Akshat Mishra

The only three ways to hit the S-curve on your marketing 1. Broad based marketing like TV ads or physical ads. 2. Email and SMS. More retention focused. 3. Build a brand. Google ads, Meta / Instagram ads, YouTube channel, WhatsApp marketing etc cannot help you scale beyond a point. But cannot be ignored either. TV / Physical ads may be expensive for a startup so only at much later stages. Email / SMS for retention and building your brand to be memorable both take time but needs to be done from Day 1.

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🚨 Making of a billion-dollar exit 💰 Accel has sold shares worth over $300 mn in Freshworks over the last 12 months, according to research done by The Arc The VC firm had not sold any shares during the IPO in 2021. It still holds over 13% stake in the Nasdaq-listed company 👨‍💻 The returns on this will be a multi-bagger for Accel 🤑 Series A entry price - $0.05 a share Current price - $18.44 a share Accel's average price increased as it participated in follow-up rounds. More 👇 #venturecapital #software #saas #freshworks #accel #vc #exits #returns https://lnkd.in/g65TbjGR

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The Rise of India’s SaaS Market: A $70 Billion Opportunity by 2030 India’s SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) market is on a growth trajectory like never before, poised to become a $70 billion industry by 2030. 🚀 Let’s unpack what’s fueling this incredible expansion: 1️⃣ Global Leadership: India is home to over 1,600 SaaS companies, including 18 unicorns as of 2024, contributing significantly to the global SaaS ecosystem. 2️⃣ Exports Powering Growth: A whopping 75% of India’s SaaS revenue comes from international markets, making India a global SaaS powerhouse. 3️⃣ Funding Boom: Indian SaaS startups have raised $6 billion+ in funding since 2020, demonstrating strong investor confidence. 4️⃣ SMEs and Startups Driving Demand: With over 60 million MSMEs in India digitizing rapidly, the demand for affordable, scalable SaaS solutions is skyrocketing. 5️⃣ Employment Opportunities: By 2030, the SaaS sector is expected to generate over 1.5 million direct and indirect jobs, boosting India's economy and talent pool. 6️⃣ AI and Cloud Adoption: AI-driven SaaS products and cloud computing are transforming industries, with Indian companies leading innovations in vertical SaaS solutions for healthcare, finance, and education. India’s SaaS journey is not just a growth story; it’s a transformation story—reshaping how businesses operate globally. 🌍 As we look to 2030, it’s clear that Indian SaaS is not just solving problems; it’s setting benchmarks. 💡 Let’s hear from you: How do you see Indian SaaS evolving in the next few years? Share your insights below! #SaaS #IndianTech #StartupIndia #Innovation #DigitalTransformation

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Have you ever tried using Linktree?🌳 Yes? I need your help asap ❤️ Why am I doing this? 👇 Over the next 3.5 weeks, I’ll be working on a revenue growth strategy for Linktree to expand in the Indian market as part of my GrowthX® project with an amazing team. Rahul Khatri Sahaj Nalgirkar Alka Gupta Prashant Gupta Manik Sharma Sanjana Bhardwaj Why am I asking for help? To create an effective growth strategy, I need to understand Linktree’s ideal customer. That’s where you come in! I’ve put together a quick form to gather some insights. It would be incredibly helpful if you could take a few minutes to share your experience. If you’re interested, please fill out the form 👉🏻 https://tally.so/r/wk0EXe Your input will make a big difference, and I’ll ensure the time spent is worth it! P.S. As a thank-you, I’ll arrange for a VIP pass to the upcoming GrowthX Demo Day in December, so you can be part of an exclusive event! #Linktree #GrowthStrategy #GrowthX

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Who would invest in founders who have wasted $50M? Koo, an Indian microblogging platform, recently shut shop after raising $50M in capital. Everyone has their views on why Koo failed. IMO, the biggest reason behind its failure was a lack of PMF (Product Market Fit). Koo spent much money on marketing and didn’t build a product people wanted. It kept harping on nationalism, a Twitter for Indians, made in #India. This approach failed. However, this doesn’t mean Koo’s founders aren’t smart or intelligent. I wrote in an earlier post that we shouldn’t be surprised if Koo’s founders raise fresh capital for a new startup. To many of us, this might seem grossly unfair. Millions of smart, hardworking founders are struggling to raise capital while investors are backing failed founders who have wasted millions of dollars. How is that fair? It confirms the widely held belief that the #venturecapital industry is broken and corrupt where a few people with the right connections get all the capital while others don’t see a dime. It shows that the VC industry is a closed group, a cabal where who you know matters more than anything. While these are just complaints, most people who criticise VCs don’t understand how startup investing works. VCs welcome failures. They embrace them because they know failures are inevitable. When VCs invest in 20 #startups, they know 15 will fail. The goal is to invest in startups that can give them a 100x return. Failures are part of the game. They are unavoidable. The aim is to back founders who can build such 100x return companies. Hence, failures are not looked down upon in the VC industry. It’s similar to the American culture where society appreciates the people who take risks, and it easily accepts personal bankruptcies that result from this risk-taking approach. There’s no taboo in failing in the USA and the VC industry. I’m sure Koo’s founders have learnt from their mistakes. It’s an expensive mistake and not everyone is so lucky to have this luxury to spend $50M on their education. ;) However, most VCs will back Koo’s #founders because these founders know how to raise capital and they know how to not build and scale tech companies. Their past failures have improved their chances of future success. In the VC industry, Failure is Good.

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Lets's understnad SaaS business module !! How to properly calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) for a SaaS company as well as all the key unit economics. 1.           CAC - Customer Acquisition Cost 2.           ARPA - Average Revenue Per Account (aka ACV) 3.           Account Churn - Percentage of accounts who cancel monthly 4.           Lifespan - Average months a client stays 5.           LTV - Estimated lifetime revenue from a client 6.           Payback Months - Number of months of revenue to recoup S&M spend 7.           LTV: CAC Ratio - The ratio of how much bigger your average customer value is compared to the cost to acquire a customer, target around 6:1 for most SaaS firms.

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There is 𝗢𝗡𝗘 very good use case for hiring an 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 for verifications. And that’s when you have leads coming in whose probability of conversion is SO high that introducing any amount of friction in the income verification step is like conducting marketing malpractice. Go ahead and pay the $60+ per verification for those borrowers. But for any leads that are less than a layup (you’re not sure about the probability of conversion) ping Truv instead. You’ll pay less than 70% of the instant database fee per transaction, get the same data with the same certifications, and introduce only a small amount of friction into your marketing funnel. Truv sits in the “core” part of the income verification waterfall for most of our customers, with the instant databases used for extremely high intent leads. Truv is a no-brainer as part of most mortgage lender’s income verification waterfall. ***** P.S. - email me at [email protected] and mention this post. I’ll hook you up a free months as an extra reason to get started with Truv.

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Speed is a moat in of itself. This thread [1] does a great job of breaking that down But, speed / urgency is also a moat in sales. Sales teams that: - respond right away to an inbound lead - do same day follow ups - set up POCs in a day instead of a week just compete better. This is because to get speed, you have to solve so many problems upstream from tooling to hiring to culture. [1] https://lnkd.in/gCkewMJV

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How I saw client success when I moved to sales 𝑴𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒔 1/𝐏𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨– As a CS head, I wanted to educate users on everything that could add value to them. The detail often led to a comatose audience. In sales, I learnt to demo just enough to pique their interest, not completely reveal the solutions till the prospect was asking questions and slowly lead them to a close. Imagine how interesting trainings would be if CSMs did that? 2/𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈𝐂𝐏𝐬 (𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬) – In order to grow revenues, I was meeting new people, from new industries. It was refreshing to know them, their challenges and identify areas where my product could add value. As CSMs its quite natural to stick to the existing list of clients. But give yourself a breath of fresh air and meet people outside that list. Tag along with your sales counterpart once in a while, ask to attend an industry event, meet the clients of your client and so on. Be creative and increase your circle of influence. 3/𝐁𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 – As a CSM, I met clients who were all ears to know what we could do for them. In Sales, getting the prospect excited enough  explore the product’s benefit is an art. I learnt how to be relevant and communicate impact in the least amount of time. Customer Success have a lot to gain by being relevant specially when it comes to establishing executive relationships 𝑴𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 1/𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥– As a sales director, I would hand over the client to my competent customer success team and know that I could focus on other prospects and grow business. I interacted with the client stakeholders off and on, but the onus of yearlong relationship management was on customer success team. 2/𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 – In sales, I did have the challenge of crushing my sales targets. However, as long as I was chiseling my skills (prospecting, persuasion, communication, negotiation et al) and diligently following the sales process, I knew I won’t be far behind. However, as a CSM there are unseen challenges that erupt often and resolving them while maintaining a long-term relationship is an ability that’s worth it’s weight in gold 3/𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 – This is a serious and strenuous responsibility. Every time I renewed a client smoothly, I acknowledged the year long effort of the CS team in supporting successful outcomes despite many breakdowns. #SaaS #Sales #Customersuccess --------------------- 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝑺 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉-𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒚. 𝑺𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒐

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The Rise of B2B Marketplaces: Niche Focus, Big Results In the startup world, I am witnessing an intriguing trend: the emergence of B2B marketplaces designed for highly specific segments and focused on Indian Market. A great example of this is Dentalkart, a marketplace catering to dentists, which has grown to a market cap of ₹1,100 crore and is listed on the NSE & BSE SME Index. What’s fascinating about this? It highlights a playbook that startups are beginning to replicate across industries: 1. Identify a Fragmented Market: B2B marketplaces work best in sectors with highly fragmented supply chains and customer bases. Dentalkart did this for dental supplies, while others like Partnr are tapping into the auto parts sector, and ZALON is addressing the needs of salon professionals. 2. Solve for Efficiency: These marketplaces streamline procurement, distribution, and pricing transparency—something most fragmented industries sorely need. The end result? A value-driven platform for businesses that need better access to supplies, vendors, and tech-driven solutions. 3. Leverage Deep Industry Knowledge: Founders of these startups often come from within the industries they’re disrupting. It’s this insider expertise that allows them to build intuitive solutions and scale quickly, turning previously niche opportunities into major success stories. 4. Go Deep, Not Wide: Focusing on a single vertical or niche market gives startups the opportunity to go deep and become the dominant player in their sector before expanding into adjacent opportunities. The B2B marketplace space is evolving quickly, and with more industries ripe for disruption, it’s clear we’ll be seeing more examples like these. The playbook is straightforward but powerful: find a fragmented industry, bring tech-driven efficiency, and execute relentlessly. What's your take on the future of niche B2B marketplaces? Which segments do you see ripe for innovation? If you are a founder building in this space, I am super excited to talk to you.

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#SaaSeries2: Freshworks Q2 FY24 Results. Here are the key highlights: - Total customers in Q2 FY24 grew by 4% to 68.8K YOY. - Customers with ARR >USD 5K grew by 14% YOY, accounting for 90% of the ARR. - Customers with ARR > USD 50K grew by 30% YOY, making up 50% of the ARR. In terms of key metrics: - Revenue saw a 20% growth to 174 Mn in Q2 FY24, with the US market contributing 45%. The growth was also driven by acquisition of Device42 signaling the saturation in US market for key offerings. - Net Dollar Retention stands at 106%. - #ACV is at #USD10K, while the gross margin remains high at 85%. - #FCF USD 32.8 Mn in Q2 FY 24 Few observations: 1) The #Enterprise segment is the fastest-growing, maintaining its trend QoQ. 2) The #SMB segment, constituting ~10%, is critical for expansion despite being the least growing segment. Special focus areas include #GenAI solutions like #Freddycopilot and #Freshchat, with a 40% attachment rate, aimed at enhancing #agentproductivity. #SaaS #GenAI #Freshworks #SaaSUnicorn #AIagents #AIAssistants #conversationintelligence #venturecapital #privateequity #investments

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When Jahnavee and I pivoted to build in the space of customer retention, we didn’t want to just solve for challenges in retention; but make the workflows more efficient and productive. When you look at SaaS companies that do around $ 25 Mn ARR, CSMs handle the bulk of retention, in larger SaaS companies with an ARR greater than 50 million, you have dedicated teams handling retention. During our product research we interacted with both retention personas (CSMs and Retention Experts) and here's what we learned : Manual data tracking: Retention personas often spend significant time manually tracking customer health scores and engagement metrics. This process is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Reactive support: A common pitfall in retention is operating in a reactive mode. The retention personas find themselves constantly firefighting, addressing issues as they arise rather than proactively preventing them. This reactive approach can lead to customer dissatisfaction and increased churn rates. Scalability: As the customer base grows, maintaining high-quality, personalised interactions becomes challenging. Managing a growing number of accounts without the necessary tools can lead to burnout and subpar customer experiences. Data silos: Retention personas often struggle with data scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult to get a holistic view of customer engagement and health. This fragmented data landscape hinders their ability to make informed decisions and provide timely interventions. Identifying churn risks: Without predictive analytics, identifying which customers are at risk of churning becomes a guessing game. Retention personas need tools to help them foresee potential churn and take preventive measures. Retention personas are the unsung heroes of customer retention, tirelessly working to ensure every customer finds value in the product. But without the right tools and support, their work can become overwhelming and inefficient. 😓 What are the other challenges that you think retention personas often face? Drop your thoughts in the comments below. #Customerretention #Customerretention #kale

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The SaaSBoomi Caravan got concluded recently, and wow, what an experience! It felt like an exchange program for SaaS founders, bringing us from India to the heart of Silicon Valley. We dove deep into crucial areas for SaaS success: GTM strategies, sales techniques, fund raising, personal growth, and hiring practices and a lot more. The knowledge shared was both practical and immediately applicable. The speaker lineup was phenomenal, featuring a mix of industry titans, innovators, and rising stars: • John Chambers (CEO, JC2 Ventures | Chairman Emeritus, Cisco) • Girish Mathrubootham (Freshworks) • Rishi Bhargava (Demisto, Descope) • Mahesh Ram (Zoom) • Muddu Sudhakar (AI expert) • Sahil Aggarwal (Rattle) • Peter Kim (WestBridge Capital) • Surojit Chatterjee (Ema) • Dhiraj Sharma (Simpplr Inc) • Raj Sabhlok(Bessemer Venture Partners) • Arvind Parthiban (SuperOps) • Kalyan Varma of Almabase 🎓 • Ankit Oberoi(Geniee International Group) • Ajit Ghuman(Monetizely) • Nishant Malhotra (DC Advisory) I am sure I have missed some names ! What set this apart was the warmth of the Indian diaspora. Successful founders like Vinod Muthukrishnan and Beerud Sheth opened their homes, creating intimate settings for deeper connections. The networking was incredible. I've made friends and connections that I'm sure will last well beyond this event. SaaSBOOMi Caravan was transformative. It provided insights into the SaaS industry, connected us with leaders, and fostered genuine friendships. The mix of practical advice, personal stories of grit, and exposure to radical ideas has given me a new perspective on my entrepreneurial journey. To any SaaS founder looking to expand their horizons and tap into the spirit of Silicon Valley, I can't recommend SaaSBOOMi Caravan enough. It's an experience that will inspire you to push your business to new heights. All credit goes to SaaSBoomi organizing team, volunteers and community leader Avinash Raghava #SaaSBOOMi

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The worst thing a founder can do is build his entire revenue and business on big corporate customers from day 1. Acquiring corporate customers takes time, energy, building relationship and could take up to 12 months. Instead, founders should think about step-process for their GTM. Start with SMBs, who will be more flexible and willing to pay for your product and also provide valuable feedback as you build. At the same time, engage with corporations and push for written pilot or paid usage of your product. By then, you will already have active users that will help you perfect and adapt the product for the big guys, and you can charge them as well and not be in a situation where you are offered unpaid corporate pilots.

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Well said Jofin Joseph! Many ignore LinkedIn profiles. Big mistake. Buyers find us there. They reach out directly. Good writing matters. It makes profiles stand out. Improve your LinkedIn profile. Watch leads grow. It's that simple. #founders #b2bsales #marketing

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Overall Funding Landscape: Total Raised: $5.3B, a slight 1.8% dip from H1 2023, but deal volume is up by 7%. Median Ticket Size: Down 8% YoY to $2.8M but a significant 87% increase from H2 2023. Indian Startup: The Shift in Funding Trends! The first half of 2024 has been quite a ride for Indian startups! I was reading this article early morning, and wanted to share this latest funding report. Debt Funding Surges: Debt investments have skyrocketed to $576M, more than double the $285M from H1 2023. Notable deals include GPS Renewables’ $50M, Bira 91’s $25M from Kirin Holdings, and Ola Electric’s $50M from Alteria Capital. Equity Investments Dip: On the flip side, equity funding took an 8% hit, dropping to $4.7B from $5.1B in the same period last year. and why this trend? Startups are increasingly turning to debt to fuel growth without diluting ownership—a smart move, especially for those gearing up for IPOs like Ola Electric and Mobikwik. The Bright Side: The future is promising for our startup ecosystem with a 15% sequential increase in deal volume and rising investor activity, particularly from venture debt firms like Stride Ventures, InnoVen Capital, and Trifecta Capital. My 2 cents: While these trends signal growth, we must remain vigilant about potential bubbles. Increased debt can be a double-edged sword—fueling expansion but also increasing financial risk. #Startups #Funding #DebtFunding #EquityInvestments #VentureCapital #Growth #Sustainability #IndianStartups #H12024

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Join Top Product Companies with Talent Nexa! Talent Nexa Consulting is partnering with over 20+ VC-backed Product Startups and Companies in India, connecting skilled professionals like you to exciting opportunities in Product, SaaS, eCommerce, and AI industries. Open roles: -Engineering Manager -Lead Software Engineer -Software Architect -Backend Engineer -DevOps Engineer 👉 Apply now: https://lnkd.in/gQSJMnDf Explore roles that match your expertise and accelerate your career growth! Don’t miss the chance to work with some of the best companies in the industry! #hiring #HiringAlert #career #job #careers #jobopportunity #opportunity #opportunities #creativity #technology #hr #architeture #Engineering #India #innovation #management #humanresources #digitalmarketing #technology #networking #creativity #recruiting #future #futurism #entrepreneurship #careers #markets #startups #marketing #socialmedia #venturecapital #leanstartups #economy #socialnetworking #economics #branding #advertisingandmarketing #motivation #personaldevelopment #investing #jobinterviews #money #bankingindustry #sustainability #alternativeenergy

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Early in my career as an #AE, I closed this deal that helped me do 127% quota Got me my very first recommendation from a CEO 👇🏻 But above all, it completely transformed my perception of sales and shaped my approach thereafter. This deal involved competitor-depositioning, building consensus and multiple stakeholders. People often ask me for my framework and methodology. Honestly, I don't have it ready yet—it needs a lot more work and reflection, which is currently work in progress. But as I reflect, I want to share the real stories behind these sweet and bitter deals. That’s why I started the Mindful Selling podcast. If you’re curious about the story behind this deal and how I closed it -- give this episode a listen. 🎧 Listening time: ~8 minutes. Full link to the episode in the comments 👇🏻

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Indian #SaaS #Startups Poised to Conquer the Global Market. India's SaaS ecosystem is rapidly emerging as a global powerhouse, with Indian SaaS companies set to capture 8% of the global SaaS market by 2028. This remarkable growth is driven by several factors: 1️⃣ The Indian SaaS market is expected to reach $37 billion in size by 2028, up from $12 billion currently. This represents a 20-25% annual growth rate. 2️⃣ India has become the second-largest SaaS ecosystem globally, with over 1,600 funded SaaS companies. Leading Indian SaaS firms are reaching $100M #ARR milestones as quickly as their US peers. 3️⃣ Indian SaaS companies are gaining global recognition for their high-quality products and services, with 85% of top Indian SaaS firms having expanded to the lucrative US market. 4️⃣ Factors like India's robust talent pool, government support (#startupindia) and focus on vertical-specific solutions are fueling this SaaS revolution. The stage is set for Indian SaaS startups to make their mark on the world. With the right strategies and execution, they are poised to become global leaders in the rapidly growing cloud software market. PS: Topic & Content suggested by Nikhil Datta Source: Above information is prepared from the news articles and data from BusinessToday, Inc, The Economic Times and SaaSBoomi #business #news #startup #india #leaders #funding

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