Bootstrapping in Minnesota: Praful Saklani, CEO of Pramata (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: That brings us to what timeframe?

Praful Saklani: That brings us to probably mid to late 2007. There’s a second piece that I’d like to add to this. As we were developing this, it wasn’t just about a technology product model that we built. We actually built a whole service and delivery model around it. One of the things that we identified in our discussions with potential customers was that their issue was only partially a technological problem. Yes, they didn’t have tools that allowed them to get at this data. A lot of it was around data integrity and data accuracy. Where is the data coming from?

We actually built a data extraction process that’s a key part of the whole Pramata innovation. We literally took in their contracts and worked with them on what the scope of these contracts. Then, we ran it through an entire data extraction process that was partially automated and also involved lawyers and financial professionals from Pramata that actually do all of these extractions so that by the time that data got into our platform or into our solution, it was 99% accurate. That was a big innovation. That also came out of the voice of the customer.

Sramana Mitra: So you were really immersed in the customers and very diligent about exploring what the customers are looking for and feeding that back into product development.

Praful Saklani: As you know very well, that’s a big advantage of the bootstrapped model. You need to listen to the voice of the customer because that’s what you’re betting on. Your margin for error is a lot less than if you have $15 million in the bank and you can put up a lot of good ideas. There’s nothing wrong with that. That works for a lot of companies. I’m saying for the bootstrapped model, you really have to get the voice of the customer into the product.

Sramana Mitra: When you’re working with enterprise customers, working really closely with a handful of customers during the early product development phase really gets you a much better clarity on what to put in the product and what not to put in. When you’re dealing with consumer products, you generally do not design such complex products. It’s either going to stick or it’s not going to stick. It doesn’t have that many features. With enterprise products, there are a lot more options and complexity in what you put in and what you don’t put in.

Praful Saklani: That’s a really good point. I think part of the reason for that is that switching cost is so high for the enterprise. They know that when they enter into a relationship with you, it’s going to be a long-term relationship. They’re going to invest in change management. They’re going to train people. They’re going to put their business planning around it. They can’t do that every year. Nobody has that type of extra time on their hands.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Bootstrapping in Minnesota: Praful Saklani, CEO of Pramata
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