How To Craft a Winning Go-to-Market Strategy: Expert Tips w/ Nayan Behal | Pliant

Nayan Behal: 0:00

I'm a strong believer in the 80-20 rule, right. So if you can kind of build to some of the most pressing needs that should largely cover a majority of kind of the gap for lack of a better word then you can continue to iterate and build on that.

Anshika Arora: 0:20

Today, we're talking all about what you need to consider when building an effective go-to-market strategy. We discuss the ways to define your pricing strategy, distribution channels, target audiences and common mistakes that founders can make when they're finding the right balance between being too flexible or too rigid in their approach. We're honoured to have Nayan on the podcast, who is the Managing Director and Country Head of Pliant, a Series A fintech startup. He has years of experience ranging across various VC-backed startups and global brands such as Amex, Citi and Target. His key areas of focus have always surrounded commercialization, go-to-market strategies, as well as strategic financing, partnerships, customer acquisition and so much more.

Anshika Arora: 1:00

I'm Anshika. I'm the founder of Eternity, a one-stop shop to effortlessly connect, book and manage wedding services for couples and businesses alike. I'm excited to be hosting the LAB Podcast today, which is powered by HSBC Innovation Banking. Let's get into it. Thank you so much, Nayan, for joining us today on the BAE Lab Podcast. I'm so excited to be talking all things surrounding creating an effective go-to-market strategy, so let's just get straight into it. So, to start off with what do you believe are the main components that should be part of your go-to-market strategy?

Nayan Behal: 1:31

I think main components are for sure A understanding, product market fit and if there's kind of ability to kind of gauge that in the market beforehand, I think that's extremely beneficial. But understanding obviously based off the state of the company. I think that's extremely beneficial. But understanding obviously based off the state of the company, that is a little bit challenging.

Nayan Behal: 1:49

I think the other piece is around the talent that you hire to help facilitate that go-to-market strategy and thinking through the seniority required, whether you need more junior sales folks and commercial folks or if you need sales leaders. Typically we see mistakes where folks think they need to go super senior in markets not necessarily needing to take on that cost, and they have a very different skill set than your initial what I call almost brute force type sales approach. And then the other piece around it is really kind of focused on KPIs and making sure you're measuring everything. I think I've seen lots of folks kind of say certain things aren't measurable, but I kind of disagree. I think even qualitative pieces are measurable from a KPI standpoint. So I think those are kind of the three main pieces that I really think about and I've seen kind of drive success in early stage to, you know, fortune 50 type companies.

Anshika Arora: 2:49

Yeah, that's really interesting and actually, where you touched upon KPIs there, are there any key metrics that you see, regardless of business or regardless of industry, founders should be tracking, like you've mentioned that there's obviously qualitative ones, but do you mind sharing some quantitative and qualitative?

Nayan Behal: 3:04

I think I really understand and I guess I've seen this across companies, verticals and things like that but I do think like really being able to hone in on the pipeline and effectively like really understanding like what the top of the funnel looks like, what the conversion looks like and what the kind of business and that pipeline and the quality of the the customers that come through that pipeline look like, even post close. So it's really understanding like how they're engaging with your products and services and how they're engaging with you, know you as a company, and the value that you're delivering to them, like does it actually meet the expectations that were kind of identified out of the gate? And so I think that those are, that's kind of the most important thing to me, quite frankly. Yeah, and actually where you've said there your target users, that becomes your outside out of the gate, and so I think that's kind of the most important thing to me, quite frankly.

Anshika Arora: 3:45

Yeah, and actually where you've said there your target users, that becomes your target audience. So, when it comes to actually building out your target audience and defining that go-to-market strategy for them to make sure that you can produce the desired output, what kind of advice would you give to founders who are early stage and actually trying to identify this audience to begin with, because you can often know that right, this is my problem, this is my solution, and sometimes it can get a bit too broad. So what advice would you give to founders to really hone in on the right to target audience?

Nayan Behal: 4:14

I think having as many conversations as you can, it delivers kind of the most value that I've seen, just really understanding pain points, understanding know what are kind of the gaps in the market and what are the gaps in the existing offerings and where you can kind of acutely address those issues and challenges. I've seen scenarios where founders have kind of just almost built in a silo and then kind of put a product out there, thinking that you know either their pain point or what they've heard or what.

Nayan Behal: 4:47

I think the other misnomer is they talk to people and then customers say, oh, I would buy that. That's also not necessarily a very productive conversation because everyone can tell you that they would buy something or they're actually going to buy it. It's a totally different question and that's really only solved by being able to deliver value for that price. So conversations are the most valuable indication which really help you assess that product market fit and also, quite frankly, what the market looks like and if it's different to other markets or vice versa, especially when you're thinking about geo-expansion and stuff like that.

Anshika Arora: 5:28

There's also different market nuances and capability nuances as well that you need to think about when you're kind of doing a go to market more broadly, yeah, and I think that's a trap that most founders do fall into, especially early stage, where, like you said, you keep building, then you ask your close circle or people who are your target audience but you have a good relationship with and they're never going to be brutally honest with you.

Anshika Arora:  

They're always going to support you and say yep exactly such a need for  this product, what would you say to Founders who fall into that trap  like is there benefit in building with your consumer and how does that tangibly look?

Nayan Behal: 5:52

I guess the flip side of it is obviously you’re resource constrained and  um listening to everyone um even even investors sometimes creates um a lot of noise and inaccuracies quite frankly. I think it’s more around kind of really creating a product 

 roadmap that really is able to filter in the most important pieces that are not nuanced, if that makes sense. I'm a strong believer in the 80-20 rule right. So if you can kind of build to some of the most pressing needs, that should largely cover a majority of the gap for lack of better words. And you can continue to iterate and build on that as you proceed and as you progress and add kind of on the periphery. But as long as the core is addressing a common need and issue and challenge, I've seen that that kind of generally is the best approach versus kind of building nuanced things for one customer that then 100 other customers aren't going to use.

Anshika Arora: 7:04

I think you've raised a really good point there. That it's around not listening to everyone is probably one of the biggest challenges that a founder faces and you have to be quite selective about what you're listening to and what you're building out. And actually, I guess moving on from that a little bit but it's still linked in around the sales and distribution side, because when it comes to, say, you're building a product and you're building with your consumer and you've got your roadmap so you know exactly what you need to have, when it comes to actual go-to-market strategy and utilizing sales and distribution channels, would you recommend that there's a certain time that you should be doing it? So, when your product is maybe in the early stages, should you be tackling the largest distribution channels at that stage, or should you continue to build with your client and actually wait for the right moment? What's your advice there?

Nayan Behal: 7:51

I think that probably differs by industry. I mean, I'm steeped in payments and financial services and so when you think about big customers, that literally means large, slow-moving banks and I think in our space and probably others. If you're building for a large enterprise or looking to distribute through a large enterprise, if you're building for a large enterprise or looking to distribute through a large enterprise, you're largely going to need a lot more complexity and a lot more of kind of a nuanced build that addresses a lot of different things like SAP integrations and CRM integrations and things like that, which, of course, are probably not going to be as relevant to an SMB or a smaller customer. And so I guess it's more around what resources are enabled to help you build that product and where's that traction happening. I think, typically with startups, it's always an easier path to go upstream versus build for the big guys.

Nayan Behal: 8:52

But again, I think that's very specific and nuanced as well as what's happening in the space, because even with the proliferation of AI, that's not necessarily something that's going to be built for the SMB or consumer customer, for lack of better words. That's largely going to be built for a mid-market or more concerning buyer. So I think it depends, or more concerning buyer. So I think it depends. But typically I, you know, have seen more success starting small and growing, versus kind of trying to go big or go home.

Anshika Arora: 9:26

Yeah, and I think that's a really important and interesting point. But regardless of whether you are starting off as a smaller business and probably something which is a bit more siloed into the problem versus something which is a bit more of a generalist problem or a larger enterprise, I think pricing is one thing that all businesses and all founders always struggle with when it comes to their go-to-market strategy. What kind of either frameworks or advice would you have for founders when it comes to building that pricing side out for their go-to-market, whether it be predatory pricing like matching your competitors? What do you find often works best to analyze?

Nayan Behal: 9:57

Competitive analysis for sure is one point of view to really understand intimately and understand if there is a consideration set, where do you fall on that totem pole from a pricing standpoint.

Nayan Behal: 10:10

Do you want to price competitively and to try to kind of grab the market, or do you feel like you need to price higher because you're delivering more value? I think that's only something a team, a founding team, can kind of  specifically answer.  But really kind of understanding what  the consideration set  is for your customers and where you land within that pricing framework is the best way to go about it. And then just really trying to figure out what's your pricing strategy more broadly and then what your unit economics and your margin or your take rate really looks like, because that's going to be very different for a lot of different companies. But I think really focusing on positive unit economics out of the gate is probably the most beneficial to any kind of business or entrepreneur, because I think anyone can price themselves and give away money or a product and services for free. But that's just not sustainable and you're largely not going to attract at least smart funding if you've got kind of negative unit economics driving your revenue growth.

Amardeep Parmar: 11:24

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Anshika Arora: 11:55

Yeah, and I think a lot of founders will always say well, it's always my favorite phrase that if you're um pricing your business incorrectly, you're not running a business, you're just running an expensive hobby. And I think that really comes into play here, and I guess, especially with pricing. When it comes to getting the right messaging across to your consumers, communication and positioning is everything, and that's definitely something that I've learned along my journey. But what kind of advice would you give to founders when they're crafting that compelling message to justify the pricing, whether they're going through the route of being competitive, whether they're going through the route of being specialists and really deriving the right value for their products? What advice would you give there?

Nayan Behal: 12:43

I think the one thing I've seen is that if you have a nuance and a complex product that serves different segments, creating messaging, even branding, potentially around those segments is extremely beneficial, and even if it means different pricing or a different approach for different kinds of flavors of your product Because a lot of times, I've not necessarily seen a one-size-fits-all approach work effectively, and that's because inherently you're going to have different segments and even within different segments you're going to have different verticals that you can approach.

Nayan Behal: 13:32

B2C, I think, is a little bit different. Enterprise side, specifically having tailored messaging, comms, pricing goes a really long way versus saying I have something for everyone and it's one price. You can think about yourself as a buyer of products and services. That doesn't necessarily make you feel like the company that's approaching you is discerning about you and your business or you and you as a customer. So I think that really goes a long way, which I think is hard to do out of the gate. But that's why, then, kind of understanding the competitive landscape and that pricing framework and where you lie within that value chain is kind of paramount.

Anshika Arora: 14:13

Yeah, I love what you said there, that one size fits all just doesn't work, and that's a big mistake that founders make. Are there any other mistakes that you see founders make, particularly when it comes to defining their go to market strategy?

Nayan Behal: 14:25

A lot of times because they are so passionate about their product and service and their vision out of the gate, there's sometimes a lot of inflexibility to iterate and learn from customers. From conversations I've seen folks really just go into this rabbit hole again where they're just building and wanting to build the product and the vision and the value that they saw from day zero. But that's generally not how it works and not how successful companies get started or how they launch and grow and scale. So it's more around being open to iteration and understanding outside drivers that could deliver more value versus being inflexible and, I'd argue, kind of draconian in your approach to building and to, you know, trying to commercialize your business.

Anshika Arora: 15:25

Yeah, because I think as founders, it's striking the right balance between the passion and why you started the business and the demand you initially saw, versus how are you going to monetize it and make it commercially viable. So I think I've definitely seen a spectrum of founders where you see those who are very inflexible and very rigid and then you see those who are actually probably a bit more commercially driven and pivot at every chance they get, which can also be perhaps a bit too extreme. So what advice would you have for someone trying to pivot effectively and kind of hitting that middle mark?

Nayan Behal: 15:55

I think when you're talking, when you're thinking about kind of you know, hiring or thinking about people that are advising you or helping you on your journey, it's really looking for people who have expertise in the areas that are big gaps for you.

Nayan Behal: 16:12

So, you know, prime example for me is is, you know, in this current role where I'm kind of heading up the geo expansion to the UK for a European based company, I kind of specifically said listen, you know I'm not an AE or a BDR and I'm not going to pretend to kind of know that that cold call kind of sales outreach motion, but these are the things that I do have and that I can do, and for my founders that was sort of a non-issue because those gaps you can fill as you build out a team and as you scale and as you grow.

Nayan Behal: 16:51

So I think it's really kind of being able to kind of understand how do you cover the gaps and then to really trust those people or those advisors or mentors that their expertise and their knowledge and filling those gaps is valuable, versus you taking that and saying, oh no, I don't think it should be done that way Yet I have no experience doing it, so I'm going to do it my way. That's where I've seen a lot of money be wasted or kind of runway be taken up, when they simply could have just kind of listened or optimized for kind of things that they didn't know.

Anshika Arora: 17:28

Yeah, no. So I think that's really helpful, as some takeaways is one is definitely just trusting your team, definitely just trusting your team, and then, when it comes to building out the right go-to-market strategy, just make sure that you have the balance of the customers, the team, the problem that you're initially trying to solve and try and make it commercially make sense. So thank you so much, Nayan. That was super helpful and super interesting to hear and I know that I definitely took away a lot from that session. Now, of course, as part of BAE, we have quick, rapid fire questions that we ask all of our guests, which are actually probably a lot more difficult to answer than the actual discussions that we have. So, to start off with, who are three Asians in Britain who you think are doing incredible work that the audience should check out?

Nayan Behal: 18:07

Yeah, I mean, hopefully the audience already knows about them, but I think you know, for me and being kind of in FinTech and and seeing a lot of that, I think for sure TS Anil at Monzo and kind of how they've continued to catapult that business, it's just kind of remarkable and so it's really cool to see how they build that team out and they grow that business.

Nayan Behal: 18:27

I think Rishi Khosla at Oak North again, they're kind of eyeing a US expansion strategy. They've done a lot for kind of the small business backbone, I would say, of the UK and I think it's just pretty cool to see their growth and how they continue to kind of find traction and market share there. And then I guess I'll do a shameless plug for for my wife, Raji Behal, who runs Southern and Western Europe for Klarna, as they kind of prep for their rumored IPO, ipo and and kind of just really um writing that business and and kind of continuing to grow it um across kind of europe and the uk markets. Um, it's always very inspiring to see her and everything she does and being able to also be a great mother and a great partner. So that's my answer,

Anshika Arora: 19:17

The best one to last for that yeah, yeah how can people find out a bit more about you and the company?

Nayan Behal: 19:25

Well, I think for me I'm pretty easily accessible, um, through kind of linkedin and email and stuff. And I think our company, um, you know there's been some a recent leak in the press about some of our numbers and stuff like that. We do have some pretty great investors in the likes of PayPal and Motive and stuff. But yeah, for us it's pretty easy to learn about us. I would say that we have a nuanced go-to-market where I think there's a little bit yet that is not fully displayed on our website but we'd be happy to chat with folks about that. But I think our kind of approach is more of this direct and indirect model. And you know, kind of based off of  our earlier session, lots of people would tell founders and businesses not to take two go-to-market strategies, which I would usually agree with. But I think that's actually served us quite well and has started to kind of really take shape from a growth perspective.

Anshika Arora: 20:18

Amazing, glad to hear it. And obviously the BAE operates as an ecosystem, so how can our audience help you?

Nayan Behal: 20:25

We just love feedback about the market and kind of how folks are seeing products and services that are comparable or potentially add-ons or kind of interesting things, I think, in the market. That would be super helpful for me to understand and see. I think fintech is quite crowded and to a certain extent commoditized, so it's really about again that nuance to go to market and delivering value. So anything anyone can help me with that in that regard would be more than welcome.

Anshika Arora: 20:55

Amazing. Any final words from you? 

Nayan Behal: 20:57

No, just thank you so much for the time. I hope this is enjoyable and helpful for the audience.

Anshika Arora: 21:03

Absolutely- Thank you for your time. Thanks, man. Take care. 

Nayan Behal: 

Thanks. Bye. 

Amardeep Parmar: 21:08

Thank you for watching. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.

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