Building A Global Indian Software Product Company
Manav Garg
Founder & CEO,
Eka Software
Eka Software
In classic Bob Dylan style - “The Times They Are A-Changing”! Numerous product conclaves, forums and discussions on how to create a global and scalable software product company from India are all signals of that.
I would say that the journey has only just started. There have been talks about a mindset change, about the challenges in creating products because of the service industry’s domination in Indian IT, etc. But during the last seven years I have spent building a global software product company from India, I would point out that being focused on the market and building world class Sales, Marketing and Product Management teams is where a large amount of focus should be. But more often than not, these areas do not receive the required attention. Having a strong customer and market facing organization has helped us break the barrier of moving from being a small Indian start-up to a successful, fast-growth and profitable global organization with mature products and satisfied customers. Perhaps, it helped that I was not a software engineer and started this company from the ‘business side’.
I would like to share what I think are some tips and common mistakes to avoid while building the required sales and marketing infrastructure to take your organization global.
Tip #1: Know your market and customers
I know we have hundreds of thousands of tech workers, and perhaps in India we understand technology better. However, if you are not developing a core technology, technology might not be the most important thing for the customer.
Early on in the life cycle of Eka, we invested time and money in sharpening the value proposition for the market with the help of the industry, and we learnt industry-speak. This helped us immensely in our market success as we built the company.
Tip #2: Know your competition
You need to understand your competition in every way possible – product, technology, pricing, strengths and weaknesses, and more. You need to understand their products feature by feature: what their products do, how well they meet customer requirements, what their weaknesses are and so on. Thanks to subscription licensing and software as a service (SaaS) models, where often trials are offered for free, you can do this much more cost effectively.
Research competitor forums. Understand their value proposition and product strategy. Look at blogs that are talking about your product and the competition’s. Look at a variety of them, and try to understand how they are perceived. Talk to customers, prospects, partners, the media – anyone who knows the market. In many cases, all of this can be done by simply sitting in front of a computer.
I would say that the journey has only just started. There have been talks about a mindset change, about the challenges in creating products because of the service industry’s domination in Indian IT, etc. But during the last seven years I have spent building a global software product company from India, I would point out that being focused on the market and building world class Sales, Marketing and Product Management teams is where a large amount of focus should be. But more often than not, these areas do not receive the required attention. Having a strong customer and market facing organization has helped us break the barrier of moving from being a small Indian start-up to a successful, fast-growth and profitable global organization with mature products and satisfied customers. Perhaps, it helped that I was not a software engineer and started this company from the ‘business side’.
I would like to share what I think are some tips and common mistakes to avoid while building the required sales and marketing infrastructure to take your organization global.
Tip #1: Know your market and customers
I know we have hundreds of thousands of tech workers, and perhaps in India we understand technology better. However, if you are not developing a core technology, technology might not be the most important thing for the customer.
Early on in the life cycle of Eka, we invested time and money in sharpening the value proposition for the market with the help of the industry, and we learnt industry-speak. This helped us immensely in our market success as we built the company.
Tip #2: Know your competition
You need to understand your competition in every way possible – product, technology, pricing, strengths and weaknesses, and more. You need to understand their products feature by feature: what their products do, how well they meet customer requirements, what their weaknesses are and so on. Thanks to subscription licensing and software as a service (SaaS) models, where often trials are offered for free, you can do this much more cost effectively.
Research competitor forums. Understand their value proposition and product strategy. Look at blogs that are talking about your product and the competition’s. Look at a variety of them, and try to understand how they are perceived. Talk to customers, prospects, partners, the media – anyone who knows the market. In many cases, all of this can be done by simply sitting in front of a computer.
Most Popular Expert Talk( 1-5 of 10 )
Post your Comment
All form fields are required.
Forward this article to your friends & colleague
All form fields are required.