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Helping SaaS Companies Grow Through Revenue Sharing: Avangate CEO Carl Theobald (Part 4)

Sramana: What kind of customers are you working with?

Carl Theobald: Starting back in the early days, it was all about very small startups. They were software companies that wanted to sell downloadable software such as anti-virus. These were companies that sold games or PC performance tools. The other set of companies that used Avangate back then was SaaS companies. We have remained true to those segments.

Recently we started going into cloud services. We look at companies that sell online subscriptions, such as tech support services. We have companies like MyFICO.com and other cloud-based subscription services. We are moving into cloud service companies that sell their subscriptions online. >>>

Helping SaaS Companies Grow Through Revenue Sharing: Avangate CEO Carl Theobald (Part 3)

Sramana: How did Avangate get started? What was the genesis of this company?

Carl Theobald: It started in 2006 in Europe. The founder and a very bright technical team built the core platform and got a good solution up and running. They grew 75% a year and achieved profitability in 2010.

Sramana: How did Avangate get from zero to 1 million dollars in revenue?

Carl Theobald: In the very beginning the company was started by repeat entrepreneurs who had previously started RAV which was an antivirus company. RAV was acquired by Microsoft to be part of the antivirus that is built into Windows Defender today. That team is still with Microsoft today. >>>

Helping SaaS Companies Grow Through Revenue Sharing: Avangate CEO Carl Theobald (Part 2)

Sramana: This is a very crowded space. How do you differentiate yourselves from others?

Carl Theobald: There are a lot of different companies in our space. There are billing companies that solve part of the problem by assisting with subscription management and billing. We provide a complete solution that goes beyond subscription management and billing. We also provide payment processing, refunds, and chargebacks. We provide 24/7 support as well as marketing tools. >>>

Indian Services Entrepreneurs Venturing Into Products: Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri, CoFounders of Crayon Data (Part 7)

Sramana: Who were your early adopter customers and what is it that made them converge to you? How did you clinch those deals?

Suresh Shankar: Essentially we are building a choice engine in a way that gives you multiple ways to apply it to your needs. In one case we have been working with a very large hotel company in the UK. They really don’t understand what type of customer comes and makes a booking at their hotel. They don’t know what the customers purpose is or what kind of influence the customer has. Now, every time the booking happens at the hotel we are able to go out into the larger world and try and understand that customer through larger social media datasets of similar people. We are able to build a larger profile of the customer references. They can then reach out to customers and provide personalized services better even before that person walks into the hotel. >>>

Indian Services Entrepreneurs Venturing Into Products: Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri, CoFounders of Crayon Data (Part 6)

Sramana: When did you start Crayon Data?

Suresh Shankar: We formed the company in 2012. In reality we have only been functioning since October. That is when we moved into a real business and started to hire people. We are coming out now and we are talking to people now. We have made good progress in the products. >>>

Indian Services Entrepreneurs Venturing Into Products: Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri, CoFounders of Crayon Data (Part 5)

Sramana: When did IBM buy out RedPill and what was the reason behind that acquisition?

Suresh Shankar: In late 2008 they came calling because they were looking for an analytical play. It was a rigorous buyout process and that was a question I kept asking them. They were interested in our high end analytical work. We created value out of data. The work we were doing was something that not a lot of people in IBM were doing. >>>

Indian Services Entrepreneurs Venturing Into Products: Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri, CoFounders of Crayon Data (Part 4)

Sramana: It sounds like this dose of reality was good for your soul. It helped you get back down to the ground.

Srikant Sastri: Absolutely. That is why as Suresh and I set up our business, today I play the role of the background voice reminding us of the need to preserve our cash. That dose of reality has never left me. >>>

Indian Services Entrepreneurs Venturing Into Products: Suresh Shankar and Srikant Sastri, CoFounders of Crayon Data (Part 3)

Sramana: Srikant, what was the premise of the business that you were looking to start?

Srikant Sastri: I still carry copies of the formal business plan I wrote at that time. It was 1995, and the early signs of the technology boom in India was there. Telecom was present and IT was starting to flutter. The business plan was based on the premise that IT, telecom, and electronic media would have a convergence in India.

Many multinationals would want to enter India, so we intended to be a service provider to multinationals in text and multimedia with respect to India market entry. We were a marketing services provider, and our first five clients were Microsoft, HP, Cisco, The Discovery Channel, and Motorola. >>>