In 2016, I saw Vengat Krishnaraj quietly take his seat at the farthest edge of a roundtable discussion on SaaS companies. He said nothing during the event and disappeared once the talk ended.
For the longest time, Vengat was a ghost. You could only occasionally spot his presence in the right circumstances. He would say nothing but wordlessly exude calm and serenity. And just like ghosts, he would disappear if you tried approaching him for insights into his thinking. And not unlike ghosts, Vengat would continue to haunt roundtables and discussions around company building.
It’s easy to dismiss people who shy away from social interaction. But there was something distinctive about Vengat. Apart from his name, that is. He would always attend these events. His willingness to learn was visible right from the first time I saw him.
As time passed, Vengat attended SaaSBoomi events. He signed up for SGX and was mentored by Arvind Parthiban of SuperOps. After he graduated, he was a new person.
A few months later, Vengat and I had a rare heart-to-heart. He told me what had changed. He had realised he belonged. Vengat is a bootstrapped founder with a background in private equity. In the Chennai SaaS ecosystem, which is dominated by alums of Freshwork and Zoho, most founders have raised capital and have worked in early-stage or scale-up companies. How a bootstrapped founder tackles growth and how a founder who has raised capital imagines growth cannot be further apart. That difference isolated him.
One of the reasons we host these expansive events and double down on camaraderie is to foster social connections. As a society, we’ve become isolationists; it has narrowed our worldview and limited our affection for ourselves and the people connected to us. However, social connections are a fundamental human need. They help us grow.
We learn the strength of empathy and the value of patience as we spend more time in a larger community. The more varied the group, the broader our worldview. Imagine drinking at a bar with people from a different cultural context than you; early conversations will be difficult. You will disagree. There may be clashes. But humans are beautiful, unique animals, and we inevitably find ways to connect. With a little effort, Vengat did, too.
As Vengat spent time within the community, he met founders with varied experiences, and that human connection helped him realise his place at SaaSBoomi. He then became talkative, readily discussed his ideas, and occasionally joked with people around him. Vengat was no longer a ghost.
That’s when I learned about him. His inputs are full of insight. Everything has metrics; each metric has a value, and each value has scale. He listens patiently and replies respectfully. His attention to detail is unparalleled. More importantly, Vengat’s background in private equity means he can unpack complexities in multiple business models, which has made him a darling of founders during his talks.
However, the community discovered Vengat’s true dedication more recently.
SaaSBoomi had curated an event in Singapore, and over a dozen scaled and early-stage founders signed up. These founders had worked across Google, Microsoft, Paypal, and Stripe and wanted to learn. We had organised a speaker for this event, and a week before the doors were to open, the speaker cancelled.
I was in a fix. I had two options: cancel the event or organise another speaker. Some founders were flying in to attend the event and had booked tickets and hotels. But finding another speaker was tougher. On a lark, I called Vengat and asked if he would step into the breach. Without hesitation, Vengat agreed.
That week, Vengat had to prepare for the intimate roundtable, organise his visa, and balance his duties at Klenty, his company. The visa landed the night before he was to fly, and Vengat landed a few hours before his talk. I was a little apprehensive, I won’t lie. These founders were not an easy group, and the odds were stacked against Vengat. But these things don’t faze Vengat; he delivered one of the best talks I’ve seen. It was detailed and exact. Vengat had an answer to every question a founder asked. If the answer wasn’t on his deck, he knew it through practical life experiences.
At the end of the session, these founders made a beeline for Vengat asking for his number so they could stay in touch. Vengat has now delivered that same talk across India, and each one ends with applause and a scramble for his attention.
It’s funny to remember that Vengat started as the quiet guy at the end of the table and he’s now the bold man at the other end of it.
Vengat has been on an adventure and I am ready to go on several more with him.
From the Author:
SaaSBoomi began in 2015 as a small gathering of ~50 founders, and today, with over 500 events across three countries and countless lives touched, we’ve only just scratched the surface.
None of this would have been possible without the unrelenting passion of our 125+ volunteers — the lifeblood of SaaSBoomi.
Their contributions go beyond effort; they’ve built a community bound by camaraderie, empathy, and a shared vision for a Product Nation.
Pay it FWD is my tribute to every pay-it-forward champion I’ve encountered on this incredible journey.
Their contributions to SaaSBoomi and the broader ecosystem have been immeasurable, yet there remains a story left to be told — one that echoes the impact they continue to create.
