Bootstrapping Using Services, Managing a Successful Pivot: Oomnitza CEO Arthur Lozinski (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Why did you go after this kind of problem set? Did you have any background in this? 

Arthur Lozinski: I spent a little time at SAP, but Trent and I decided that we wanted to build the greatest enterprise software company ever. This was in 2010. We were two guys in our early 20’s. We were sitting in a little office with a whiteboard.

Bootstrapping Using Services, Managing a Successful Pivot: Oomnitza CEO Arthur Lozinski (Part 1)

Arthur talks about an excellent pivot that is quite enlightening.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: I think the obsession in the US is misplaced. The methodology that we teach is to find the gap. Where is the gap where you can cost-effectively sell and have a good customer acquisition and not mindlessly chase after the US?

Sachin Bhatia: One should not believe that success in one market means success in another market. You have to learn how to crack that market. We were able to crack the US later on, but this time we did mid-market and said, “We are not going to rely on marketing.”

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: The thing that strikes me from a methodology point of view is that you didn’t validate the second business. You had validated the first business that was scaling, but you didn’t validate the second business, but you tried to grow it.

Sachin Bhatia: Yes, it was too fast. I knew that the product validation was there. I remember the beginning of this company. It had been growing positively. The moment that we sold to our customers, we were making money. It was a bit of a hurry on our part when we were doing our planning.

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What was the average deal size in the enterprise product? 

Sachin Bhatia: At the time, it was around $25,000 to $50,000. Today, It’s a much different story. We have micro-segments, large segments, and extra-large segments. The deal size now is from $50,000 to $250,000. Our typical model was after you enter, there’s a maintaining cost.  

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Now we are in 2006. What happens next?

Sachin Bhatia: We went to the Philippines in 2006. By 2017, the Philippines was a repeatable market for us. We hired a local team there. Things were going well and we were growing. For the first time, we met with industry leaders.

I remember having a conversation with the founder of DAX, which later sold to IBM. They later became a VC. They have been a guiding force for us, but they never invested. BPO is a small market. The tank is really small. All our business has been on BPO. Why would we want to diversify at this stage when it’s growing so well?

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Who was the first customer who validated the contact center idea.

Sachin Bhatia: She used to run a BPO in New Delhi. She is a very good friend now. I remember my meeting with my three colleagues. We were trying to decide who was going to pick up sales. I was chosen to do it because I talk better than the others. I went ahead and had a meeting and understood the problem.

Bootstrapping a Technology Product Company from India: Sachin Bhatia, Founder of Ameyo (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Some of us have worked relentlessly for decades to bring about the change in India from a largely services-driven technology industry to one that today produces credible products sold all over the world.

Ameyo is one of the early examples of this shift, and Sachin, an early visionary in this journey.