Sameer Narkar: Building a Bootstrapped Business Through Adaptability, Leadership, and Long-Term Vision

Welcome to the Behavioral Profit Show, where

we look at the behavior behind business results.

I'm Debbie Longo, Executive Behavioral Coach.

And on this show, we go beyond strategy and talk

about the decisions, communication patterns,

leadership behaviors, and internal shifts that

shape trust, culture, performance, and profit.

Today's conversation is about what really drives

change, not just what people say they want, but

behaviors that create the results they get. We

have a very special guest today, Samir Nakkar.

Samir, hi, welcome to the show. Hi, hi. Thank

you for having me here today. Thank you for being

here. Can you start with telling me a little

bit about what you do? Sure. My name is Sameer.

I'm founder and CEO of Connect Insights. Connect

Insights is an omnichannel customer experience

platform. It's a SaaS product software as a service

used by customers across 30 plus countries today.

We have more than 500 plus enterprise global

brands, and they use our platform to understand

what people are talking on the web, social media,

engage with the customers, respond to their queries,

and usually the The whole idea is to make the

customers happier. As a product, we ensure that

we bring in data from all possible channels over

the web. And our customers are mainly the enterprise

B2C brands, business to customer brands, or customer

facing brands. Because this customer's ex -opinion

is across channels, we are the one who bring

that all from all different channels and make

sure that they have a great customer experience.

So that's what we do today. It's a well -known

product in the market with the name Connectinsets.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I was

wondering if you could tell us a little bit about

you started this business. I know we spoke a

little bit about the growth and the progress

that you've made in your business to grow six

figures, seven figures. So it wound up to be

a very successful business. So can you explain

a little bit about the very beginning about you

and exactly how you were able to develop the

business and how it was able to grow this much

and what period of time and where you are now?

If you could do that for me, I would appreciate

it. 10, 20 years back, obviously I started my

career as a software engineer, worked for about

seven years in three different companies, made

sure that I was one of the best software developers

to start with. And then I had this idea, which

was not the original idea of what a product is

today. It was something to do with an app, which

had kind of analytics and insights for the business

owners. But instead of the app that we were planning,

we actually went on to make a product that was

into takes insights and so on and so forth. And

once we started to engage. with the customers,

that's when realized what we were thinking initially

was not the whole world, what it really wants.

So we pivoted. It's not the pivot only didn't

happen at the start. Any successful journey is

built with a lot of changes according to the

market requirements and how things change. Today

also, when there is AI, we are building so many

features. So it started in that fashion. And

in early days, it was just me who had this idea

and I was developing the app. Thereon, after

that, I had few interns who joined because Obviously

as a small company with no funds, you cannot

have a team where you can pay. So I hired a few

interns, didn't pay them, told them that tomorrow

when something happens, it will be a good experience

for you. I didn't think that time that those

interns will go on to become the founding partners

for me. So it just happened that we were able

to retain a few interns and then the company

has now grown to about 150 plus employees. But

in early days, I would say beginner's luck, it's

there for everyone. I thought it worked for me

and then few customers. We made sure that the

marketing agencies who could open doors for us

with the larger customers. We built very strong

relationships with them for about six to seven

years. All our customers were from India. We

started, but gradually we started to build partnerships

globally. Started from Middle East, then Southeast

Asia, then Africa, then parts of Latam, UK and

few customers. in US. That's how our journey

really started. So wherever we could do some

business in any other market via partners, we

generated revenue from there and then went on

to build our teams in that region. So it's a

completely bootstrap story. We never raise any

external funds in early days. Obviously it was

very difficult for us to raise funds, but as

we gradually acquired more and more customers,

the product itself started paying six, seven,

eight years of very difficult journey. I won't

say it's not difficult now, but given the fact

that we have a large customer base, it's highly

profitable and things are going well. And we

hope that we continue to grow for next 10, 20

years. So that's good. Thank you. So did you

basically have the will to do this from the very

beginning? Did you have an insight that you had

any idea that the business was going to become

what it is today and it was going to grow and

what your goals are and different things for

the business and a little bit about the products

that you are selling as compared to what you

thought was going to happen originally, if there's

any insight or anything about that. Can you explain

that a little bit? why just have to work beyond

a year or two? And in early days, it is more

about survival than executing your plans because

there are a lot of uncertainties. So in early

days, it was definitely not very crystal clear

as to where we want to go. But after about four

or five years, I can probably say that where

we are today was something that we could envision

in our early days of 2018, 2019. we knew where

we have to go. By the time we reach D30, we'll

have some clarity in 2035. So it's a gradual

process and constantly you have to evolve and

make sure that whatever you're building is something

that is at the core of what customers need and

what the market needs. And always ensure that

whatever tech that has been built globally, you

are on the beneficiary side of, because any new

tech can kill you or you can benefit out of.

So be on the better side of the tech involvement

that is. That was very good. Thank you. So the

reason why I asked is because some people do

have that insight. They just know that they start

this little business and it's going to grow to

this huge business. So they have that type of

goal. And with some people it works gradually.

So I work with a lot of different business owners

and executives that have this experience. So

sometimes it just happens on its own. Basically,

this is really. one thing that we're trying to

really explain here on this show is to show everybody

that things happen. They can grow their business

or make a business from nothing in all different

ways, not just the way that I think a business

is going to happen or the way that I want to

grow my business is the way that it's going to

be. It doesn't always work like that. Sometimes

the insight might come from me or the vision

might come from me. And sometimes it comes from

something else or somebody else. Maybe somebody's

trying to help me, or maybe I have influence

from the media. There's a million different places

that I could get my information from if I want

to grow my business. So it's just for me, just

about having a little bit of an open mind and

saying that if I want to grow my business or

even if I want to start a business, if I just

have that vision, there are all different ways

that I could get information. I'm just talking

about one thing, just getting information. We're

talking about a lot of things, increasing employees

and profits, but I'm just saying, do I have a

vision and what is my thought and how am I going

to maybe predict or what is my goals that if

I start a business or whatever, and then I'm

going to grow my business. So this is really

a very good topic because this is one thing that

we're trying to do. But also I could even ask

the listener, what is your outlook on this? What

is your opinion? you getting out of this conversation.

And this is one of the reasons why I do this

show because I don't want it just to be a show

where we talk about our business. So there's

all different topics and everything, which is

the reason why we do this, because I want people

maybe to feel motivated, like I said, about starting

a business, growing their business, whatever.

And there's all different ways to do that because

we can always expand our knowledge and we can

always make our business from five figures to

six. It's always doable. It's always possible.

And am I holding myself back from doing these

things? Am I just using the resources that I

have and not growing myself or expanding my knowledge

to grow my business? Am I limiting myself, my

mind, my behavior, my attitude to just stay where

I am and leave the business this way? And this

is an example that you gave. You started from

nothing. That's why I'm asking these questions.

because sometimes it just happens. It's like

a chain of things when I just got lucky. Not

always though. Sometimes people have visions

or an outlook or an opinion or whatever, and

they want to use that, grow with that, expand

on that. But do they know how to do that? That's

the question. See, market dynamics change. When

you start, you have different ideas altogether.

As you start building, different things happen.

Not just the product that you're changing, but

the things that are happening around you. You

get feedback from the customers. You react to

a certain situation. You learn. from the mistakes

that others have done. You get into the community

where others have built products. You learn from

them. And then you realize that your initial

idea may not be the best one. Then you have a

choice whether to go back and get into the comfortable

job or continue struggle for next three, four

years and learn. Because when you start on your

own, you're not obviously knowing everything.

I was a good software lover. I had no idea of

how sales happens. I had very few understanding

of how marketing works. never wrote any content,

very little idea of how accounting and finance

works. Of all the SaaS metrics that I teach today,

I knew nothing when I started. So those are the

things that you have to learn because you are

actually in the middle of it. Who likes to read

legal agreements? But I spend so much of my time

reading the legal agreements. You don't like

them. So that's one offering. When you start

something on your own, it's a blessing in disguise

that you learn a lot of things than what you

would otherwise do with a career where you're

only focused on one thing. So that's a wonderful

part of starting your career. And I always say

that you have to adapt to the market. Two years

back, we envisioned that AI could change so many

things. So what do we do? We ensure that our

product is something that offers great AI features.

Over a period of time, you are going to learn.

You have a team around you. You need to ensure

that you build a culture where that team grows

and you hire people who are even smarter than

you and they do the things and you take the backseat

whenever necessary. So as a team grows, you don't

have to be the smartest person in the team, but

you have to be someone who is smart enough to

hire smarter people than you and build a culture.

In a journey of about 10 years, this is what

I've learned and many years to go. It's an exciting

world to be in. If you are building software

today, it's a very exciting world to be in because

you can do a lot of things that you couldn't

do maybe even three years back. I agree. Thank

you very much. And I appreciate everything you

said about your journey, your path, all these

little tips that you just gave about how you

started your business, you grew your business.

And these tips hopefully will... help somebody

that's interested in not only developing a software

business, that's a fantastic business because

that's something that's always growing. I think

people always want to learn. There's a very good

chance that can easily be a six figure business,

but there are all different types of businesses

out there. And these tips that we are giving

today on this show can be used for any business.

You could take the word software out or take

the name of your company out. Insert your company,

insert your product that you sell. And that will

be the same thing because I can make that process

similar to what you're explaining. And then I

can use these tips and these ideas. And you didn't

only explain ideas, you explained a process.

What happened? How did it start from the very

beginning? And there's things in that also that

business owners could use. I really appreciate

this. Where is your business today? Is it profitable?

And how do you... feel today about all the progress

that you have made, which is everything we basically

talked about in this whole podcast so far. And

the progress that you've made equals everything

that your business is identified with and represents

today, the amount of people. If you could talk

a little bit about that and how did your business

come to this level? About six years to actually

get to one million and from one million. to 10

million, it was less than five years. That's

the growth. We are a team of about 150 today

in different parts of the world. Our headquarters

is in India, Mumbai, but we have teams across

regions like from Singapore, Indonesia, India,

of course, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Africa, UK and

Brazil and few guys in US. Growth of about 16

to 18 % is what we are doing for the last few

years and looking forward to it. We work with

large enterprises in an account also once we

set up our customers, there's a lot of growth.

possibility in one single account. The teams

that we work with today within our organization,

software teams, marketing, sales, we have folks

in growth, international partnerships that are

admin and so on. That's how we have grown our

teams. It's been a great journey. I would love

to carry this momentum to the next few years

and see where it goes from here. We are very

strong on the AI front. We have developed a lot

of proprietary AI features within our platform

that makes life much more easier for our users.

Looking forward to what next year presents to

us and just be our best version. Of course, there's

a long -term vision of where we want to be in

five years time, in 10 years time, but at the

end of the day it is all about what you do today

because you yearly plans, then come to quarterly

plans. And at the end of the day, you have one

day where you can give your best. That's how

the process works. That was very good. That's

more insight. Maybe if somebody wants to try

growing their business or whatever, or try something

new. In closing, I would like to say that this

is for somebody who is in the business world.

This is a journey where they can progress in

their life and in their business and in their

career. and they can meet their goals. It's just

a matter of having an open mind and taking suggestions

and not staying where you are and not limiting

yourself to this is my job, this is my career,

this is my business and it's not gonna go farther

than this because there's always opportunities

and there's always growth and there's always

a way for us to move to the next level. And the

only way that... that we could do that is we

create the willingness and then we take the next

step forward. And then sometimes you'll see that

there's people there all of a sudden that want

to help you and they know, and they have the

knowledge to help you get to the next level,

whatever it is. And this is why I have this podcast

that has all different topics. So it's about

us trying to do some different things. And that's

how we'll be able to advance in our lives and

then the world. advances and that creates a better

world for us and everybody. Thank you for listening

to the Behavioral Profit Show. If this conversation

gave you a new way to think about leadership

behavior, communication, or business growth,

make sure you follow the show so you don't miss

future episodes. You can also learn about my

work, upcoming episodes, and great opportunities

at DebbieLongo .com. I'm Debbie Longo, and when

you understand the behavior behind the outcome,

you can create stronger decisions, better communication,

and more profit. Thank you, Samir. being on the

show, I appreciate. Thanks a lot.