Yanir Calisar | How to build an enterprise product with hundreds of customers over a weekend
Host: Eyal David · Guest: Yanir Calisar · About the host
Yanir Calisar, a serial SaaS, enterprise and B2B entrepreneur and the founder of Tuvis, explains how to test a product idea within 24 hours: build an ugly MVP that works, ask a customer how much they would pay, and if you get even one "yes", you have a business. Tuvis started as a Chrome extension connecting WhatsApp and Salesforce, was built over one weekend, and reached nearly a million dollars in revenue as a four-person bootstrapped company before raising 11 million dollars.
In this episode
- Business validation first: ask a customer whether they would pay 1,000 dollars a month for the solution, and if even one out of three says yes, you have a business you can build in a few weeks.
- "The golden 24 hours": time, money and enthusiasm all work against you. When you have an idea, use that initial excitement to get as far as possible, for example a working MVP within a weekend.
- Good product people listen and distill: the customer asks for A, but sometimes a completely different solution is what gives them the value they are looking for.
- Every custom development request is judged by one question: can it become a product enhancement that serves more customers? If not, it is better to lose the deal than to become a services company.
- Connect the dots: Tuvis discovered it was solving not only productivity but also WhatsApp security and compliance, which let it move to enterprise deals of 50 thousand dollars and up.
- In a market like Brazil you need local people and patience: personal relationships come before business, and there is less competition because WhatsApp is less popular in the United States.
Listen to this episode
Episode Description
Yanir Calisar traces his path from selling at mall carts, through Insightera and its acquisition by Marketo, to a one-man company that sold 12 micro solutions to large enterprises. A WhatsApp message from a customer on a Friday night gave birth to Tuvis: a Chrome extension that brings Salesforce into WhatsApp Web, built over a weekend, with a first deal closed in week one. He describes how launching on AppExchange at the start of COVID brought in Volkswagen Argentina, why Brazil became the core market, the 11-million-dollar raise and the hard period that followed, and the pivot to WhatsApp security and compliance for enterprises. He closes with a rule of thumb for turning custom development into product enhancements, and his personal tip: curiosity and proportion.
Chapters
- 0:00 · Intro and meeting Yanir
- 2:11 · Playing by ear and a childhood of technical curiosity
- 4:52 · From mall carts to business development: Insightera and the Marketo acquisition
- 8:25 · Inside Marketo: micro solutions for enterprise customers
- 13:27 · 12 small solutions and the WhatsApp message that gave birth to Tuvis
- 19:14 · The golden 24 hours: time, money and enthusiasm
- 23:07 · From a weekend MVP to AppExchange, Volkswagen and Brazil
- 34:10 · Listening to the customer and distilling the real problem
- 36:03 · The pivot to WhatsApp security and compliance
- 40:20 · Enterprise only: deals of 50 thousand dollars and up
- 42:06 · Bootstrapping, an 11-million-dollar raise and the fall
- 46:22 · Custom development vs. product enhancement, and the Brazilian market
- 52:36 · Yanir's tip: curiosity and proportion
Full transcript with speakers and timestamps
Selected quotes
“Doing a startup is not fun. You eat a lot of hard crap along the way, but when you look back on it, yes, it's fun.”
“I think good product people are simply people who know how to listen well, and distill what the customer says into what's really needed.”
“The word "hard" is an interesting word, because hard compared to what?”
Questions & answers
Who is Yanir Calisar?
A Tel Aviv entrepreneur who has been involved in more than ten startups over the past 15 years, mostly in SaaS, enterprise and B2B. He founded Tuvis, worked at Insightera and Marketo, and today advises startups, is writing a book and invests.
What does Tuvis do?
Tuvis started as a Chrome extension connecting WhatsApp and Salesforce, so salespeople can see customer data and create leads without leaving WhatsApp. After a pivot in 2022 it also provides a security layer, fraud detection and compliance archiving for WhatsApp use in enterprises, mainly in Brazil.
How does Yanir test a product idea?
He asks professionals what bothers them, without talking about technology. After confirming the problem can be solved technically, he asks how much they would pay and goes to two more companies. A single "yes" is enough to build the product.
Why did Brazil become Tuvis's main market?
In Brazil almost everything happens on WhatsApp, including selling cars and financial services, so the problem is much bigger there. After Volkswagen Argentina found Tuvis on AppExchange, Yanir brought on a Brazilian partner who closed a one-million-dollar deal with a large bank within three months.
How do you avoid becoming a services company when enterprise customers ask for customizations?
Examine every custom development request and ask whether it can become a product improvement that also serves existing and future customers. If yes, build it. If not, be willing to walk away from the deal.
People & resources mentioned
People
- Yanir Calisar
- Oren Zeev, the investor who led Tuvis's funding round
Companies & orgs
- Tuvis
- Insightera
- Marketo
- Adobe
- Salesforce
- Volkswagen Argentina
- Telefónica
Tools
- Salesforce AppExchange
- Chrome Extensions
- WhatsApp Web
- Google Analytics
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