The Grit Stories!

I have never imagined and believed a book will reflect my own story, emotions and challenges as a start-up founder so much in detail. Welcome to GRIT Stories by SaaS Boomi (https://saasboomi.org/).

Thanks to Suresh Sambandam Suresh Sambandam of KissFlow for sharing this wonderful book and also an interesting foreword titled ‘Let the Journey Begin’. Thanks to Avinash Raghava for telling the untold and 'make-you-sit-on-the-edge' stories of SaaS Start up founders.

I rarely finish a book in one shot. With Grit Stories, I did it in one go, cover to cover, because each story and each founder’s excitement, emotions, risks, challenges, happiness and the grief during the journey, at some point or other, had similarities to ones that I had as a founder of HelloLeads CRM (www.helloleads.io).

For example, when Baskar, Vidhya and Srini did not have an ‘office’ at the beginning at Impulse soft (later it became Amagi), we had also been through a similar phase. If the hug of a father of an employee, during a housewarming ceremony, changes the lives and perceptions of the co-founders of Darwinbox,? we could also reflect on similar emotions.

For me, in spite of hundreds of challenges and everyday struggles, start-ups are exciting. I could not agree more when Prukalpa and Varun of Atlan also says ‘Forget success or failure, the very act of doing it (starting up) is liberating’.

It is not just about business, but also about the balanced mindset that matters in a startup journey. In the book, Aneesh Reddy of Capillary puts is aptly and philosophically “Don’t give yourselves too much credit or too much grief. What ever happen will happen”. How true! Doesn't it sound like Budda's middle path?!

If you are a SaaS Start up founder or part of a SaaS team, GRIT stories is a must read. You will learn a lot from the stories of the eighteen great SaaS startups & its founders – one mentioned above and also Frappe, Gupshup, InVideo, iMocha, Kovai, MoEngage, Rategain, Uniqode, WhatFix, Wingify and, Wingman.

Many would say ‘do right things’. But how about making mistakes?? 'Making mistakes is sure shot recipe for a start up’s success' - Did I read it right?!. Ask Rushabh of Frappe. He says ‘a smart guy avoids mistakes, but a brilliant guy makes mistakes.’ He continues ‘start by adding dollop of mistakes, then add cubes of mistakes and don’t forget to liberally sprinkle with mistakes when even possible!’. ?How better one can state the importance of mistakes in a start up journey.

There are great insights and take-aways everywhere and in every page that stays in your mind. When Amit Mishra of iMocha (earlier Interview Mocha) says (referring to his learning from Ravi Narayanan of Microsoft), ‘Every unsuccessful product company has a product.? And every successful product company has a customer’, it gets etched in your mind forever.

It is interesting to learn how iMocha took the MRR from $15k to $83k by finetuning their strategy and by answering these five key questions, asked by Shekar Kirani of Accel at a conference (1) Is it a big market in which you are operating? (2) Are you present in a differentiated category? (3) Does the segment have high frequency of usage (5) Is the duration of consumption long enough? (5) Is there enough head room for growth?

Many of us face low tides in the startup journey at some point or other. But when you read the story of Kayako’s Varun Shoor, you realize to what extent things can go bad and to what extent as a founder you can make a fight and come back! His advice is ‘ do not move away from the front line, always be involved, and listen to your consumers or customers’. Kudos to his never give up attitude.

You get high energy and inspiration from reading about the humble upbringing and early struggles of Saravana Kumar and how he steadily built Kovai over time. You will not forget to pick the gems along the way - ‘You need to fall in love with the problem statement and be prepared to live with it for 7-10 years; instead of investing excessive time in pursuing novel ideas, apply what you already know to manage and scale effectively’.

There are more interesting start up stories from MoEngage, Rategain, Uniqode, WhatFix, Wingify and Wingman and I do not want to pre-empt or take away the suspense or climax in each one of them!

One common thread that you will see throughout all the eighteen GRIT Stories and ones that lead to success of these SaaS startups are unwavering belief and perseverance.

Exotel’s Shivaku conveys this beautifully – ‘What ever be the problem – capital, cofounders, customers, product-market fit – an unwavering belief, a solid team, and a dogged fight will help you win’. ‘Mental Strength and grit have been essential threads in my entrepreneurial journey’ says Beerud Sheth of Gupshup.

KissFlow’s Suresh Sambandam highlights this emphatically in his foreword – ‘The journey of founders is replete with challenges, learning curves and most crucially, moments of unyielding perseverance.? The founders do not build companies, they build the future, one solution at a time.’. How true!

When I was reading this book intensely, my wife seeing the cover page asked, 'do you know the meaning of ‘grit’. ?I said it means courage and resolve. She said GRIT is also an acronym and stands for Guts Resilience Intensity?and?Tenacity!. I realized this a cherry on the cake and an in-home learning!