Using community-building to drive growth as a US-India startup

This episode goes in-depth into various aspects of community-building as a US-India startup. We cover everything from should 0-to-1 founders spend time on community-building, what type of community-building initiatives to focus on, best practices from Airbase’s ‘Off the Ledger’ community of CFOs, how to drive tangible business outcomes from community events, and finally, some learnings on relationship-building in Silicon Valley as a US-India founder.

Joining me for this discussion is Anand Krishna, Founder and CEO of Inkle. Inkle is an accounting and tax automation startup that serves hundreds of US companies. Before this, Anand founded LotusPay (backed by YC, acquired by Juspay) and Index (acquired by Niyo Global). Anand is one of the earliest India-based founders to be backed by YC and has been a huge connector in the Indian YC ecosystem.

TIME STAMPS:

(1:10) Anand and Inkle's backstory

(3:47) Building the 1st-ever YC community in India

(9:13) Stumbling into community-building as Inkle's GTM differentiation

(11:17) Should 0-to-1 founders spend time on community-building?

(13:55) [Case Study 1] 'Off the Ledger' - Airbase's community of CFOs

(19:32) How should US-India founders choose which type of community-building initiative to focus on?

(23:30) [Case Study 2] How Inkle's partnership with Brex resulted from community events

(27:24) The remote hustle of India-based founders to drive US GTM

(33:52) Importance of sustaining momentum in community-building to get compounding benefits

(37:30) The secret sauce of relationship-building in Silicon Valley as a US-India founder

Connect with Anand - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anand-krishna-9b61a4/ 

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Check out "An Operator's Blog" (https://operator.blog/) for weekly posts on Startups, Investing, and Life.

I am a venture investor focused on the US-India corridor. Feel free to reach out on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumitrasharma5/) and follow me on X (@soumitra_sharma).