SaaS Central is back with its 2-week hybrid programme for early-stage Indian startups

The convergence of long-standing trends and pandemic-driven conditions threw the spotlight on the Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) community which was already poised for a rapid growth period.

The rise is reportedly happening so rapidly that in the past three and a half years, India has already gone from having just two SaaS unicorns to about 20. The number of new unicorns in the Indian IT business increased by 267 percent in 2020 to 2021.

Having such strong and inherent advantages, Indian SaaS startups need to be encouraged. From great engineering talent and low hiring costs to a large, readily available talent pool of customer support representatives, India can provide quick, high-quality, multi-channel support to customers and this gives us an edge over other countries.

But, landing in a global leadership position requires companies to play their cards right.

SaaS Central has been helping SaaS startups in India accelerate their growth journeys for the past two years. This year’s program is for two weeks and is a hybrid with six online sessions and six physical sessions. Startups can leverage SaaS Factory’s knowledge and receive expert guidance from the combined experience of AWS experts, Prime Venture Partners, and other established Saas founders.

Any great idea has to be backed by extensive research and data which delves into the viability of the business and its growth prospects. Gleaning insights from the startup ecosystem is key to attaining sustainable and efficient growth.

“Many hyper-growth SaaS startups in India are developing products with the goal of scaling globally right from the start. With the majority of India’s SaaS unicorns building on AWS, we have deep experience in supporting our customers to launch and grow innovative software products and go global in minutes on our secure, extensive, and reliable cloud infrastructure. We understand the needs of Indian SaaS startups at various stages of growth, and through a combination of the broadest and deepest set of cloud products and services as well as a commitment to help nurture SaaS startups as they navigate critical business milestones, we are uniquely positioned to support them on their journey. That’s why we’re delighted to kick off the third annual installation of the SaaS Central program to help support, guide, and grow the next cohort of India’s innovative SaaS startups,” shares Amitabh Nagpal, Head of Startup Ecosystem, India, AISPL.

What can startups look forward to?

• Go-to-market and industry connect - For reaching target customers and achieving a competitive advantage
• Product and sales momentum - Adding value to existing customers and sustaining growth
• Business scalability - Building a scalable business model without sacrificing efficiency or quality
• Hybrid program - Virtual sessions and offline workshops
• Optimized tech infrastructure - For maximizing performance and minimizing wastage of resources

Speakers and Mentors at the SaaS Central program this year:

• Pallav Nadhani, Founder & CEO,  FusionCharts
• Amitabh Nagpal, Head of Startup Ecosystem India, AISPL
• Shripati Acharya, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
• Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
• Akshay Patel, Principal SaaS Business Lead, AWS SaaS Factory
• Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners
• Gaurav Ranjan, Vice President, Prime Venture Partners
• Dheeraj Pandey, Co-founder, and CEO, Nutanix, Inc.
• Vijay Rayapati, Founder and CEO, Minjar Cloud Solutions Pvt Ltd
• Venkatramana Ameth Achar, Solutions Architect, AISPL
• Anand Subbaraj, Chief Executive Officer at Zuper
• Ashwin Ramesh, Chief Executive Officer, Synup

Leveraging the technical expertise of AWS and Prime Venture Partners

Sharing their thoughts on the program, AI-driven gamification platform Unomok founders Mohit Ambani and Mehul Jain said, “We believe this was a great session on startup schools focused on SaaS we got to be a part of – really well planned and executed right from the subject and content of the sessions to the guest speakers and mentors.”

Tushar Jain and Gaurav Mittal, founders of Enthu.AI, an AI-driven platform that helps customers glean insights for improved consumer experiences, talk about how being a part of SaaS Central was one of the most hands-on experiences ever. “The best part was that SaaS Central focussed on the area that matters the most to any early-stage startup which is GTM,” they added.

Today, SaaS startups in India turn to AWS for its ability to provide a low-cost, reliable, and secure foundation for businesses. SaaS Factory in particular with its broad range of business and technical enablement resources is helping startups build, migrate, and optimize SaaS on AWS and Prime VP. And at SaaS Central, AWS and Prime VP will further enable startups to be part of the cohort to leverage the technical expertise of the SaaS Factory leaders and AWS’ access to global markets.

“SaaS from India has become a mainstream global phenomenon in the last few years. Hundreds of startups have established playbooks, and Prime has been fortunate to partner with several of them. For the last 3 years, the SaaS Central program has shared its learnings with startups on all aspects of building a great global SaaS Company. This 2-week intensive program will cover topics such as Customer Discovery, Global GTM, Product, Pricing, Finance, and more. The mentors include hands-on founders, functional experts, and active SaaS investors”, says Amit Somani, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners.

If you’re a SaaS startup seeing traction, functioning with a small team, have signs of Product Market Fit, and are looking to scale fast in the US market, register for SaaS Central today!