How Soft Solutions Is Building a WhatsApp CRM for Shop Owners on $40K MVP Spend (Interview with CEO Ankit Nagpal)

Intro and Company Overview

Nathan Latka

00:00Guys, softsolutionslimited.com, and they're building a tool to help any local business text message market to get their customers back faster. He learned this from firsthand through via his wife's dental practice. He spent $40,000 so far on the MVP. He wants to go and sell this all in India using a 100% commission model on sales reps. He hopes to bring on 50 new sales reps per month. Again, a 100% commission model. He's launching early next year. We'll

00:23see what happens. Hey, folks. My guest today is Ankit Nagpal. He's a software engineer who's developing a new SaaS software for shop owners called softsolutionslimited.com. Ankit, you ready to take us to the top?

Ankit Nagpal

00:35>> Yep.

Why Ankit Is Building This Product

Nathan Latka

00:36Alright. So tell me why you wanna get into this space SaaS software for shop owners.

The Dental Practice Origin Story

Ankit Nagpal

00:41>> Okay. Yeah. So, so let me tell you a bit about myself. So I own a business in which we have around 5,000 customers. And I felt a need that we need a software in which I should be able to communicate with my customers regularly. It can be holiday events, it can be reminders. It can be some promotional messages for for the customers and through WhatsApp or Facebook or other messaging platforms.

Nathan Latka

01:17Ankit, what is the what is the name just hold on one second. What's the name of that other company with 5,000 customers?

Ankit Nagpal

01:23>> No. That's my business. I have a dental clinic. So I have 5,000 patients that are that are our customers. So what was happening was we were

01:38>> not able to be in touch with all the customers.

01:43>> They were not how can I say that? I we wanted to be in touch with our customers so that they visit us regularly so that we we get revenue, more revenue.

Nathan Latka

01:53So Ankit, just to just to be clear, I'm very confused. You have a dental shop. You do fix people's teeth, and you have 5,000 customers, and you're frustrated you can't talk to them?

Ankit Nagpal

02:05>> Yes. That that was that was from where we started with this with this product. That's

Nathan Latka

02:12What I'm asking is you are you a dentist with a dentition?

Ankit Nagpal

02:14>> No, wife is a dentist and she has those patients and patients were coming to us regularly and this they were telling us, Oh, we forgot your appointment or we did not get your message or for for the regular teeth cleaning and other services, annual checkups and everything.

Nathan Latka

02:33Understood. So you're you're now building software to help your wife and others like your wife connect to their patients more frequently?

Ankit Nagpal

02:41>> Yes, yes, exactly. So but we felt that whenever a patient came to us and we said, Oh, you missed your annual checkup and things like that, they always said, We forgot. So that very frustrating for me because I thought why they are not remembering us, they are not remembering our appointments. So the problem I found that most of them do not use email. They are like regular people. Use Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp or Telegram or whatever messaging

03:16>> platforms. So, and I tried to find some software something where I can schedule a message or something that your appointment is due on this date, and they get through whatever platform they are using. So we I was I have particularly I spent at least five ten days searching for anything that I can add. There are scheduling software available like Calendly and many other but they are mostly email and nobody needs email. So I mean, people do

03:47>> not read email in my country. Usually, are like older people. They they usually check SMS and WhatsApp.

Nathan Latka

03:54So So, Ankit, sorry. Just to we have a very short amount of time. So short answer to your best. I'm gonna try and get through a bunch of stuff here. Okay? So I think I understand why you're building this. When did you write the first line of code for your platform?

When Development Started and Team Size

Ankit Nagpal

04:05>> Okay. So I made a demo. So first of all, I I made a demo in March 2022, this year.

Nathan Latka

04:11I Okay. So you just So you just started earlier this year. And is it just you building it? Or how many engineers are you working with?

Ankit Nagpal

04:18>> Okay. So I started with I just made a simple demo demo software myself. I took around two months to make a demo. And then I showed the demo to many business owners. Like this is a software that can help you increase your business. So and what should be the price and like that. So I started myself. Now I now we are eight engineers, eight engineers handling different department like server and one person is handling app and

04:45>> like that. So now we are eight. And I have built the team slowly over a period of time. I could not build the team on on the day one because

Nathan Latka

04:53I I understand. I understand. Again, short answers here if we can because otherwise we're gonna end up not getting anything done. You have a team of eight. My question is, you told me before the show your pre revenue. So how are you paying these eight engineers?

Pre-Revenue Status and How Engineers Are Paid

Ankit Nagpal

05:05>> Myself, from my pocket. Yeah.

Nathan Latka

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06:18not built off random data. Again, you guys hear these interviews on YouTube. All these datas are built from real time valuation data points founder share with us on the show. So traction, 1,200,000 seed round, 3.7 raise. They sold 22% of their business. Go in here and filter by the event. Maybe you only wanna see companies that have sold the whole business. Well, here are a bunch that have been acquired the valuation and the multiple. Maybe you're

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07:32interview. Okay, does that make you nervous? How much of how much of your own money have you invested so far?

Personal Fund Pool and MVP Spend

Ankit Nagpal

07:37>> Okay, so I have 250,000 not invested. I have the fund fund of 250,000 that includes the salaries, salaries and development costs and opening of a few first three, four offices in my country.

Nathan Latka

07:52Okay. So you've invested personally $250,000 to pay the engineers in

Ankit Nagpal

07:57>> Yeah. The I will be investing. This is my fund pool that I have. Till now, I have invested around $40,000 till now.

Nathan Latka

08:05Okay. So you've invested 40,000 to pay eight engineers for about five months, which has enabled you to build an MVP.

Ankit Nagpal

08:11>> Not not for now. From from March to this month, but gradually, like, I started with one, then I added keep on adding, like, every two months, I'm adding one person.

Nathan Latka

08:20Okay. Ankit, the point the point is over the past seven months, you've personally invested 40 k across eight engineers to build the MVP to where it is today.

Ankit Nagpal

08:29>> Yes. Yes. Yep.

Nathan Latka

08:30Okay. Is your wife paying for it yet?

Ankit Nagpal

08:36>> Yes. Yes. On a monthly basis, yeah, some expenses. Yes.

Nathan Latka

08:39No. No. Is she paying to use your software to connect with her dental clients?

Ankit Nagpal

08:45>> Yes. We have made a small software demo just just just how can I say? Not the final launch, just yes. And we are sending messages. And she's not paying, but we are testing it on several businesses.

Nathan Latka

08:58Okay. When are you gonna start charging your wife?

Ankit Nagpal

09:03>> June June two thousand twenty three when we launch. When we officially

Nathan Latka

09:07Why why so long? It's already working. Why wait until June next year to start charging?

Ankit Nagpal

09:11>> I mean, I and my wife, we are same say, a family. So it's not about charging. Who cares?

Nathan Latka

09:16This is business. This is war. Yeah. You gotta charge. Okay.

Ankit Nagpal

09:22>> She's giving me feedback, so that's the compensation. Okay.

Nathan Latka

09:26Fair enough. What about other people, though? Why don't you have other people paying yet?

20 Beta Installs and Pricing Feedback

Ankit Nagpal

09:30>> Yeah. Because I had installed on 20 different businesses. They are all friends and family. Just for the feedback like how is it going, how much business, just I'm collecting data.

Nathan Latka

09:40What are they telling you they're willing to pay per month to use it?

$10 Per Month Pricing and Messaging Infrastructure

Ankit Nagpal

09:43>> Yeah. So if I'm in India, so I'll I can 10 in Indian rupees because we are launching India. So everybody is comfortable with I'll say $10 per month is the is they're comfortable.

Nathan Latka

09:56$10 per month would be about a thousand Indian rupees per month.

Ankit Nagpal

10:01>> Less than. Yes. Less than.

Nathan Latka

10:04Okay. And and how like, how will you structure the pricing? How many messages can they send for $10 a month?

Ankit Nagpal

10:10>> Yeah. So we structure this, you can send as many messages to as many people through as many channels. So we have integrated all the platforms. So you can send message to any platform, any number of times to any number of people.

Nathan Latka

10:26Yeah. But if you're doing Twilio's rails or someone else's rails, you have to pay per text message. You have real cost. At some point, $10, you lose money.

Ankit Nagpal

10:33>> Yeah. So we have our own server. We have our own server. And we pay a fixed amount for a cloud server, and we don't have to pay per message. So we are having, yeah, automation at our own server.

Nathan Latka

10:46You built your own mini version of Twilio, so you don't have to pay Twilio.

Ankit Nagpal

10:51>> Yes. We have our own version mini version of Twilio for a monthly fixed cost. And we have integrations with all the most all the apps, popular messaging apps, so we can send messages to any anybody to to to N channel. Yeah.

Nathan Latka

11:07What did this does this create friction with you and your wife? Does she at dinner say, Ankit, start charging for this thing. We need to make money.

Ankit Nagpal

11:14>> Yes. It happens a lot, but I say that we I'm not ready because there are a lot of things to be done. And I am around 50%. The problem was, yeah, yeah, this happens because I did not build a team of eight engineers on the day one. It took me time. So now we are at very fast peak, but it took me time initially. So that's why there's delay. Yeah. Yeah. So it happens.

Nathan Latka

11:38Why not charge with these early customers? Why not charge them like $5,000 to do it manually like an agency to start?

Ankit Nagpal

11:46>> Yes. So so my plan is to automate to to give us software to automate these things which people are doing manually actually, if you know some business out there manually sending messages through WhatsApp or Facebook or Messenger. But the system is automatic. So it's about not charging customers too much for the manual thing. I want is everybody, every shop owner in India should be able to use my software for $10 per month. We there nothing has

12:17>> to do. Just put the

Nathan Latka

12:19Okay. Okay. You didn't answer my question. My question on your on your page right now, you have under our services, dental, India tourism, website development, online marketing, language translation, medical tourism. Why don't you charge consulting fees to some of these folks while you're building the software?

Ankit Nagpal

12:39>> I

12:43>> don't think I am ready right now to charge a fee. I it's not a finished product. So Okay.

Nathan Latka

12:48Guys, I think Ankit, you guys listening on YouTube and iTunes, Ankit doesn't like money.

Ankit Nagpal

12:53>> Yeah. No. I like money when I think the product is ready. When people when people will be happy using the software, then that's more satisfying for me.

Nathan Latka

13:03Say it again. I like money.

Ankit Nagpal

13:05>> Yeah. I like money.

Nathan Latka

13:07Okay. I like money. Amazing.

13:10Okay. So you're investing. You're investing. You're gonna launch in June next year. You have eight people on the How do you plan to reach all the dentists in India?

Go-to-Market Plan and Sales Rep Strategy

Ankit Nagpal

13:19>> No. Not just dentists. The software is a common software. It can be used by dentists, hotels, restaurant, anybody.

Nathan Latka

13:26Okay. But you're starting with dentists?

Ankit Nagpal

13:29>> Not not just dentists. I'm starting with everyone.

Nathan Latka

13:32Well, it's kinda hard to start with everybody because then you're billed it for nobody. Right? You've built it for dentists because I'm on your website right now and it's all talks about dentists, dental services, your wife is a doctor, a dentist.

Ankit Nagpal

13:43>> Yeah. If you go to the product section, if you go to the product section, there is a software called marketing software. In the products, they will website and in the website, you go to marketing software. There you will see what industries we are targeting. So there's a list of industries.

Commission-Only Recruitment Model

Nathan Latka

14:00Well, yeah. But but but but you don't have any markets right now because you're pre revenue. Don't you have to pick one market to like dominate before you go say we're gonna be everything there for everyone?

Ankit Nagpal

14:09>> Yeah. So this doesn't work actually. But you are think thing is true. But the the point is we are we'll be hiring approximately 50 sales representatives per month like that. I'll be hiring in bulk. So I cannot tell everyone to just go to the dentist. I'll be like go to any business owner that you know in your network and sell it to him by the restaurant or any shop or anybody.

Nathan Latka

14:32You're gonna hire 50 sales reps on day one?

Ankit Nagpal

14:35>> Yeah. On on on first month. Every month, my target is to hire 50 sales rep every month.

Nathan Latka

14:43How much do you pay them base?

Ankit Nagpal

14:45>> Yeah. That's a commission based on the commission business.

Nathan Latka

14:47Oh, got it. So you're gonna so you don't have to pay anything unless they close sales?

Ankit Nagpal

14:52>> Yeah. Yeah. That that that's Okay.

Nathan Latka

14:54If I'm running around India and Ankit comes up me to on the street and says, I wanna hire you, Nathan. A 100% commission. Go sell my dental go sell my software to a water park. I'm gonna go, well, how do I know people are gonna buy your software? Do you have sales? And you're gonna say, no. We're just starting. I'm gonna say, I'm not gonna sell your software. You don't have any sales. So how do you

15:13recruit people on a 100% commission basis?

Ankit Nagpal

15:15>> Yeah. So we have various ways. We have developed our own CRM to this. So so the recruitment process is simple. We we post job on on the online platforms, monster.com and other online platforms. And we have applicants and they apply to the job. If they're interested, they sell it in their network. They're not going on the street. Everybody knows at least four or five friends who are business owners. So they'll be selling to their network and

15:46>> will be getting commission or then they'll be getting commission for it.

Nathan Latka

15:49That's a multi level marketing scheme.

Ankit Nagpal

15:52>> Multi level marketing, not exactly because we have a real product. It's not in multiple we are not making members of members. It's just

Famous Five Rapid Fire

Nathan Latka

16:03Fair.

Ankit Nagpal

16:05>> Big big team of sales representative on commission basis, not a regular salary employee on a for sales.

Nathan Latka

16:11Fair enough. Alright. Well, listen. We're rooting we're rooting for you. I want you to make money as fast as you can, but right now we're out of time. Let's wrap up with the famous five. Number one, favorite book.

Ankit Nagpal

16:22>> Favorite book.

16:27>> Let Us C++. I'm from computer programming. I'm a programmer. So

Nathan Latka

16:32And number two, is there a founder you're following or studying?

Ankit Nagpal

16:41>> No. I I I'm not I'm not following.

Nathan Latka

16:43Number three, what's your favorite online tool for building softsolutions?

Ankit Nagpal

16:48>> The the website or the software?

Nathan Latka

16:50Your just your favorite your favorite tool, online tool that you use.

Ankit Nagpal

16:54>> Okay. The the most favorite tool right now is ClickUp. There's a it's a productivity tool, software software project management tool named ClickUp. So that is my favorite tool. I've watched whole team there.

Nathan Latka

17:07Number four. How many hours of sleep do you get every night?

Ankit Nagpal

17:11>> Six to seven.

Nathan Latka

17:13And what's your situate well, we know you're you're married. How many kids? Any kids?

Ankit Nagpal

17:17>> Yeah. One kid. Yeah.

Nathan Latka

17:18One kid. Okay. And how old are you?

Ankit Nagpal

17:21>> 37.

Nathan Latka

17:2237.

17:23Last question. Something you wish you knew when you were 20.

Ankit Nagpal

17:27>> That I can make this software that I'm building if I could make it ten years back.

Closing Summary

Nathan Latka

17:33Guys, softsolutionslimited.com, and they're building a tool to help any local business text message market to get their customers back faster. He learned this from firsthand through via his wife's dental practice. He spent $40,000 so far on the MVP. He wants to go and sell this all in India using a 100% commission model on sales reps. He hopes to bring on 50 new sales reps per month. Again, a 100% commission model. He's launching early next year. We'll

17:57see what happens. Ankit, thanks for taking us to the top.

Ankit Nagpal

17:59>> Thank you.

Nathan Latka

18:02One more thing before you go. We have a brand new show every Thursday at 1PM Central. It's called Shark Tank for SaaS. We call it deal or bust. One founder comes on, three hungry buyers, they try and do a deal live and the founder shares back end dashboards, their expenses, their revenue, ARPU CAC, LTV, you name it, they share it and the buyers try and make a deal live. It is fun to watch every Thursday, 1PM

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