Ep. 58 - Managing the transition from big company to startup—with Aseem Chandra, co-founder and CEO of Immersa

SaaS Backwards - Reverse Engineering SaaS Success

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There’s a tendency for entrepreneurs to believe that the motivations for starting a company is the fame and fortune.
But as Aseem Chandra, co-founder and CEO of Immersa explains, “That's the absolute wrong reason. You get into a startup because you love the problem, and you can't wait to see what that solution's going to turn out to be, and you're willing to give 10 years of your life to it.”
Knowing that the two biggest reasons for startup failure (they run out of money and irreconcilable differences amongst the founders) Chandra first made sure that they had the disagreement piece solved before starting. He chose a co-founder that he trusted and could establish a process for working through disagreements positively.
The money piece is a bit trickier, especially coming from big company background where many work habits don’t apply in startup world.
In his transition from big companies into startup world, Chandra operated as an entrepreneur in residence with Global VC Fund Mayfield to take the time needed to “unlearn and re-learn” how to run a startup.
Today, Immersa has raised over $10M in series A funding, and with a relatively small staff, they’re positioned well for growth.
Key takeaways from this episode:

• Choosing the right partners and executive team and how to operate on trust
• How an “entrepreneur-in-residence” might be a good path
• The customer research involved in ensuring product-market fit

Other resources to check out:

Interview with Vinay Bhagat, Founder and CEO of TrustRadius who publish a yearly report about how B2B buyer behavior is changing.
The Lead Gen Mistake I Guarantee You’re Making – how to create content that better identifies intent from today’s b2b buyer.
And, if you want an outside look at your content with actionable advice, take advantage of our Content Audit. Valued at $20K in free consulting.

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