Rajan Maruthavanan, Cofounder and Managing Partner at Upekkha, shares deep insights into the dynamics of building B2B startups from India for global markets, particularly in the US. He discusses the strengths and challenges of Indian founders, such as thriving in vertical, niche markets versus struggling with infrastructure and dev tools for global adoption. Rajan emphasizes the importance of founders learning how to take advice and shares his thoughts on the key skills needed for founder success.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

[3:57] Building a new type of VC firm: The Upekkha story

[7:36] Why Indian startups struggle to break into the US market

[14:43] The Power of annual contract value (ACV): How ACV shapes startup strategy

[19:03] The vertical advantage: Why Indian founders succeed in niche Markets

[22:03] How biases and bad advice can trap founders into their biggest pitfalls

[28:07] Changing the VC game by improving founder success rates

The nonprofit organization Rajan is passionate about: Sitare Foundation

About Rajan Maruthavanan

Rajan Maruthavanan is the Cofounder and Managing Partner at Upekkha, with extensive expertise in guiding early-stage startups through their critical zero-to-one phase to achieve product-market fit. At Upekkha, he has made over 120 pre-seed investments in SaaS startups and assisted numerous founders with M&A activities in DeepTech and B2B SaaS over the past eight years. Previously, Rajan was an Operator and Head of Product for QuickBooks Global at Intuit, where he managed the India GST strategy and led iCombinator, Intuit’s internal accelerator. He also organized two notable conferences: SaaSx in Chennai (2014-2016) and StartupBridgeIndia at Stanford (2016-2019). Earlier in his career, he co-founded and served as CTO of a computer vision startup, developing a SIFT vector-based visual search for Nokia phones.

About Upekkha

Upekkha, established in 2017, is an AI SaaS accelerator dedicated to helping Indian founders create global software brands. Currently in its 13th cohort, Upekkha has collaborated with over 165 startups and cultivated a network of more than 300 SaaS entrepreneurs. The firm has a diverse portfolio including companies like iMocha, Almabase, Kloudle, and Cloudbankin. Notably, about 25% of its startups hail from tier-II cities, such as Pune, Kochi, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Raipur, Vadodara, Jabalpur, Warangal, Coimbatore, and Trichy.

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Learn How to Take Advice from the Right People at the Right Time 30:59 Share

The Sure Shot Entrepreneur

How did Upekkha become a unique VC firm?

Why do Indian startups face challenges in the US market?

What is the impact of annual contract value (ACV) on startup strategy?

How do Indian founders excel in niche markets?

What pitfalls can bad advice create for founders?

How is Upekkha changing the VC landscape to improve founder success?

Shownotes Transcript

Learn How to Take Advice from the Right People at the Right Time