These 90 Minutes Will Teach You Everything About SaaS Business | SaaSBOOMi Co-Founder | Neon Show

Manav recounts his humble beginnings in Moga, Punjab, where he couldn't speak English until college. He was the first in his family to pursue higher education, attending REC Jalandhar (now NIT) and later IFD Delhi. These experiences exposed him to diverse cultures and honed his communication skills. Despite his father's failed entrepreneurial ventures, Manav harbored an ambition to build a product company from India. His fascination with branding for India led him to a pivotal interview with GP Group, where his honesty and lateral thinking, particularly his insights on brand penetration and local retail dynamics in India, impressed them, leading to an unexpected job offer.

Manav's career began in global trading, working across Asia and popularizing Vietnamese coffee. It was during this time, inspired by friends starting a dot-com company, that he began to see the potential for technology to streamline manual trading processes. He taught himself Access to build a database, leading to the idea of an integrated trading back office system. In April 2001, despite a lucrative trading career, he spontaneously quit his job to pursue this vision. Initial funding attempts were met with skepticism, but a bold approach to his former chairman, Kit Shah, secured a $1 million investment for 60% equity. Aekta, the software company, officially launched in Bangalore in 2004, achieving profitability early on without using the full initial capital.

Aekta experienced significant growth, reaching $3-4 million in annual revenue within its first six years by focusing on enterprise sales. Manav emphasizes two key learnings: people buy from people, and people work for people, highlighting the importance of building authentic relationships and trust. The company secured its first million-dollar contract with Noble, a listed commodities company, after Manav's persistent efforts to build trust. This partnership pushed Aekta to scale its software and operations, leading to external investment from Nexus and subsequent acquisitions. The 2015 oil crash forced a tough pivot to a cloud-based model, a challenging transition that many companies don't survive. Aekta navigated this, maintaining profitability and retaining talent, largely due to a strong team culture championed by HR leader Shuchi.

Manav intricately planned Aekta's exit starting in 2019, viewing it as a deliberate process rather than an accidental event. He prepared by reaching out to competitors, private equity firms, and understanding the nuances of a successful acquisition, including financial cleanliness, customer satisfaction, and leadership transition. His personal financial stability and the desire to build the Indian SaaS ecosystem further fueled his decision. The exit process, which involved external consultants and a focus on data-driven operations, culminated in March 2024 with a successful acquisition by Symmetric Technology Group. This transition allowed Manav to fully dedicate himself to the Together Fund, aiming to support founders through operational expertise, drawing on his 20+ years of experience.

Manav reflects on the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem, emphasizing the need for more successful exits. He believes founders must proactively strategize for exits, whether through acquisitions, IPOs, or investor buyouts. He highlights the importance of profitability, customer satisfaction (NPS), and a clean regulatory framework as key factors for attracting global buyers. Manav is bullish on India's potential to produce 200 companies generating over $100 million in revenue by 2030, citing the growing pool of talent and playbooks. He also delves into the transformative power of AI, identifying applications and infrastructure as key areas for innovation. He argues that India has a strong advantage in application-layer AI due to its talent pool and open-source models, and foresees immense value creation as AI integrates further with physical systems, despite concerns about gross margin shrinkage caused by compute costs.

Drawing from his extensive experience, Manav offers three core lessons for founders. First, prioritize long-term relationships, as they are the bedrock of sustainable success. Second, invest in physical and mental well-being, acknowledging the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurship. His early grounding in the Bhagavad Gita instilled in him a habit of reflection, which proved crucial during challenging times. Third, treat funding as your own money and investors as partners, fostering transparency and mutual respect. He advocates for a more strategic approach to co-founder selection, akin to building a meritocratic sports team, rather than relying solely on existing friendships. Manav stresses the importance of carving out dedicated time for reflection and, like an athlete, maintaining discipline in all aspects of life to achieve entrepreneurial excellence.