From Developer to Serial Entrepreneur: Hevo Data CEO Manish Jethani (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: How long did it take you to come up with a product?

Manish Jethani: This is very interesting. We signed an agreement with one customer that if we deliver that product, they will pay us $50,000.

Sramana Mitra: What kind of customer?

Manish Jethani: This was the largest food-tech delivery company in India. They were scaling hyper-fast. They didn’t have a team. After we got such strong validation, we started building the product. From my past learning, it was obvious that unless we have a very strong intent from the customer, we’re not going to build the product. The first version was out in four months. It didn’t have a lot of functionality. It wasn’t self-serve yet.

Featured Videos

Catching Up On Readings: Post-Pandemic E-commerce

This feature from The Wall Street Journal looks at how consumers are finding a new balance between online and in-person shopping post the pandemic. In March, online spending dropped by 3.3%, the first year-over-year decline since November 2013 while spending in bricks-and-mortar stores was 11.2%. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.

From Developer to Serial Entrepreneur: Hevo Data CEO Manish Jethani (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: When you launched this, how did you get it off the ground? The problem you’re describing is a very large problem and there are a lot of people working on this. Data, as you know, has become one of the biggest categories in which people are doing startups. The combination of data and machine learning has become very big.

A lot of people have observed that there are non-technical people trying to make data-driven decisions. They need tools and technologies to do this. This is not a virgin field. Timeline-wise, you were in the middle of a big wave. The solution to this for digital marketing than the solution for the supply chain. Where did you start? Talk about the process of getting this venture off the ground.

Video FAQs

From Hard Core Techie to Successful Entrepreneur: Francis Dinha, CEO of OpenVPN (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: You were doing a hosted product until recently.

Francis Dinha: Yes. Even Bloomberg came to us. They said, “What about if we license your software? We pay you half a million dollars one time.” I said no. Our model is subscription. Google was our customer for three years. They used our self-hosted solution. Then they wanted to have so many features. I said, “You can take our open source and build on your own.” They did that.

Sramana Mitra: That’s a very good point – saying no to certain opportunities. It’s an important part of building a business. You have to stick to your vision.

April 21 – 572nd 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs are invited to the 572nd FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, April 21, 2022, at 8 a.m. PDT/11 a.m. EDT/5 p.m. CEST/8:30 p.m. India IST.

If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.

You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!

571st Roundtable Recording on April 14, 2022

In case you missed it, you can listen to the recording of this roundtable here:

570th 1Mby1M Entrepreneurship Podcast with Anupam Rastogi, Emergent Ventures

Anupam Rastogi is General Partner at Emergent Ventures, a firm focused on B-to-B tech investments.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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From Developer to Serial Entrepreneur: Hevo Data CEO Manish Jethani (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What did you do next?

Manish Jethani: It was a very comfortable role, but that comfort was making me uncomfortable. I was used to solving problems. I wanted to go back and do a startup again. Being well-positioned in a well-funded startup didn’t bring any additional challenge of sorts. I wanted to go back and do a startup again.