By My Own Standards - My SaaS Journey (2007-24)
I came back to India over 20 years ago with a dream to start a web business. I had realised that I could be an entrepreneur from anywhere, so why not come back home and build something of my own?
That's how Synage Software was born in 2005. I wanted a unique name, and Synage stood for “Synergy in the New Age”. I was pumped and super excited to start a web design and development business. I felt I was living my dream of being a founder. If someone had asked me then whether I felt successful, my answer would have been a resounding yes!
In 2007, I pivoted from a service company to a product company. We were one of the first SaaS companies in India, launching DeskAway, a project management software for teams. I was living my dream of building a product company from India while having customers all around the world using our software! Subscriptions were ka-chinging even while I slept! I was stoked! Interviews, articles and blog posts started rolling in. DeskAway and I were being written about! If someone had asked me then whether I felt successful, my answer would again have been a resounding yes!
And then, around 2008–2010, the world started shrinking with the rise of Twitter. I could suddenly feel the pulse of what other entrepreneurs were doing around the world and here in India. I began feeling that I wasn't doing enough, that I needed to do more and more. For the first time, I started feeling unsuccessful.
I stopped checking in with what I wanted and started focusing on what the world expected of me. Had I raised VC money? Had my product been featured in Mashable or TechCrunch? Were people talking about it? Had we reached a million visitors? Were we growing fast enough year after year?
Here's the thing. I had always wanted to stay lean, small, and bootstrapped. A micro SaaS business with a lot of attention to detail. I had achieved everything I originally set out to do, yet I was nowhere close to being successful by society's standards.
My problem wasn't that I was comparing. It was that I had started measuring myself against someone else's definition of success.
In 2011, I published my first book on SaaS. I felt on top of the world. I felt famous and recognised in the startup circle. More articles and interviews followed. If someone had asked me then whether I felt successful, my answer would again have been a resounding yes!
But it didn't last long.
I was soon back to growing DeskAway, trying to keep it relevant while other companies were growing by leaps and bounds and raising millions. I was back on the treadmill, chasing a definition of success that wasn't even mine.
I wish I had had the awareness back then to stop and ask myself how I was doing by my own standards.
In 2013/14, I decided to phase out DeskAway and launch Brightpod, a project management software for marketing teams. I wanted a shiny new object to play with. I couldn't bring myself to shut down DeskAway and simply sit with the void.
Looking back, if I could do it all over again, I would never have launched Brightpod! Not because it wasn't a great product, but because I was starting it for the wrong reasons.
I felt I had to show the world that I was still on the treadmill. Getting off felt too risky, as though it would invalidate everything I had worked for.
Brightpod was a fantastic product. We took everything we had learnt from DeskAway and built something spiffier with a precise target audience. It was my new baby, and I absolutely loved the product development process.
Once again, I had launched and grown something that companies around the world respected and paid for. Building quality software from India was a great feeling. If someone had asked me then whether I felt successful, my answer would again have been a resounding yes!
Life changed in 2015 because of a family accident. The next few years of running Brightpod felt somewhat automatic as I was dealing with the trauma. As Brightpod's growth plateaued, I slowly started falling out of love with it. I began to realise that my reasons for starting Brightpod had been wrong. I was trying to fill a void within myself.
Brightpod gradually became a burden. Luckily, I had a great developer who kept the lights on while I struggled with many questions. I felt like I was failing, and all those earlier feelings of success were slowly disappearing.
Then the pandemic hit, life slowed and I had time to think.
I went back to my roots, to why I had started in the first place. And I realised something simple: I loved building things. Like a craftsman.
What I didn't particularly enjoy was everything else that came with running a business — admin, hiring, accounts, and especially the pressure of always being available when running a SaaS product.
For the first time in years, I started feeling successful again. Not because of a new product, a write-up, or some growth milestone, but because I was finally beginning to understand what I truly valued and what I had already achieved.
In 2024, I finally pulled the trigger and sunset Brightpod. My SaaS journey had come to an end, and I felt an enormous sense of relief.
Success in today's society is often measured by wealth, fame, and power. By those measures, my businesses weren't particularly successful (well, maybe I enjoyed a little fame!). No VCs invested in my company because I never wanted to raise capital. Our products were never number one. We never hit a million users or a million in ARR/MRR.
But hundreds of small businesses and teams around the world used and respected the products we built. ❤️
I had lived my dream of owning a small, profitable product company. I had built something people paid for. My business earned money while I slept. I had launched products when SaaS was still in its infancy in India.
By my own standards, I had done pretty well.
I wish I had spent less time comparing myself to others and more time recognising what I had already achieved. I wish I had remembered what success meant to me when I first started.
But looking back, I realise that all those experiences - the highs, the lows, the comparisons, and the struggles helped make me who I am today. And I'm glad I had them.