How Saravana Kumar Bootstrapped Kovai.co Past $8.6M ARR Using The Power of Community

Joining us on Leveling Up today is the CEO of kovai.com, Saravana Kumar! Kovai is an enterprise software company, and we get to hear from our guest about their past, present, and exciting future! Saravana is an amazing person and an excellent entrepreneur, who has a number of balls in the air. Apart from his main work at Kovai he is also dedicated to helping the community and spreading skills and wealth to people beyond himself! We talk about establishing a community in a niche market, something that Kovai has done so well in the last few years before we get into their customer acquisition strategies and how they make money. Saravana also unpacks important moments in the company's evolution, such as the move to India from the UK that was made in aid of scaling. We finish off this great chat with our usual questions, with Saravana sharing his favorite business book and tools, and how these have helped him up his game. So for all of this and a whole lot more, make sure to tune in with us today! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:31] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast! [01:30] Saravana's personal story and path leading to his current position and company. [03:50] The move that Kovai made to India in order to scale more quickly.  [06:38] Kovai's important numbers currently; revenue and employees. [07:14] The lead up to hitting the $1 million annual recurring revenue mark.  [08:05] The bootstrap model that Saravana and Kovai have relied on. [09:37] Reasons that Saravana has turned down all the venture capital he has been offered.  [11:27] The economic model for Kovai and where they make their money! [12:30] Customer acquisition strategies at the company and what has been working recently.  [14:34] Saravana's ambitions for spreading wealth, learning and expertise to others. [17:15] How Saravana splits his time between his different projects and passions. [18:36] The two business tools that have helped Saravana recently with his company. [19:21] A must-read book recommendation from Saravana! [20:42] The impact that the Traction framework had on Saravana and his systems.   Resources From The Interview:   Saravana Kumar Kovai.co SaaStock  Microsoft Zapier Azure Zendesk Intercom Freshdesk  HelpSTAR  Pipe OneNote Microsoft Teams Slack Tim Ferriss Traction Must read book: The Millionaire Fastlane   Leave Some Feedback:   What should I talk about next? Who should I interview? Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review here Subscribe to Leveling Up on iTunes Get the non-iTunes RSS Feed   Connect with Eric Siu:    Growth Everywhere Single Grain Eric Siu on Twitter