How Quolum tracks your SaaS expenses with Indus Khaitan

Lifeselfmastery's podcast I Startups I Venture Capital

I am excited to have Indus Khaitan, the founder of Quolum, a SaaS and Cloud Spend Reduction product funded by Sequoia and Nexus. He earlier founded Bitzer Mobile, which was created on the heels of the 2008 recession, and exited in what was Oracle’s first acquisition in mobile.

In this podcast episode, Indus discusses the growth and future of the Indian startup ecosystem, his experience working with Chargebee, and transitioning from big companies to smaller ones. Indus also offers advice on protecting startups in the event of a bank's collapse and emphasizes the importance of scenario planning. He discusses creating urgency in sales, onboarding sales reps, the use of AI in improving business processes, and much more!

Timestamps

[00:03:34] Discussion on the growth and potential of the Indian startup ecosystem in the next ten years.

[00:07:50] Advice on how to adapt and transition from working in a big company to a small company.

[00:09:33] The inspiration behind starting Quolum, a SaaS product aimed at helping companies manage their software purchases and subscriptions.

[00:13:00] Importance of having liquid cash in the bank and backup bank accounts to avoid difficulties in withdrawing money during a crisis.

[00:17:00] The suggestion to bank with startup banks rather than traditional banks due to their innovation and ability to launch features quickly. Trust in the founder is crucial.

[00:24:43] Explains the importance of creating urgency in selling a product, using examples related to the tech economy and softness in the economy leading to recession.

[00:26:20] Explains the importance of looking beyond the resume and assessing candidates' outside experiences and self-driven nature during the interview process.

[00:37:26] Indus discusses the need to build a network, particularly with CFOs, and learn about finance and accounting.

Indus’s Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/1ndus

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaitan/

Website: https://quolum.com/

My Links

Podcast: https://lifeselfmastery.com/itunes

YouTube: lifeselfmastery

Twitter: rohitmal