A Serial “Data” Entrepreneur’s Journey: Bassel Ojjeh, CEO of LigaData (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What year did this restructuring happen?

Bassel Ojjeh: This was in 2014. 

Sramana Mitra: LigaData really comes together in 2014. What happens next?

Bassel Ojjeh: My biggest focus continues to be profitability. Last year, I was reading something when it struck me, “You want the freedom to innovate and you need to be profitable to be free.” That combination is really important.

What we’ve done really well is being consistent with delivering value to the customer, doing it in a way that’s profitable, taking risks within the means. That has worked well so far. We have customers in about 25 countries.

Sramana Mitra: You’re selling a SaaS product now?

Bassel Ojjeh: We sell a SaaS product. We are selling services with that product. The realization is that as much as data is growing, there’s also been a huge amount of data management complexity. 

Sramana Mitra: And a lack of expertise.

Bassel Ojjeh: Exactly. It’s the people, process, and the product. There’s been a lack of expertise. For a customer to be successful in their data utilization, it’s not just about technology. It’s about technology, people, and processes.

We come in, and we have the experience. That’s the service component. So far, that has done well. The customers like the product. They like the fact that they talk to us not as a software vendor but as a full solution.

Sramana Mitra: What is the composition of revenue? What percentage is product? What kind of average deal sizes are you seeing?

Bassel Ojjeh: Product is about 40% of our revenue. Services is another 40%. We have another component that customers have asked us to do which is running it 24/7. This becomes the only hub where all the data comes in. It feeds into the different products and vendors. The operation stability becomes really important.

Sramana Mitra: What is the average deal size?

Bassel Ojjeh: We’re anywhere from $600,000 to $2 million per customer.

Sramana Mitra: You are targeting squarely the enterprise customers?

Bassel Ojjeh: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: How many customers do you have now?

Bassel Ojjeh: We have about 15 to 20 customers.

Sramana Mitra: What is the primary use case around which you’re seeing adoption?

Bassel Ojjeh: The primary use case for telecommunications is understanding their subscriber base and offering products that match the behavior. In telecom, there has been a rise of data usage and a significant fall in voice usage.

That  puts a lot of pressure on telecoms to say, “For me to stay in business, how can I roll out more products so I can get customers to spend as much?” It’s pretty straightforward but extremely effective. That is the transformation that is going through in the telecom world.

In the banking world, you have a lot of pressure around digitalization. How do I stay connected with my account holders in a way that I can build a relationship? 

Sramana Mitra: So you’re doing multiple different use cases in different verticals.

Bassel Ojjeh: Yes, banking and telecom.

Sramana Mitra: Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 5 in the series : A Serial “Data” Entrepreneur’s Journey: Bassel Ojjeh, CEO of LigaData
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