Aneesh Reddy of Capillary Tech on his wins, mistakes and a breakout SaaS model

First Principles

Welcome to Episode 36 of First Principles!

If you're here to find our latest edition of the First Principles Newsletter, here you go!

Our guest for this episode is Aneesh Reddy, the co-founder and CEO of Capillary Technologies, a Bangalore-headquartered software-as-a-service – or SaaS – company that is one of the global leaders in customer loyalty and engagement.

Capillary powers the customer loyalty operations of hundreds of companies around the world. From companies like Domino’s, Puma, Shell, Marks & Spencers, and the Tata Group, to 15 of the world’s top Fortune 100 companies.

Each time you transact at one of their stores or respond to a marketing message or upgrade your room, it’s probably Capillary’s tech at play behind the scenes.

In its 16th year now, Capillary powers close to 7 billion annual transactions for its customer’s customers.

But – and there’s always a but in great stories – Capillary and Aneesh didn’t have an easy ride.

They went through multiple economic downturns. They raised large venture rounds and expanded globally, only to shut down many of those operations after losing millions of dollars. Of the three co-founders, two left.

One having burnt out and the other because Aneesh was too stressful to work with.

Aneesh himself wanted to quit. But his board wouldn’t have it.

In this episode, Aneesh explains how CapillaryTech bounced back from this point, by slicing their journey into three “dream installments.”

He also talks about:

1. How CapillaryTech “bounced” into SaaS in a global recession
2. The breakout SaaS model that gets them $1 million deals
3. Building a people-first organization
4. Learning and changing as a leader

This is episode 36 of First Principles—The Ken's weekly leadership podcast.

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