Partner-Led Growth: 50 Failed Pitches to $7M ARR

Episode notes

Sameer Narkar pitched enterprise customers for two years and failed more than 50 times. When he finally broke through, it wasn't through ads or cold outreach - it was through partner-led growth that turned other companies' distribution into his own. Founders will hear how Konnect Insights reached $7M ARR across 30 countries without raising a dollar of outside funding. Sameer reveals how partner-led growth through agency channels landed his first 25-30 customers in India, why ISV partnerships with Salesforce and Genesys opened doors his team could never reach alone, and the trust-building tactic of sourcing the first deals for each partner before expecting them to sell. His SaaS partnerships playbook shows how channel partnerships can replace paid acquisition entirely. Konnect Insights is a unified customer experience platform that replaces five or six point solutions for enterprise brands. Sameer bootstrapped it by running a software services business alongside the product, growing 200% in the last two years. Key Lessons Build partner-led growth before hiring a sales team: Sameer's first 25-30 customers came through agency partners who sold Konnect Insights to brands.