It has been a few days since I returned from the US. And certainly from another successful and satisfying Caravan. I usually hold myself back from using the term success. But I’ll use that word this time.
How do you define success? A positive outcome?
Should a founder, hence, define success as the numbers written in black after EBITDA? Or a product that is loved by the customers? Is it a blockbuster IPO where all investors made several times what they invested?
In SaaSBoomi’s context, the outcome would be feedback. My notifications on Twitter and LinkedIn are full of founders tagging me and our community over a job well done. It’s not just the post-event feedback. Even pre-Caravan, we realized that 180 people had signed up to be part of the India-US corridor.
We’ve started fielding queries for our next Caravan already!
Is this success?
I’ve taken a more philosophical approach to success recently. You can call it my advancing age or that I have become more introspective than I used to be.
But I believe that true success comes from being able to persevere during adversity. It means overcoming challenges with grace and courage, and most importantly, preserving your humanity under extreme pressure.
I watched in amazement as our SaaSBoomi team handled extreme pressure with grace, elegance and humility. Often when people attend a SaaSBoomi event, be it the Annual, Caravan or our intimate roundtables, they do not see the effort and grit that our staff and volunteers pour into it. But I do.
Today, I want to acknowledge and, more importantly, celebrate our unsung heroes — people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to help us curate this vibrant community.
Our stalwarts
When I was growing up, two cricketers molded the way I enjoyed the sport: Kris Srikkanth and Sunil Gavaskar. They were the perfect partnership. I am reasonably sure that when my colleague, PC, reads this statement, he will text and explain, in detail, how Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar were the best of all time, and I’ll let PC have that argument in his post. This is my post, and this is my analogy ?
Srikkanth and Gavaskar had different approaches to the game, but they worked together to craft the best winning strategies. Keerthi and Neha reminded me of this enigmatic duo. They handled pressure calmly and tackled the event without fuss.
I want to call out Keerthi for not just her leadership but also her willingness to adapt. This version of Caravan was her baby, she took our concept and evolved it. Despite this being her FIRST-EVER SaaSBoomi event, just like Gavaskar, she calmly handled complexities while taking on more responsibility than we would have imagined.
Meanwhile, Neha was Srikkanth, the problem solver. She made quick, real-time decisions to solve problems and keep things ticking over. Together, they formed a team without parallels.
And just as Srikkanth and Gavaskar paved the way for players such as Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, and Ravi Shastri, Keerthi, and Neha enabled Varun, PC, Amrutha, and Millusha to focus on liaising with founders, ensuring timely meetings, producing top quality content, taking care of guests, and countless other essential tasks.
I would often need to keep track of who was handling what task, but not them. There were no arguments over territory or who did more work. There was no ego, and they all worked with one aim: to help our founders make the best use of their time.
The honour of this flawless and perfect event should be laid on the feet of these six. Bravo!
The middle order
They say it takes a village to raise a child and it truly takes a community to organise Caravan. I’ve shone the spotlight on our staffers, there are others — our volunteers who deserve a round of applause as well.
Our volunteers led close to 20 sessions during the five-day-long Caravan. And volunteers, who were mostly founders and senior operators at large companies, didn’t just handle their track, they managed everything around it — food, water, ferrying people from their hotels to the venue, everything. No one shied away from a task; no one thought fetching a glass of water was beneath them. Volunteers would assist our guests in the most mundane tasks: where to call the cab, which supermarket to shop from, which coffee shop to organize meetings at, and even what time they may have to wake up to catch their flight. And our guests paid back this love in kind. We had rented this large house near the Bay Area for the volunteers, and our guests would spend all their downtime at the Airbnb. They would talk, network, play games, or sometimes just lounge. The idea was to be around our volunteers who made them feel at home.
Every single volunteer played their role, I want to call out a few people to, in part, acknowledge the work they put in and, in part, embarrass them because I know most of them volunteer out of love and service and not recognition.
In no particular order
- Nivedha: You showed unbelievable empathy towards founders, you met them and anticipated what they would have wanted. We are very grateful for all your effort in co-creating our content.
- Vinod and Arvind: Arvind, you owned all the content and the fact that you keep raising the standard every time makes you all the more invaluable to us. More on Vinodh in a bit.
- Sathya, Sandeep, and Anubhav: The three musketeers of execution. How you manage to execute complex and intricate tasks while being cooperative is impressive. My hat is well and truly doffed.
- Kalyan and Maruthi: You two are supreme networkers and know exactly what helps people break the ice. You’ve taught me a few things.
- Bhanu and Anil: How does it feel after your debut? I want to acknowledge that despite it being your very first Caravan, you stepped in like you have been part of the community for decades.
- Mayank, Naby, Priyanka, Joseph, and Karan: You were the sutradhars of Industry Connect. You have conceptualised an amazing platform. You guys will get a call from me soon to see how we can flesh this out.
- Abhi: Our audience whisperer. You helped us curate the audience, you were a friend to all the founders and you always had a smile.
- Sandeep: You know the affection I hold for you. Your presence was of great comfort to me.
- Ridhi: It takes real grace and effort to be a fly on the wall. Our social channels would not have been as vibrant without your extensive note-taking and eye for candid pictures.
- Sri, Kishore, Amit, Saravana, Priya: You guys curated so many sessions and were always around to help and support.
- Anubhav: Your support on VC Connect is unparalleled. The way you run a team is breathtaking.
The pinch hitters
While everyone played their role, I want to call out two people specifically: Vinod and Beerud. Both have been gracious hosts and amazing champions.
We love our hikes and outdoor activities during Caravan. After one of our hikes, Vinod invited ALL 180+ founders to his place. He treated us to some sizzling hot homemade dosas and filter coffees. After that long, tiring walk, that meal not just filled our stomachs but also our hearts.
Why do we care for Indian food? We’re away for just a week; surely, the Bay Area will have fabulous cuisine from across the world. It does, and it is often delicious, but Caravan is an intense experience. We start our days at 8 am and end well past midnight. For founders who have probably never travelled overseas, the intensity of the schedule can feel overwhelming. A little taste of home helps them get through some difficult times. These are often soft factors that help founders feel that they’re not alone. SaaSBoomi’s intention is always to help people feel like they belong like there is a community that exists for them outside of impersonal social media posts. It’s one of the reasons why we have built Caravan around principles of bonhomie.
Vinod took the oft-travelled route from stomach to heart, and Beerud focussed on the spirit. He offered to host the entire cohort at his house for a session of reiki healing. This Japanese technique of stress reduction and relaxation quietened the otherwise boisterous crowd. It was amusing and heartening to see people allow themselves to be vulnerable and embrace alternative medicine.
There were other US-based Indian founders, who invited small groups over. I salute each founder. All of you embody the pay-it-forward spirit of our community. When founders open their playbooks, contact lists, and hearts to strangers, we see magic happen.
I saw magic on this trip.
And the tail
This has been a year of learning for all of us. Our community has evolved, grown, and expanded. With this growth has come several learnings. I’ve spent time going over the details of this event and here are a handful of threads I have been able to pull out as critical experiences.
- Setting the agenda: One of our tracks was to start at 9:30 am. A few founders had walked into the room, others were still on the way. Vinod insisted we start on time. You see, he is the son of a fauji, and the values of punctuality and treasuring others’ time are deeply rooted in his value system. What starting on time also did was set expectations that events in Caravan started on when they were supposed to, if you didn’t want to miss a word, you should be on your seat before the event starts.
- Camaraderie is the key to happiness: Our ambition from every event is to help founders and operators network. Entrepreneurs are a lonely tribe, they spend most of their time alone with their thoughts and ideas. At our events, we encourage people to forge bonds and connect on a human level rather than be transactional. I saw that happening in spades.
- A dream come true: I felt like I was 20 again when I was introduced to John Chambers. The former CEO of CISCO is a legend in SaaS circles, shaking hands with him and listening to him eruditely make his points was a privilege and an honour.
- Unnoticed acts of kindness: To all the founders named and unnamed: you helped me, our team, our volunteers and our guests with equal love and appreciation. To all those who bought me coffee, cooked me food or took the time out to talk to us: your participation and your enthusiasm did not go unnoticed.
I can’t say this enough but I am grateful to everyone who attended Caravan and made it a success. See you next year.
