Robin Singhvi, Founder of SmartCue, talks how about how they acquired over 30 paying customers ( of 5-6 figure ACV deals ) primarily with founder-led sales. We deep dive into his entrepreneurial journey and learn how his monthly newsletter and enterprise sales expertise are propelling SmartCue's growth! 🚀

Here’s what we will discuss,

• 🚀 Building Credibility: Robin leveraged a decade in enterprise sales, positioning himself as a thought leader to establish trust early on, setting SmartQ apart in a competitive landscape.
• 🌟 Navigating Enterprise Sales: With a background in million-dollar deals, Robin's diligence, proactivity, and methodical engagement laid the groundwork for successful sales in the enterprise market.
• 💼 Founder-led Power: Emphasizing a personal touch, Robin's active involvement in the sales process boosted SmartQ's credibility, building confidence and trust.
• 📅 Monthly Newsletter Magic: Initiating a monthly newsletter since SmartQ's launch in October 2021, it evolved into a valuable tool for lead generation, sharing experiences, and fostering relationships.

📊 Key Metrics Discussed:

• 📈 Current Customers: 30+ organizations.
• 💰 Revenue Target: Aiming for $1M+ by March 2024.
• 🚀 Growth Goal: On track to reach 100 organizations on SmartCue.
• 🛠️ Sales Approach: Founder-led with plans to build a robust sales engine.
• 💸 Funding: Raised capital from an accelerator program and angel investors.
• 👥 Team Size: Core team of 3, augmented with interns and contractors.
• ⏳ Product Age: SmartCue launched officially in May 2023.

You can also watch this on youtube here,

https://youtu.be/43rQNJnh16c

so, I mean, especially in early days for any, any, uh, any

2

stage company, the credibility is not

of the company, but of the founder.

3

I mean, there is actually

no doubt about that.

4

So when I, when I go sit to the

table, yes, I represent SmartKey,

5

but they're like, okay, what, who are

you for us to be able to trust you?

6

What have you done?

7

What is your pedigree?

8

Right?

9

Uh, and, and I think that, that has

held me in good stead, I would say

10

Upendra Varma: Hello, everyone.

11

Welcome to the B2B SaaS podcast.

12

I'm your host, Rupinder.

13

And today we have Robin Singh with us.

14

Robin here is the founder

of a company called SmartQ.

15

Hey, Robin, welcome to the show.

16

Robin Sighvi: All right.

17

Thank you.

18

Thank you for having me.

19

Upendra Varma: Yeah.

20

Hi, Robin.

21

So let's help us understand, right.

22

So what your product does and why

customers are willing to pay you money.

23

Robin Sighvi: SmartQ helps teams

create interactive self serve demos

24

with the goal of improving the

quality of leads in their funnel.

25

We basically turn traditional product

demos into personalized self serve

26

journeys that will significantly

boost your lead conversions.

27

That's what smartkey does and uh,

the reason people sign up for and pay

28

us for the key reason really is that

b2b buying behavior is now starting

29

to look a lot more like b2c buying

behavior, which means that People want

30

to do their own discovery, do their

own exploration, want to get a touch

31

and feel experience of your product

before they click on the book a meeting

32

or sign up for a free trial button.

33

And you as the seller need to

enable the buyer as much as

34

possible to be able to do that.

35

Because if you do, then your

sales cycle will be compressed.

36

Your lead quality obviously is.

37

Uh, is significantly improved and,

uh, that is the, uh, the goal of every

38

highly efficient sales team, right?

39

So that's the promise that we, we provide.

40

And that's why we're able

to sign on customers.

41

Upendra Varma: Got it.

42

Right.

43

So if, if, if I'm a user of

one of your customers, right.

44

Who's using you, right.

45

So where exactly do I see this

particular automated demo coming to me

46

and automated and personalized demo.

47

Robin Sighvi: Yeah.

48

So if you are the user at,

at, at my customer, right?

49

So, so you, you will either

be a marketer, right?

50

So either a product marketer or the margin

person, or you might be part of customer

51

success teams or product teams, right?

52

And, uh, where you would see the

output of what you end up creating

53

in smart queue will vary depending

on your function, but it actually

54

goes all the way across the funnel.

55

So right at the top of the funnel,

when you were trying to embed these

56

interactive showcases on your website

or landing pages, or even inside of

57

your ads to, uh, if you're a demand gen

person, you are embedding these demos

58

inside of your cold outbound emails.

59

you're a salesperson, you're

embedding these in your follow up

60

or leave behind assets after you've

had a meeting with your customer.

61

If you're a customer support person

or a product person are using SmartQ

62

to create or augment these nodes,

your onboarding material, your sort of

63

customer enablement material as well.

64

So it spans the entire funnel.

65

Upendra Varma: So, and I'm assuming

a lot of people can use you, right?

66

So everybody under the

sun can use you, right?

67

To create product demos.

68

So I'm, I'm saying that because,

uh, I just want to understand your

69

customer base so that I could really

understand who you are trying to sell to.

70

It's to help me understand, right?

71

Uh, today.

72

Right.

73

So who are you primarily selling

to and how many customers do you

74

have on your platform as of today?

75

Robin Sighvi: I mean, so, so that,

that's an interesting question, right?

76

So anyone under the sun can

use me, uh, when anyone under

77

the sun pay me TBD, right?

78

Uh, but, but the folks who do pay me tend

to be, um, uh, it's, it's a spread right

79

now in terms of, uh, enterprise customers,

which have, uh, well oiled marketing

80

teams to PLG companies or very small lean

startups, which are trying to optimize.

81

Their marketing motion so that they're

able to sort of get the best out of their

82

existing resources and, and automate

the stuff that they don't need to do.

83

So it's kind of spread across the board.

84

And of course, when I say my

customers, all of them are sending

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some software of some kind.

86

Upendra Varma: got it.

87

And then just, just quantify this, right?

88

So how many paying customers

are we talking about today?

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Robin Sighvi: So we have, we have about

30 odd paying customers organizations.

90

Upendra Varma: then what, how big

are these, you know, deals right now?

91

And I don't want the exact number.

92

I'm just looking for the range.

93

Are these hundred dollar deals, thousand

dollar deals, ten thousand dollar

94

deals, hundred thousand dollar deals?

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What are we

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Robin Sighvi: so these, these depend,

these depend on whether it's an enterprise

97

or whether it's a smaller customer, and we

have, Uh, if you see on our website, you

98

know, we have plans that appeal to younger

companies where we're giving it away for

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400, 500 a year for a couple of users.

100

Two, you know, five to six figure

deals for larger enterprises.

101

Upendra Varma: Got it.

102

Right.

103

So it's, it's, it's still the best

is, I think the enterprise deals

104

are around 50, 60, 000, right?

105

Is that what I'm understanding?

106

And you range

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Robin Sighvi: Yeah, I think

it, it, it, it depends.

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Again, it depends, right?

109

It depends on the need,

depends on the function.

110

It depends on, uh, the number of licenses.

111

Uh, it

112

Upendra Varma: Yeah.

113

So I know there's going to be a spread

and I'm specifically trying to understand

114

this because I want to understand your

go to market motion after this, right?

115

So I just want to get a sense of

like how, how many, like how big

116

of like how many enterprise deals

you've cracked so far, right?

117

So if it's a lot, then maybe we'll

talk about that motion, right?

118

Robin Sighvi: I mean, when I,

when I talk about, yeah, it's,

119

it's, it's, it's 50, 50 right now.

120

Upendra Varma: got it.

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So

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Robin Sighvi: terms of enterprise

versus, uh, versus smaller companies.

123

Upendra Varma: got it.

124

Right.

125

And yeah,

126

Robin Sighvi: we also have a long tail

off of sort of individual creators who

127

are actually using the product as well.

128

So there's like a

significant number of those.

129

So, so, uh, GTM actually, you know,

before we get into it, that is the next

130

challenge that we are trying to solve

that, you know, which of these people

131

do we target, which are those going

to be the most value for our efforts.

132

And things like that.

133

So those are still things that

we are, uh, in active discussions

134

to figure out the right approach.

135

Upendra Varma: and then,

uh, how old is your product?

136

Like when have you launched it?

137

Robin Sighvi: Uh, the product is actually

only about four months old, maybe four

138

now, you know, we launched officially

in like May, uh, late May, and so yeah,

139

it's just been three to four months now.

140

Upendra Varma: And what

did you do at launch?

141

Robin Sighvi: Uh, so yeah, when we

say launch, it's, it's basically, you

142

know, we launched our product and,

uh, sort of amped up the product,

143

uh, tried to, we tried to create

as much buzz around it as possible.

144

Uh, used that launch to sort of, you

know, um, get our name out there in

145

front of the right customers, uh, using

that, that credibility of not just

146

launching on product hunt, but also

being part of the day on product hunt.

147

Right?

148

So using that, leaning into

that credibility, uh, to

149

open a few more doors for us.

150

Upendra Varma: Yeah.

151

So, so again, I'll just, I would

just, I just want to touch upon this.

152

Right.

153

So because a lot of people, right.

154

They just want to launch on product and

they want to be the product of the day.

155

Right.

156

They can't.

157

Right.

158

So, so what, what has worked for you?

159

What did you do there?

160

Robin Sighvi: Uh, so, so

interesting enough, we actually

161

launched on product hunt twice.

162

Um, one was, I think, uh, last.

163

September and then this, uh,

this may, uh, April, May launch.

164

And the first time around, it was

truly just brute force because it

165

was literally just me and a couple

of interns trying to make it happen.

166

Uh, this time around, we kind of

just took those learnings, tried to,

167

you know, make a playbook of sorts.

168

Uh, and then try and execute that even

so, uh, being number one on product

169

front is actually a lot of luck.

170

Uh, I'll be, I'll be honest and say that,

that, you know, yes, you can put in a

171

lot of effort, but if you know, a YC

company or if a well funded company comes

172

in the door, the odds are that you're

not going to get the catch up, right.

173

It doesn't matter whether

they're number one or not.

174

Uh, what matters is if you can get enough

people to know about the fact that you've

175

launched and, uh, more people having sort

of affinity or recognition of the brand.

176

Upendra Varma: Yeah.

177

So what, what, what

worked for you this time?

178

Right.

179

So any insight there, right.

180

So just one, if you were to pick.

181

Robin Sighvi: Uh, there

were quite a few, right?

182

So, so this time around, you know,

we had our email list in order.

183

We had, uh, you know, our Slack

approaches and all the WhatsApp

184

groups and stuff like that in order.

185

We also ensured that we, we, uh, gave

people a heads up the last time around.

186

We just launched and told people on the

day of launch, whereas this time around

187

we had like a month long plan that, Hey,

so first go on the coming soon page,

188

create discussions on Product Hunt itself.

189

You know, a, a small thing that actually

worked, uh, and I think a lot of

190

people should do, is you go on product

hunt, uh, stay, you're coming soon.

191

So there's an option to go on there

and say that you're coming soon.

192

Then start commenting on a lot of

other top products during that, that

193

month because when you do, it shows up.

194

You show up as coming soon and

a lot of people go and sort

195

of sign up to get notified.

196

That actually led to a lot of, uh,

people signing up to get notified

197

and that, I think that gave us

a, uh, a bit of a boost as well.

198

Which was new for us this time around.

199

Yeah,

200

Upendra Varma: it.

201

And that's wonderful.

202

Right.

203

So what, what did this

product and bring, right?

204

So how many signups did you get

in like as a result of this?

205

Robin Sighvi: yeah.

206

So, so this is interesting, right?

207

Because, uh, one question is how

did you launch in product front?

208

But I think the more interesting

question is that what did you get

209

out of the product front launch?

210

Uh, and, and the of people.

211

And for us, it was, it was more of that.

212

There is a company that is doing

some very interesting stuff

213

in the demo automation space.

214

We got a bunch of signups, but

like a lot of other companies.

215

Not all of them were good quality

signups, if you will, right?

216

Uh, but that kind of gave us impetus

to sort of then go find the right

217

communities, find the right people.

218

A lot of technical folks or product folks

who hang out on product hunt found us and

219

then referred us to their marketing teams.

220

Right.

221

So in that sense, Product Hunt worked

really well, but I wouldn't like

222

necessarily quantify success on Product

Hunt as a number of signups that

223

got on Product Hunt, to be honest.

224

Like we got thousands of signups,

but that doesn't really matter.

225

Upendra Varma: Got it.

226

Right.

227

So, so over the past four months, right,

after you launched on Product Hunt, right.

228

So what have you been doing in

terms of, you know, strictly from

229

a top of funnel perspective, right.

230

What's been working for you

in terms of lead discovery?

231

Robin Sighvi: Yeah.

232

So like I said, we're

still very early, right?

233

So, so our primary go to market

is still FounderLed, which is me.

234

Right.

235

Uh, you know, I have a monthly

newsletter that goes out to a few

236

hundred people, uh, that actually has

been my biggest lead gen engine, because

237

these are people who've been aware

of and been on this journey with me.

238

And now that they see that, okay, you

know, we've gotten to a meaningful

239

place in terms of product, in terms

of funding, in terms of, you know, uh,

240

closer to PMF, I wouldn't say at PMF.

241

I've been getting a ton of messages

every time I send out this monthly

242

newsletter, just from them, right?

243

Uh, which is great because these

are, these are highly qualified leads

244

Upendra Varma: talk about

this newsletter, right?

245

So when have you been building this?

246

Like, when did you start?

247

And like, who are these people?

248

Who are these audience?

249

Robin Sighvi: yeah, so this started

when I launched the company and

250

that was back in October 2021.

251

And, um, I'm a first time founder.

252

I worked in enterprise.

253

I've worked across a number of different

startups, but sold to enterprises

254

for the past 10, 12 years in the US.

255

And so I've been fortunate enough

to have like a small set of trusted

256

advisors, friends, you may call them.

257

And I figured that, hey, you know what,

this, this is, this newsletter was kind

258

of a safe space for me where I would tell

them of all the things that I messed up.

259

All the things I had no idea about

and all the things that I was taking

260

a shot on the dark end, right?

261

And then it, it became a way for a

solo founder like me to have like this

262

informal, but very vested group of

advisors, uh, who always kind of supported

263

and, and, uh, led me down the right path.

264

As I started talking to other

customers, other prospects, uh,

265

fellow founders, uh, who I felt,

you know, resonated with me and, and

266

really kind of wanted to support me.

267

I started to add them to the

newsletter with their permission.

268

And now, yeah, like I said, it's

about, you know, a couple hundred

269

people, but each of them, I know

personally, you know, I could pick

270

up the phone and talk to them, but.

271

Especially being a founder,

you just rarely have time.

272

And so for me, this is, this is actually

the one thing every month that I have

273

to do without fail that, and that

is drafted by me and not like an AI

274

or like a ghostwriter or whatever.

275

This is the one thing that, that, that,

that I have to do without fail and

276

I think it has paid off in schools.

277

Upendra Varma: How is it

attributing to this user growth?

278

Are they, are they the ones who,

who's trying out your product?

279

Are they referring you just

because they wanna help you?

280

Like how is that, you know,

funnel getting closed?

281

Robin Sighvi: Yeah.

282

Yeah.

283

So, so it is, while there are a subset

of those folks who've ended up using

284

SmartQ at their organizations, uh,

the bigger vote of confidence is that

285

they've been referring me to other

companies saying that, Hey, you know what?

286

I think this is a really good product.

287

Not that, Hey, I know this

guy and he's a good guy.

288

So you should talk to him.

289

The vote of confidence is for the

problem that I'm solving and the product

290

that I've built to solve that problem.

291

Right?

292

So that's, that's the kind of warm

introductions that are happening.

293

Uh, and, and, you know, I'm kind

of glad to say that 90 percent of

294

my customers right now are folks

who I never knew before, right?

295

It's not that, you know, I knew this guy,

so he used SmartQ and now he's paying me.

296

There are a few of

297

Upendra Varma: how many of them

can you actually attribute to

298

this wonderful effort of yours?

299

Robin Sighvi: Uh, yeah.

300

I mean, like, uh, you know, out of

the 30, 40 enterprise customers that

301

we have, I want to say at least half.

302

If not more have come from

this specific channel, right?

303

So a lot of my revenue is

actually due to that channel.

304

And then the other, I mean,

you're talking about go to market.

305

The other thing that's worked for me

is a twofold approach on LinkedIn.

306

One is sort of trying to write content

and establish thought leadership on

307

LinkedIn, setting myself up as, uh, you

know, someone who is involved and deeply

308

ingrained in the sales enablement, buyer

enablement, demo automation space, uh, and

309

also You know, on a more tactical level,

like a lot of cold out in general, right?

310

So that's, that's the

channel that's worked for me.

311

Now, the challenge is that how do I

move from being founder led to having

312

a true GTM motion in place, right?

313

So those, that's, that's something that

I'm figuring out, figuring out as I

314

Upendra Varma: Yeah.

315

And then just help, help us understand

it, the sales cycle so far, right?

316

I mean, you might have closed, you know,

10, 10, 10 to 20 of these deals, right?

317

So however big they are, right.

318

So how have you managed to close this?

319

I mean, what happened there?

320

Robin Sighvi: So, so like I

said, right, so I've, I've done

321

enterprise sales on my life.

322

Like that's the, interestingly

enough, a lot of people.

323

I've advised me to go the

PLG route for smart queue.

324

And while that could potentially work,

I don't know anything about PLG, right?

325

What I do know is the

enterprise motion, right?

326

And that, that, that, and I'm sure

all the sales are like that, but

327

especially enterprise sales are all

about being diligent, being proactive

328

and just being very methodical, right?

329

It's like when you're following,

you know, when you, when you

330

think of a prospect becoming, you

know, going through your funnel.

331

It takes a while, right?

332

Like there, there are times when, you

know, I spoken to someone about eight

333

months ago and I just nurtured him,

nurtured him, nurtured him, nurtured

334

him for eight months, as opposed to

when you think of like, you know, a

335

lot of cold email sequences, like six,

eight, 10, and you're done right over

336

the two months, three month period.

337

But in enterprise sales, it's, it's

not that you just have to keep engaging

338

them and not with, Hey, can we sell now?

339

Can, can you buy now?

340

Can you buy now?

341

It's just more about

relationship building first.

342

Uh, establishing that level of trust

confidence that, you know, Robin

343

actually knows what he's talking about

of the problem that he's solving.

344

And, and he is, he is knowledgeable

enough to understand my problem, right?

345

So once I, once you're able to do

that, then you bring them to the table.

346

And then when you bring them

to the table, you know, it's,

347

it's a pretty straightforward

sort of, in the, in the sense.

348

That, you know, there's processes

that you have to follow to sort

349

of get them over the line, right?

350

So whether it is following up

consistently, sorry, go ahead,

351

Upendra Varma: yeah.

352

So Robin, so have you raised

any external funding so far?

353

Uh,

354

Robin Sighvi: I went through an

accelerator program and I also raised

355

a little bit of funding from some

angels from my network back in the US.

356

But, but not a whole lot, very small.

357

And that

358

Upendra Varma: So, so I'm

asking you this question, right?

359

Because one of the things that I've

observed a lot of founders do, right?

360

So they start a company, right?

361

So, and they're going through

this enterprise, enterprise

362

sales motion, the top of funnel,

yes, they can handle, right?

363

A bunch of cold emails, you know, a

bunch of cold outreach on LinkedIn.

364

You can get there, right?

365

But everything else after

that, it falls apart, right?

366

Because they'll say, okay, you're

not credible enough that I go and

367

close a 20, 000 deal with you, right?

368

So like, what's working for you?

369

Just talk us through that, you

know, process and you know,

370

what's really working for you and

what, what are we missing here?

371

Robin Sighvi: So, so it's

interesting you say that because my

372

challenge is actually the reverse.

373

Like I, I, I stay awake at night that

my funnel is not full enough, right?

374

Because my confidence in, in

my sort of, in my ability is.

375

That if someone comes to the door,

I'll be able to close a deal with them.

376

And it's also interesting, you know, what

enterprise deals are for smart Q versus

377

what I used to sell, like, you know,

going from million dollar deals to, you

378

know, 20, 30, 40, a hundred, 200 K deals.

379

These are actually smaller size deals.

380

So, so for me, I'm like, man,

this should not be a big deal.

381

Uh, but so I have the reverse

problem where I'm like, okay, yes, I

382

Upendra Varma: then, but back

then when you were selling

383

million dollar deals, right?

384

I mean, you must have this

fancy product out there that

385

everybody in the world knows that.

386

I mean, you, you were dealing

with a different spectrum, right?

387

So now you are this solo founder

or you do this founder, you

388

just got this new company.

389

I mean, it's just brand new, right?

390

So there is no credibility or, I mean,

or how are you building that credibility?

391

Like, so what's like, that's,

that's what I'm talking about.

392

Like, and how are you overcoming those?

393

Robin Sighvi: So, I mean, especially

in early days for any, any, uh, any

394

stage company, the credibility is not

of the company, but of the founder.

395

I mean, there is actually

no doubt about that.

396

So when I, when I go sit to the

table, yes, I represent SmartKey,

397

but they're like, okay, what, who are

you for us to be able to trust you?

398

What have you done?

399

What is your pedigree?

400

Right?

401

Uh, and, and I think that, that has

held me in good stead, I would say.

402

Um, so far.

403

Um, so, so yeah, I mean, I, I, I

unfortunately don't know the answer

404

to the problem that a lot of other

founders face, but I would love to learn

405

from them how to fill up my top of the

406

Upendra Varma: But I think you

in a way answered it, right?

407

So you talked about positioning

yourself as a thought leader in

408

that particular space, right?

409

So I guess you must have raised a

couple of rounds of funding or, or,

410

you know, a couple of known angels that

may be adding credibility over there.

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And you obviously are an expert

at enterprise sales, right?

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So maybe that is helping you out.

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So, but yeah, that's, that's a

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Robin Sighvi: It's the

whole package, right?

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I mean, there's a,

there's a lot of things.

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I think we said it, but it's about, uh,

it's about positioning and the brand that

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you cultivate, even if it's early on.

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Upendra Varma: And Robin, like

how big is the team today?

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Robin Sighvi: A team is very mean

get about three people and then.

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A rotating door of interns

and contractors as well.

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Upendra Varma: Who's building,

who's building the software?

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Robin Sighvi: Yeah, so my CTO and

my other team, which is augmented

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with external folks from time to

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Upendra Varma: Got it, right.

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So what's, what's the next big, you

know, milestone you're targeting

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and how do you intend to get there?

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What's the vision?

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Robin Sighvi: Yeah, yeah.

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And the next big milestone is twofold.

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One is we need to have 100 organizations

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Upendra Varma: That's a million dollars

in revenue you're talking about, right?

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So a hundred, a hundred deals around

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Robin Sighvi: Uh, probably more, uh,

probably more, uh, but, uh, but yeah,

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so like, that's, that's the goal that if

we hit a hundred, uh, you know, specific

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sized organizations giving us a specific

revenue, then I will be a very robust

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and healthy, uh, company, uh, which,

which will allow us to, to choose our

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path, you know, which is either raising

more funds on our own terms, hopefully.

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Or being a very, very sort of, uh,

robust and, and, uh, viable, uh, uh, you

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know, business traditional or otherwise.

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Upendra Varma: Yeah.

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And then, and you intend

to do that all by yourself.

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Like in terms of, you know,

selling all of these deals.

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Robin Sighvi: I mean, of

course, we'll have a team.

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We will definitely need a team to do that.

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Uh, you know, a part of, part of

the activities that are happening

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right now is figuring out the motion

that, okay, how do you go from from

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the lead to, uh, a proper, uh, sales

engine or an organization, right?

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So what are the processes?

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Like I, I, I spend, I spend a lot of days

and especially weekends going through all

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of the calls that I've done and trying

to find patterns and a process that I

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can document for whoever I bring, like,

like my first SDR, SDR of our, my first.

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So, so that's the, that's the obvious

next step that we need to bring the

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team both on the, on the GTM side of the

house and on the tech side of the house.

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Upendra Varma: got it.

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Alright Robin, thanks for

taking the time to talk to me.

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Hope you scale SmartQ to

much, much greater heights.

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Robin Sighvi: Thank you.

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This was great.

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I enjoyed it.