things around us today.
Speaker 6 (03:17):
That is great because by the way.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Versus Logan out there, he's our four year old Shibao
and he might have an opinion or two from time
to time, so.
Speaker 8 (03:29):
Just keep in mind with that he's already be expressing
himself perfect. So one of the things that you said
struck me there. I mean, and I hear this in
common with a lot of founders, right where if they
do a startup based on a paint point that they
live through, you know that that that is really something
(03:51):
to build off of.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
And in your case, I mean, you've basically tried to
solve for that with with Kaboom and coming from the
enterprise sale, the B to B sales or business development world. Myself,
I mean, I hear the pain, right, and so maybe
we just clarify this for the audience, right when me
say sales, I mean you're obviously talking about once you
(04:14):
get into an account, how do you mind that account better?
How do you make sure you're not leaving any opportunities
on the table? How do you make sure your relationship
is stop notch Maybe Anushka, there's a question for you
as the person behind the product itself, I mean, how
do you take all those into account and try to
(04:37):
build that into Cabo?
Speaker 1 (04:38):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
So, from a lot of our I guess calls and
conversations with people in the industry, you know, we're not
trying to just base our product solely based off of
Brohm's experience, right, So we spoke to plenty of other
people in the industry about their pain points in account management,
and we found that a lot of it is heavily manual,
(05:01):
So most of it is done through Excel or other
sorts of you know, just document management, and the rest
is through emails and calls and maybe chat messages depending
on the nature of the relationship.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
And we found that.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That is a boatload of data that can be used
to actually uncover meaningful insights.
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Which is not really being done right now.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So the idea is essentially to take all of this
data between customer interactions about the nature of a customer
relationship and really use that to uncover analytics and insights
into how a salesperson or an account manager can be
a better account manager.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
And we call these nudges.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
So this is really where the magic happens for kaboo, right,
and to a point, and your clarification before kaboom is
not specifically for sales. Even within sales, it tries to
focus on where you have.
Speaker 7 (06:00):
An existing relationship. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
What we feel is that traditional CRMs really ignore the
r part, the relationship part, and we are double clicking
into that because one of the things that I did
learn in my previous experience is that you can really
boost your numbers and your revenues by focusing solely on
(06:25):
building the relationships with your existing accounts, and that provides
an immediate boost and also a defense, if you will,
to your revenue and your growth strategy because new logos
are always hard.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
To come by.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Even if you break it into a new logo, it
starts very small and it takes time for it to
become something really meaningful. And impactful to the top line
and bottom line, whereas with existing accounts, many times what
happens is that we ignore some very obvious opportunities and
very obvious areas where we.
Speaker 7 (06:59):
Can truly boost growth.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
And those are the areas that Kaboo looks to automate with.
Really that confluence or that convergence of structured and unstructured
data right in today's computational power that we can get
with all these GPUs and data centers and tensorflows out there,
is that you can truly make magic happen with structured
(07:23):
data on one side, which is your traditional workflow and spreadsheets.
Speaker 7 (07:26):
And whatever else, put them into a database.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
But then take all the unstructured data, be that emails,
conversations like these, et cetera, apply natural language processing, apply
AI techniques to summarize it as well as gain insight
from it, and then be able to bring those two
together to enhance the light or to enable the account
(07:50):
executive to do better.
Speaker 7 (07:51):
And that's what Kabo endeavors to do.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
That's really good to know. I have to ask, this
is a very impressive name. How did you guys even
come about this?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
So we wanted something that rolled out the tongue that
was explosive and catchy, no pun intended, right, So we
went through a branding exercise and we looked at a
few things from Bada bing Baba boom booom itself, right,
some of those URLs were taken and we converged on
(08:24):
kaboo and actually the more than the brand name, I
think the real backstory here is the fight that we
had to do to actually get the kaboom dot ai
ur l because, as you know, dot ai domains are
much more tougher to come by now, they're like the dot.
Speaker 7 (08:43):
Coms like a few years before.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
So kaboom dot ai was on an auction at some
weird hour of the night and there were three people
bidding for it, right and every time, and being an
early stage startup, we put like twenty five bucks up
for it, right, and we had an upper limit and
I'm not going to say what that number was, but
it were truly the upper limit for us, for our
(09:07):
for our pockets at that time, and we were pushed
all the way to the upper limit and beyond, right,
and these guys were out there, I'm guessing they're just
domain sharks or whatever it is, right, they're just outbidding
us every time by fifty bucks, right, and.
Speaker 7 (09:24):
We're starting to lose heart.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
But fortunately when we hit the upper limit, they just
politely bowed out and for a moment. So that's how
we had to win that domain name. Otherwise we would
have had to find a new name for the company.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Pretty cool.
Speaker 9 (09:38):
I think this is this is the part of the
startups that people don't realize, right, So the small things
also take that investment and you know, hustle to get
But that's great. So I think at least for me,
I know, you guys at the early stages, how has
the journey.
Speaker 7 (09:54):
Been so far, and they want to take that.
Speaker 4 (09:57):
It's been a lot of fun. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I recently graduated from university, and I think working on
this part time as a side project had been semi serious.
But I think when we really kind of realized that
this is full time and this is our this is
this is everything to us, it really kicked in. You know,
all of the pressure and all of the excitement at
(10:22):
the same time.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
So I've been really enjoying it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
I think, especially as a new graduate, it's a great
opportunity to explore various aspects of a business from operations
to even uiux design of course development work, and you know,
it's been a blast.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
I think in more traditional.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Roles, especially entry level roles, I would have probably not
gotten this level of level of exposure. So I've had
a lot of fun, and of course there are good
days and there are bad days. So we're we're just
kind of excited to keep things going forward and keep progressing.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you, Insha.
You're coming from Yale yet, I mean that's where you graduated. Yeah,
I mean, you could have gone in a thousand different
directions out of college and instead you chose to Inspiration.
But I mean, looks like you were working on this
part time even before you came out of college, and
you chose to continue on that journey.
Speaker 7 (11:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
So we'd kind of ideated on it for a bit
last year, and we started kind of the initial sort
of groundwork of finding a company name and coming up
with ideas as to what we're trying to build, and
then of course exploring product level conversations with various people
in the industry, and when we kind of realized that
(11:43):
this is something that we wanted to pursue full time,
it was very close to when I was about to graduate,
So it was very divine timing, I guess for me,
and I realized that it was a better opportunity than
you know, looking for a job. And I'd always known
that I'd want to be in startups in some capacity.
I'd worked in venture capital before this, and you know,
(12:05):
of course it's in my blood to be an entrepreneur.
So I just figured that it was kind of the
right place, right time for both of us to come
together and work on something, especially as Mom was at
the tail end of his previous entrepreneurial journey as well.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Perfect that's a great segue.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
I meant, yeah, I really think that the journey for
an entrepreneur, as I forget which book it's written in,
it's ninety.
Speaker 7 (12:33):
Percent terror and ten percent euphoria.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I think it's always the case, but I think doing
this the second time around, I feel there's a better balance.
I would still say it's a fifty to fifty mix
between the two, and maybe not as enhanced on both sides.
But you know, the day to day grind of a
startup is something that you know, the stories don't get
written about, right.
Speaker 7 (12:58):
Everybody wants to.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Hear the glamorous or for that matter, of the scary
part of it. But there is a lot of day
to day grind that really goes into conceiving the company,
the culture, the product, the technology, and also.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
The sales side totally. So Ron, let's talk about your
journey itself before Kaboom, right. I mean, I don't know
if you told me on the phone when we spoke.
I mean, you know, even in your childhood growing up
in Mumbai, you told me you are sort of a tinkerer, right,
you would open up things and try to fix them
(13:35):
or break them and that sort of thing. I mean,
so from then on to your previous company to this one,
I mean, how much of the growth you've seen in
yourself or how much has your mindset changed in terms
of starting a company from the first one to this one,
and anythings that you learned the hard way that you
(13:56):
wouldn't do in Kaboom.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
Absolutely, I think that's a very relevant question.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
And I wish I knew so many things that I
know now right from pure having trial and error, and
in many ways I have also met a lot of
interesting mentors along the way who'll being able to.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
Pass down some of that knowledge.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
But every journey for every entrepreneur is unique, right, and
this second chapter has its own uniqueness in the sense
that we're starting something from scratch.
Speaker 7 (14:27):
My co founder is.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Far more than two decades younger than me, and you
know that brings a completely different set of perspectives. But
going back to the past, right, I've always been an
engineer at heart.
Speaker 7 (14:43):
When it comes to.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
My early childhood, I would open up the radio or
the cassette player, or you know, i'd graduate into actually
opening up the TV back back home in India, Mumbai
when I was growing up.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
And then I went to engineering school and.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Kind of kept up with it and then kind of
gravitated towards software. And you know, I would say a
conservative path of employment, and then it could tell that
something wasn't right. Dabbled with a few I would say
company ideas, but never really understood what it meant to
conceive or create of a company until my late thirties,
(15:25):
you know, when you know, my career was going perfectly.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
Fine and I was just on track to become CTO
or cio.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
In you know, an e commerce type of business set
up in the background. But I realized that that that
was not me. You know, I wanted to do something
of my own, and I just was very fortunate to
have a former employer support me through that process. Right,
(15:56):
So the McCann brothers had one hundred flowers very supportive
in the initial phases of my previous venture, Surry and Technologies,
and we we learned a lot. We built a company
that grew from strength to strength, you know, went through
a lot of trial and error. And the one area
(16:17):
that I was struggling with was sales. I hired salespeople,
I tried to attract salespeople as partners, I tried to
hire salespeople as mentors, et cetera. And I just couldn't
get it right. For seven years, I struggled with it,
but we did keep up with the growth, right, called
(16:39):
that lot, called that good work that we did on
the customer service, on the delivery side. We kept growing
and then we made Ink five hundred, and we made
Deloitte Fast five hundred, and so we started get some
getting some inbound action for companies that were looking to
invest in us or buy us out. And then we
(16:59):
join hands with a company that's now known as in Kor.
Speaker 7 (17:03):
It was called Intercom before.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
In twenty seventeen twenty eighteen, but we joined in Cora
in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 7 (17:10):
They're backed by private equity.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Or with Canadmin International, and that was a great validation
of what we were setting out to do. But along
with that, we also had signed up for some very
aggressive growth targets, right.
Speaker 7 (17:26):
That was part of our.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Acquisition criteria that we had to make certain.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Numbers within a very certain timeframe. And that's what led
to a very deep exploration.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
On my part and my team's part to understand what
can we do with what we know about sales without
necessarily adding to cost or just hiring more people and
again experimenting with it that we can do to move
the needle on sales right. And that's where we converged
upon the playbook of account manage right, and we realized
(18:02):
that there is gold in your backyard, right that if
you focus on your existing relationships but you applied different
leads to it, it creates magic. It creates results within
a very specified timeframe. Of course, you can't just keep
doing that right, because you still need new customers to
add to the kitty so that the pool or the
(18:24):
pie keeps growing bigger. But that was the experience that
I would say was the most rewarding of all. Of course,
you know, we got acquired, we made our numbers and
everything else. But the learning that we got from that process, right,
and that I got from that process is something that
is invaluable from a pure personal experience standpoint right, And
(18:49):
that's the learning that I'm taking onwards to. I would
say the next set of ideas that we're calling, at least.
Speaker 9 (18:58):
Like for me right play much in the sales space,
but I know there are bigger players, at least with
the CRM. So how does kamploe may I capture that market?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Like?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
What is the area you guys are going after?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
What is what's that looking like?
Speaker 3 (19:15):
So we kind of live in between several tech stacks.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
The idea is that account management.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Already uses a very broad tool set from sales to
delivery to finance management, and we try to bridge all
of that together within our platform with our various integrations.
The idea being that we don't want to necessarily require
customers to replace an existing tool with Gaboom, but use
(19:44):
it as a compliment, especially to the CRM. So we
integrate with all major CRMs salesforce hubspots, Oho, CRM, and
we kind of live on top of it where you know,
and we live where you live. So our nudges are,
you know, these smart insights that come into you anytime
between once a day or a couple of times a week,
depending on your user configurations, and they come to you
(20:09):
either in your slack messages or your email in box
and you know soon to be in your text messages.
And the idea is that, you know, we don't want
to really necessarily be an additional tool, but rather live
where you live. So if you're looking for an additional
kind of dashboard or UI, we have that, but we
(20:29):
also come.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
To where you are. So you know, we understand that.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
It's a competitive space, but we believe that, you know,
there's still a meaningful gap and account management that's not
being addressed by incumbents.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
And the key thing is it will directly impact revenue.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Right, We sincerely believe in that this is not just
a tool that adds to the already crowded space of
tools that you have on your repertoire.
Speaker 7 (20:56):
As a salesperson.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Right, we believe that the nudge, which is promote certain
level of productive and proactive actions by the account exec
and it doesn't interfere with that day because it lives
where they live, So it will come to you in
the form of a Slack notification or in the form
of an email, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
So it just adds value to you in.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
The background while you're continuing to service your account. So
our goal is never to automate the human out of
the equation, but to really add more power in the
hands of the human without.
Speaker 7 (21:28):
Necessarily creating additional work for them.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
So we really feel that that's something that we've thought
through well and we want our users to experience that.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
So speaking of the users, I mean, I think simply put,
at least in my head coming from the biz dev world,
we call them farmers. We call them hunters, right, I mean,
so this is more for the farmer use case and
the CRMs of the world kind of to more broadly
(22:01):
the hunter use cases, right I mean, And for the
farmer I mean, who's on the ground, you know, trying
to reap every opportunity in the account. I mean, this
is the tool, because I'm in the CRM for the
most part, doesn't serve a whole lot of purpose for
the person wearing the account manager hat. So to speak
(22:25):
of a client partner hat right? I mean, did I
say that?
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Right?
Speaker 7 (22:28):
Absolutely? I think you couldn't have put it better, right?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
A hunter farmer very easy to understand from a jargon perspective, right,
But clearly it's for the person who has been given
a portfolio of accounts and needs to be able to
prioritize their time and not necessarily just pursue a specific opportunity.
The hunter is typically chasing a very specific opportunity or
(22:52):
a person, whereas the farmer has to kind of look
at their portfolio of contacts as well as the accounts
be able to prioritize. And what happens is that this
prioritization is a very imperfect exercise when it's done on.
Speaker 7 (23:05):
A spreadsheet, or even worse.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
When it's done on email or you know, what should
I do today?
Speaker 7 (23:11):
Or who should I call today? Mindset?
Speaker 2 (23:13):
So what kaboom does is really organize all of that
for you so that you do not ignore any of
your relationships. You're able to give everybody a bit of
your valve in a meaningful manner, and then to drop
it any of that grunt work that you typically have
to do as a farmer. A lot of it Kaboom
takes away, right, so that then you can just focus
(23:36):
on what you are there for is to really nurture
those relationships and thereby increase the revenue and attain your
revenue targets.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Perfect, And can I ask you, I mean, obviously I
come from the tech sales side. I mean, but I
think the way you're describing it, this doesn't have to
be just tech sales.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I mean, So we started kaboom and costed on professional
services so that we can get one set of industries, right,
but I feel that it's extendable. So the current set
of companies that we're targeting are tech services, software enterprise
software SaaS companies, marketing agencies, digital agencies, AD agencies, management consulting.
(24:20):
So anybody where there is an SOW type of engagement
is where we are targeting. But we feel that the
world of B to B sales and B to B
account management expands into other industries like financial services, asset
management companies or alternative investment companies et cetera. Investment management
(24:44):
companies that are B to B relationships, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.
Again you're catering to hospitals and providers and large B
two B transactions. So wherever there is a complex B
to B transaction involved, we believe KABOOMEI can ad it clear.
Speaker 6 (25:00):
Thank you. I think the next thing I wanted to
ask is what are you guys in terms of just
the overall company progress itself? I mean, what do you
plan to do next?
Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, we We've definitely been kind of heads down on
product for the majority of this year, and the goal
is to kind of break into our first few customers
by the end of this year. We're fortunate to have
a few design partners working with us to kind of
mature the product and make it as valuable as possible
(25:36):
so that when we go out to market to actively
sell it, it will be something that really wells people.
So for the most part, just been kind of heads
down focused on building this and making it making it valuable.
Speaker 6 (25:49):
Are you taking in any beta users and step.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
That's what I meant by design partners.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
We have a couple of companies that are using the
product for free and providing us as feedback.
Speaker 7 (26:04):
It's an interesting phase we're in.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right, We've got all the infrastructural pieces of the company ready, right,
legal entities, basic marketing, presence, basic presence on social media.
We have kind of put together, coupled together a design
and engineering team, an additional in addition to the core
(26:26):
founding team, if you will. So we're heads down currently
building out the product, rolling it and putting in the
hands of prospective customers and getting that initial feedback. And
we're trying to be careful to calibrate that right, Like
we don't want to go too fast and kind of
crash and burn, and at the same time, we don't
(26:49):
want to be too slow that we've become too boring from.
Speaker 7 (26:51):
A progress perspective, or we just run out of runway. Right.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So far it's been good, but it's always a fine
tuning exercise. Every day we ask each other are we
on the right track? What should we be focusing on?
Should I be selling more aggressively or should I be
kind of toning it down and focusing on the one
or two people that are in the pipeline and really
getting them locked down and fully bought in and delighted
with the product, right, And it's always that is the
(27:19):
typical zero to one challenge that most early stage startups face, right.
But the other thing that is really serving as a
guiding light for me, here is some of my past
experience and also my access from a network perspective to
some very seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.
Speaker 7 (27:37):
Who are helping us calibrate that progress.
Speaker 9 (27:39):
So we as we have our community here with Gustoer's pieces,
what can the community do for you?
Speaker 5 (27:46):
What are you looking forward?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
The help? Need it?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
So right now, at this very moment, we're looking for
feedback on the concept, the product, understanding how to position it.
I think Anthony self, having been on the user side
of this industry before, has given me some invaluable feedback
that we've already kind of molded over and seen how
(28:13):
we can include it into the product roadmap. So things
like that is what we need immediately. But I think
the key thing that we also need is to be
able to find that balance as to when do we
go out and seek funding versus continue to do it
on our own. Right, Being a second time entrepreneur gives
(28:34):
me a lot of luxuries, but at the same time,
you know, it's our resources are not infinite, right. We
definitely need help either from paying customers who will give
us that traction, or from investors who understand what we're
setting out to do.
Speaker 7 (28:49):
What our cultural.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Fit is as well as you know what the vision
for kaboom AI is right, and to be able to
selectively get to that right community for us is very
is very important. So if I were to sequence that,
I would say customers who are willing and able to
try Kaboom at a highly discounted price but to use
(29:15):
it and give us real feedback would be number one
in priority, followed by investors, angels or bcs who have
a real alignment with our vision and mission and are
able to add rocket fuel to Kaboom would be what used.
Speaker 6 (29:31):
That's great. So I always ask startups with co founders
you know two or more about decision making process? I mean,
and in this case, you know both of your family
as well. I mean, how do you guys come to
an agreement on resolving conflicts? I mean if you have
a different point of view on doing a certain feature
(29:54):
or making a decision, I mean, have you both figured
out a way to kind of iron out those differ instance.
Speaker 7 (30:01):
It's very simple and makes all the decisions. I just
I just follow her lead.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
You should say whether that's right or wrong?
Speaker 3 (30:09):
I mean I think that we have a very strong
I guess debating culture at Kaboom, where you know, we
like to give everybody a stage to voice their opinion.
And between the two of us, I think usually how
it goes is that if there's a strong disagreement, I'm
(30:30):
always right, and if it's a you know, it's a
small matter, then I let wrong win.
Speaker 6 (30:36):
That's going to go in double quotes with.
Speaker 7 (30:42):
Far from the truth.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Right, Like Anushka being, I guess a fresh crat and
I guess very mission focused for this time is a
lot more forceful in terms of the questions or the
accountability that she introduces to this being, I would say
(31:04):
more seasoned and experienced. For me tends to I take
things a little with the flow of things, but she
holds me, holds my feet to the fire, right.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
So sometimes.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I definitely lean in on that youthful energy and that
eagerness to get things done. And I think hopefully I'm
adding my experience and my knowledge from having been there
once to the mix.
Speaker 5 (31:33):
Right.
Speaker 7 (31:34):
So it's a real healthy balance.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
But I would say the decision is not The decision
making is not just limited to just the two of us, right.
Speaker 7 (31:41):
There's other people involved in engineering.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Product and design who have different roles and they form
part of our extended Kabuon family.
Speaker 7 (31:53):
Right now, it's very.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Low key, but I think everybody's opinion does matter, and
that is one thing that we will con tenure to
foster as a company culture that everybody's opinion, point of
view and perspective is taken into account as we evolve
as a company, because that's what would really make us
grow explosives perfect.
Speaker 6 (32:15):
I was going to add to one of the points
you mentioned about, you know, different stages of career, you know,
Anushka being a fresh grad and all that.
Speaker 7 (32:23):
You know.
Speaker 6 (32:23):
I mean I think about it as well. I mean,
when I'm in the hiring process and somebody with five
years of experience comes in, their thought process of how
to do account management is totally different from what say
around you and I would have done for the past
fifteen years or twenty years, right, So I think the
systems also have to change.
Speaker 5 (32:45):
With the times, right.
Speaker 6 (32:47):
I mean, for example, if text message is the best
way of reaching out to a client, I mean, you
and I probably wouldn't have thought about that ten years ago.
We probably would have stood by the executive assistant asking
can I speak to that client for five minutes? You know,
that would have been our mindset versus you know, in
today's world, people text somebody or say, oh, I'm an
Instagram friend with this particular client, can I message him
(33:08):
or her on Instagram? All of those dynamics are going
to come in, and I think we are at an
important intersection or at time I think where I think
we've got to take into account all the new trends
in the world, all the new trends on the Internet,
and the different ways in which at the end of
the day, I think, like you rightly said, it's a relationship,
(33:31):
but how we build that relationship has changed or continuously evolved.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Absolutely, we grew up in an age of you know,
data starvation, Anthony, you know, so we had to we
had to deal with that, right, So our goal was
to converge on the data the current generation and we're
part of that.
Speaker 7 (33:49):
Right is that we are.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
In a data deluge right now, right so there's too
much data and we're trying to make sense of it,
and that's where we want to So the summarization technologies
of Kaboom in conjunction with structured data is where we
feel that the account executive will really feel empowered and
enabled right, and that's the problem you're looking to solve,
(34:11):
and the more people work with it, they'll see the
method in our madness in terms of what it is.
And because it's a lived experience, I'm confident that it's
going to create incremental and meaningful revenue opportunities.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
For all farmers and account executives alike. So that's that's
the promise.
Speaker 6 (34:31):
Of Obviously, you're using a lot of data from what
I understood based on what you said in Nishka and
Ram and I spoke earlier as well.
Speaker 7 (34:41):
I mean you.
Speaker 6 (34:42):
Probably could use access to as much as inputs as possible, right,
I mean, whether it's your calendar information or your email
or Slack or whatnot. And whenever I mean you need AI,
I mean you need good input as well. And hand
in hand goes to as I mean, how much of
my private information are you reading through this? How are
(35:05):
you handling that inherently in the product, and what is
your point of view on just privacy overall when it
comes to Kaboom.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
Yeah, So without getting too technical, I can say that
you know, we're extremely privacy and security forward. I think
integrity in those two aspects is at the core of
who we are and what we're building, so we like
to be very flexible in terms of what the user
would like to consent to. So, for example, in our integrations,
(35:39):
the user can or cannot. The user can choose to
or choose not to integrate their email calendar or enable
our meeting bot. It just kind of depends on the
level of data they're comfortable with exposing to Kaboom. On
top of that, we only read data that is associated
(36:00):
with the accounts and the contacts that are being tracked
in Kaboom, So internal interactions or accounts that are not
being tracked in Kaboom will not show up in our
data and we will not even process it. So you know,
we we are extremely kind of focused on making sure
that the user is comfortable with whatever we're ingesting, and
(36:21):
of course we work with open AI on you know,
processing all of this data. But the user can also
choose to bring their own llm N point to connect
to Kaboom. So if they have a private endpoint in
their enterprise organization they can use to they can choose
to use that instead, so, you know, extremely flexible and
(36:43):
open to different variations of the data ingestion. It's kind
of just up to the organization.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
And even at this nation stage, we're already working on
SOP two and is twenty seven one accreditation, et cetera.
Speaker 7 (36:58):
We are well on our way for that, right.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
So our security posture is really very proactive, and we
do understand that we're sitting on a lot of I
would say data privacy and data security concerns, and we
want to be able to address them in a very
proactive manner as a team and as a company.
Speaker 6 (37:18):
Perfect. I think that's a very convincing answer. Obviously you're
evolving as well, right, I mean as and when you know,
different industries have different regulatory requirements as well, and I'm
sure you can tweak and cater to them.
Speaker 7 (37:33):
But that's a great start, Absolutely awesome.
Speaker 6 (37:38):
So, Ram and Anushka, anything else you feel like you
want to get out there that we've not asked you?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
No, just I would say a personal comment here, right,
I think the biggest reward for me is being able
to co found something with family.
Speaker 7 (37:52):
Right.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
Most next generation businesses are usually the children joining their
parents' business. Right here, we're actually truly co founding something
from scratch. So it's a very different journey and a
very rewarding experience on its own right.
Speaker 7 (38:11):
So for me, I feel already rewarded having embarked on
this chair.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
I would say the same for myself.
Speaker 5 (38:17):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:17):
I think I mentioned earlier that you know, this is
a really fantastic convergence of I guess timing for the
two of us, and it is also just a great
opportunity for me to be able to learn so much
at such a rapid pace. So I'm really grateful to
be able to work with my dad. And while it
is an unconventional setup, I think we're both very comfortable with,
(38:39):
you know, being one hundred percent honest with each other
and having those uncomfortable conversations. And you know, I think
it'll be a long journey ahead, but I think it
will be extremely rewarding.
Speaker 6 (38:49):
Does your mom complain that you give too much of
your time to your dad?
Speaker 4 (38:56):
I think it's an interesting kind of dynamic.
Speaker 3 (39:00):
It's very different from before before we started this, But
I think we do a very good job of avoiding
talking shop when we're around the rest of our family.
So when we're around my brother and around my mom,
it's all family time.
Speaker 6 (39:14):
That's awesome. So I think from Riddy's perspective. In my perspective,
great to have you on. You're the first that daughter
combo on our podcast. I mean, hopefully you're an inspiration
to many people out there who want to do this
and wish you guys all the very best with Kaboom
and anyone who comes on our show and were obviously
(39:37):
route for you guys, I mean you're here number one
because I mean we think you have a cool idea,
but all the very best to you. Hopefully we'll have
you when you become a unicorn or something, right, so
maybe sooner than that.
Speaker 5 (39:50):
All the best, Yeah, awesome, that's the goal. That's good.
Speaker 7 (39:53):
Pleasure to meet y'all.
Speaker 5 (39:55):
Have a great evening you too,
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