RevUp is a series of startup events powered by Razorpay. While India is among the largest test bed for startups today, winning in this competitive market is no mean task. Razorpay’s journey started with an idea in a dorm room which went on to being selected for the prestigious Y Combinator programme and is today a disruptor in the fintech space.
While we have achieved significant milestones early on, we believe that our growth journey has just started. And, as we grow, we believe in giving back to the startup community; an attempt to help the future generation of entrepreneurs by sharing our learnings, insights, practical advice and success stories.
RevUp is a series of events that will be hosted across several cities in India, so as to connect budding startups with successful entrepreneurs, industry experts and influencers from the VC community.
RevUp Pune was the first of the series and was hosted at The Mesh, Pune on 14th January 2017. We received an overwhelming response with more than 150 people from the startup community in Pune attending the event.
The speakers for RevUp Pune were:
- Harshil Mathur, CEO & Co-founder at Razorpay
- Gourav Bhattacharya, VP at Matrix Partners
- Karan Sarin, CMO at Razorpay
Harshil Mathur, CEO & Co-founder of Razorpay, sharing his own startup insights with the audience
Participants had the opportunity to hear first hand accounts from CEO and Co-founder, Harshil Mathur about Razorpay’s journey from its initial years, starting with 2 people to the experience of being at Y Combinator to finally creating a product that commands a truly unique and coveted place in India’s fintech market.
Harshil also spoke about what it takes to do things differently, about creating products that customers will love and building a brand that employees would be proud to be a part of.
At Razorpay, we innovate with foresight. With a dynamic product offering and a strong team of some of the best talent from across the country, we’re changing the way payments work each day – Harshil Mathur
Gourav Bhattacharya, VP at Matrix Partners, speaking about critical factors that impact fund raising
From the other side of the startup fence, Gourav Bhattacharya, VP at Matrix Partners spoke about the funding philosophy at Matrix Partners and their diverse portfolio of investments. He also covered important aspects on what entrepreneurs should focus on while pitching to investors and what it actually takes to win investors.
Karan Sarin, CMO at Razorpay, sharing his insights on effective marketing techniques for startups
The final speaker for the event, Karan Sarin, CMO at Razorpay spoke about what it takes to sell to the Indian consumer. With his diverse experience spanning across several leading companies and startups, spoke about the right time and tactics for startups to invest in and scale marketing efforts.
He also spoke about how startups should initially focus on building a sound product by focussing on customer feedback, before going ahead with marketing.
Sales and marketing are two ends of a continuum. At the sales end your outreach is narrow and deep. At the marketing end it is broad and shallow. And for an early stage startup, narrow and deep is what you want — not just in the way you appeal to users, but in the type of product you build – Karan, CMO at Razorpay
The event ended on a high note with an interesting networking session where entrepreneurs got the opportunity to connect with fellow attendees and personally interact with the speakers of the event.
Are you an entrepreneur or someone who is interested in starting up? Find out more about the RevUp startup series by dropping us an email at events@razorpay.com.
